Letter: Memories still fresh from cruising Modesto in '43

We would, all of us — eight or 10 teenagers — crowd into a 1936 Hudson Terraplane two-door sedan (suicide doors).

We would cruise Ninth Street of Modesto. The boys would pool their gas ration stamps, and away we'd go.

Six or eight in the back seat — me, playing a guitar and my boyfriend, driving (in of course the front seat).

And we would cruise and sing and have a great time. Good time.

No one drank — except a root beer or orange soda — if we could afford it.

We all worked — and gave most of our earnings to our family to help support us.

But, what the heck.

I was 14 years old and couldn't afford to go to school, so I went to work in a family grocery store.

My boyfriend was 18-years-old — all the kids in the same age range.

We had good, clean, fun!

Of course, traffic was "light" in those days.

I'm talking 1943 fun stuff.

My boyfriend became my husband in 1944 — he 19 years of age and I, 15 years.

And we were married almost 62 years when he passed away.

Very few nights were we apart, and then only because of a job or truck driving.

Oh — what a lot of love and good memories remain.

I am 84 years old (85 on Nov. 13) and still enjoy the memories of our youth and the cruising on Ninth Street in Modesto in 1943.

Glenda Weatherford

Live Oak