Their Story, part 2, Engaged and Married

FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF (In Mom’s words): At the end of that summer my parents moved to Yuma, Colorado so I took the bus from Denver to Yuma (140 miles) to finish high school. Because of frequent moves, and inadequate schooling while living on the homestead, I was two years late graduating.

A rare shot: The only photo I know of that was taken at their wedding.

Sometime that winter Hy came to see me, took the train, and stayed a day or two. Other times he drove down. At that time he was working for the railroad in Cheyenne. Every time he came he proposed marriage, but I always said, “No.”

Finally, on one of those trips in late spring he proposed again. We were driving home from church, in the back seat of my parents’ car. Two of my brothers were sitting right there next to us and my other brother in the front with my dad and mother. I was as surprised as he was when I said “Yes.”

When I graduated in May he mailed me an engagement ring. All my friends were surprised. That was in 1938. We set the date for May 6, 1939 and he visited me several more times during the year.

During the three years after I moved away from Saratoga we corresponded two or three times a week. We still have all those letters. One fine spring day I met the mailman on the front porch when he was delivering a letter from Hy. He had teased me several times about the letters from my “young man” because sometimes there was postage due on the letters. They were so long they were too heavy for the three cents postage!

That day the postman said, “I used to know man named Hyatt Moore right here in Yuma. We both worked for the local stables.” I wrote to Hy about that and he asked his dad, telling him the name of the postman. His dad remembered the name, and the fact that he had indeed worked with him. Small world.

And from Dad’s (briefer) perspective:

Betty and I were engaged for a year while I was still in college and we were married in Yuma, Colorado on May 6, 1939. I was the first of the family of seven to get married.

Note: To clear up an confusion, you must know there were two Hyatts before me (both mentioned above). There are also now two after me.
Next: A Money-saving Honeymoon.