Dad and I went to Gene's Root Beer Stand for dinner last night. I thought it was early for them to be serving frosty mugs of old fashioned root beer, but apparently they opened on March 1st, and we were not the only ones aware of it. A week into their season, this iconic Drive-in was packed, and for 15 minutes, we had to idle awkwardly in the parking lot, and jockey for position to claim the next open slot, and the opportunity to hang a tray off our driver-side window.
Once we got parked and served, our perseverance and our appetites were rewarded, and we consumed our fair share of Spanish sauce laden hot dogs, washed down, of course, with their fabulous frosty mugs of Root Beer.
As we sat in Dad's Pontiac Vibe, awaiting our meal, we chatted, and he mentioned Tom T., one of his best friends from his days growing up in Lafayette. I had always been amused that one of my dad's best friends went to Indiana University, as Dad has always been an avid Purdue alumnus.
Knowing that they went to different Lafayette high schools, and different colleges, I realized that I did not know how they had met, and gotten to be so close. So I asked.
As it turns out, they did not meet until they were both in college in 1952, which seemed odd, since they were at opposite Big Ten schools. Dad said that Tom had continued to date his high school sweetheart Ruth Ann after he went off to Indiana, and Dad had begun to date Janie G. while at Purdue.
I had never been aware of Dad dating anyone except Mom, but as he explained, there were periods of time when Mom would not date Dad, so he wasn't going to just sit around.
Not to spoil the story, but Dad did eventually end up with Mom....But I digress.
In 1952, Ruth Ann and Janie wanted to attend a Presidential campaign rally for Dwight Eisenhower at Butler University, and they asked their boyfriends to escort them. Tom and Dad had never met, and were not all that interested in seeing or hearing Ike, but they were interested in seeing and hearing their dates, so they agreed to attend the rally.
It was a little like the Happy Days episode, when Richie volunteers for the "1956 Adlai Stevenson for President" campaign in order to date a cute blonde Stevenson supporter. Howard Cunningham was a supporter of Ike, and not at all amused, but Marion was very supportive. Fonzie even gives his support to Ike.
"I like Ike. My bike even likes Ike".
But enough about Happy Days.....
In 1952, Dad and Tom accompanied their dates to see Ike, and at least one life-long friendship was born from that campaign. They probably fared better than Ike and Nixon.
I asked Dad if he and Tom had both moved to Anderson right out of college, and he further explained that, while Dad had begun working at Delco-Remy (GM, for those outside Anderson, Indiana), Tom had returned to Lafayette to join his father and brother running the family lumberyard. It didn't take long for Tom to realize that the lumberyard was not big enough for all three men, so he called Dad to see if they were hiring in Anderson. They were, and they did, and
Tom eventually progressed up to the position of Plant Manager of several GM plant locations.
I'm guessing that at some point, Tom bought my dad a cold case of Blatz to say thank you.
I'm not sure when Tom and Ruth Ann stopped dating, or if it had anything to do with Ike, but he eventually met his current wife, Mary, in church, and they are wintering in Florida as I type this.
I had never heard of Ruth Ann and Janie before last night at Gene's, and I don't know that this foursome double-dated again, but I am glad for Dad and Tom that the brief intersection of these four lives yielded such strong, life-long friendships.
I am also glad that Gene's was busy enough that Dad had time to tell me this story.
It was almost as good as the root beer and hot dogs....
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