Monday, February 28, 2011
Suprise Visit From Sister Sally
“Surprise Visit From Sister Sally” by Thelma Shebby
After graduating from Lackawanna Business College in Scranton, Pennsylvania, my first occupation as a secretary was with the Central Intelligence Agency. It was 1950 and I was with a group of girls who left their small towns in the north east to apply for government jobs in Washington D.C. We were housed in a temporary housing complex used during WWII to house military personnel, known as Arlington Farms. In fact, my sister, Eleanor, lived at Arlington when she was a WAVE in 1943.
Every day, we girls would take a bus from Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac River to go to our jobs in the District of Columbia. We would meet for lunch in the public cafeterias and return to our boarding house after work. Even though we had individual accommodations, we shared a laundry room and the telephone. I mention the telephone because it relates to my story.
I had arrived at Arlington in early July, and with my first paycheck, took the bus into Washington with my friend from Duryea, PA. We were in a huge department store shopping, when one of the girls who had remained at Arlington Farms found us, and who should she have in tow, but my sister Sally and her friend, Joan! What a surprise!
I never got a phone call from my Mother saying Sally and Joan were on their way to visit me. Perhaps because the telephone was always in use at Arlington Farms, she was not able to get a hold of me. Non the less, here they both were. Sally and Joan, both only twelve years old, had traveled from Scranton on a Greyhound Bus, a six hour trip. I was happy to see them, but now I had a problem - what to do with them. We weren’t allowed to have overnight guest in our rooms at Arlington Farms. In those days, I didn’t have a credit card or a check book, for that matter. I had just got my first paycheck and it wasn’t much.
What was my Mother, and Joan’s Mother thinking? Who would send their twelve year old daughters on a six-hour bus trip to Washington D.C. (This is before the interstate was built) How they managed to arrive at Arlington Farms in Virginia is beyond me.
Since I could not take them back to Arlington Farms with me, I quickly found accommodations in a private home where you could rent a room for the night. We couldn’t go sight-seeing too much , as I was new to the place myself. We ate dinner at a nice restaurant and walked up and down Pennsylvania Avenue, down to the Capital building and took a taxi past the White House. Then we went back to the rooming house for a good night’s rest. The next day I put the two girls back on a Greyhound Bus for the six hour ride back to Scranton. How they got back to Lake Winola from there, I’ll never know. I do know that when the bus stopped in Harrisburg, PA, Sally got off to go to the bathroom and the bus took off without her. Her friend, Joan informed the bus driver that he had left without her and he turned the bus around to pick her up!
Post note: When asked about her ordeal, all Sally could say was that she was so spoiled that Mother would let her do whatever she wanted. I think, because both of our birthdays were in July and the fact that it was the first time I was away from home, Sally just missed me and wanted to see me.
After graduating from Lackawanna Business College in Scranton, Pennsylvania, my first occupation as a secretary was with the Central Intelligence Agency. It was 1950 and I was with a group of girls who left their small towns in the north east to apply for government jobs in Washington D.C. We were housed in a temporary housing complex used during WWII to house military personnel, known as Arlington Farms. In fact, my sister, Eleanor, lived at Arlington when she was a WAVE in 1943.
Every day, we girls would take a bus from Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac River to go to our jobs in the District of Columbia. We would meet for lunch in the public cafeterias and return to our boarding house after work. Even though we had individual accommodations, we shared a laundry room and the telephone. I mention the telephone because it relates to my story.
I had arrived at Arlington in early July, and with my first paycheck, took the bus into Washington with my friend from Duryea, PA. We were in a huge department store shopping, when one of the girls who had remained at Arlington Farms found us, and who should she have in tow, but my sister Sally and her friend, Joan! What a surprise!
I never got a phone call from my Mother saying Sally and Joan were on their way to visit me. Perhaps because the telephone was always in use at Arlington Farms, she was not able to get a hold of me. Non the less, here they both were. Sally and Joan, both only twelve years old, had traveled from Scranton on a Greyhound Bus, a six hour trip. I was happy to see them, but now I had a problem - what to do with them. We weren’t allowed to have overnight guest in our rooms at Arlington Farms. In those days, I didn’t have a credit card or a check book, for that matter. I had just got my first paycheck and it wasn’t much.
What was my Mother, and Joan’s Mother thinking? Who would send their twelve year old daughters on a six-hour bus trip to Washington D.C. (This is before the interstate was built) How they managed to arrive at Arlington Farms in Virginia is beyond me.
Since I could not take them back to Arlington Farms with me, I quickly found accommodations in a private home where you could rent a room for the night. We couldn’t go sight-seeing too much , as I was new to the place myself. We ate dinner at a nice restaurant and walked up and down Pennsylvania Avenue, down to the Capital building and took a taxi past the White House. Then we went back to the rooming house for a good night’s rest. The next day I put the two girls back on a Greyhound Bus for the six hour ride back to Scranton. How they got back to Lake Winola from there, I’ll never know. I do know that when the bus stopped in Harrisburg, PA, Sally got off to go to the bathroom and the bus took off without her. Her friend, Joan informed the bus driver that he had left without her and he turned the bus around to pick her up!
Post note: When asked about her ordeal, all Sally could say was that she was so spoiled that Mother would let her do whatever she wanted. I think, because both of our birthdays were in July and the fact that it was the first time I was away from home, Sally just missed me and wanted to see me.
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