UPenn, Mike, Marriage, Graduation

UPenn was a fun place, made more so by the fact that I was dating Michael Cohen who happened to be stationed at Fort Dix. So, Mike would come in to visit me most weekend. That sort of hampered my meeting anyone else, but that was exactly his reasoning!!! Since he was in the Army and had little money, I would write a check for cash, get some money, give it to
Mike and we would spend a great weekend together. That is until my dad got some of the cancelled checks. Being a savvy guy, he quickly wrote me a note that simply said, "Who is cash?" I remember one weekend when I drove Michael back to the base and for whatever reason drove his car back to Penn. He had a convertible, the top was down, and I had a glorious time. I parked the car right near my dorm, the Women's Residence (you can tell this was back in the boonies...yes the sexes were separated, at least according to the college's sleeping policy!). I was unable to put the top up. Later that evening I heard rain puring down. bunch of my dormmates and I ran outside to the car with towels in hand and did the best we could to bail it out! In the morning, with windshield wipers moving back and forth, the top down, and me at the wheel, I quickly drove the car through the streets of Philly until I came to a garage. As I entered the lot and stopped the car, an attendant came up to me and said, "I think you have a problem." Wow, what insight he had!!! Well, we both laughed. I know he felt sorry for me as I shared with him my tale of woe, so he took my car in and fixed it for nothing!!! Yes, I was a poor damsel in distress and he recognized that! Mike told me if he were the one who had been driving the car and had brought it into the same garage he would have been charged! In November, I was in Psychology class and the professor became very somber. He went up to the board, his eyes were glistening and he simply wrote, without saying a word, class is dismissed. As we all herded out, we wondered what was happening. As we neared the courtyard we heard people saying that President Kennedy had been shot! We huddled together. There was aloud speaker spouting the news and we all listened, clearly agitated. I called Michael at the base. Everything had been suspended there, too. In fact, it seemed as if time, itself, were suspended. Mike drove to Penn and together with others we sat glued to the television set, numbed by the facts we were hearing. Many of us, including me, ran to the telephones in the hallway to make calls to our parents. There were no cell phones We needed to reach out, to make sure our loved ones were okay. My folks and I talked for a bit and then Mike and I just sat together. That was a day I will never forget, a day that engraved itself in my mind, heart and soul.

While at Penn, I was asked to join a sorority, but I declined. Mike and I continued to date and in May we became engaged. I decided to leave Penn, Mike would be out of the Army, and we would be married the following February. Looking back, I should have completed my studies at Penn, but I was anxious to get on with my life with Michael and probably, subconsciously, to stop studying so much, settle down, and begin a new chapter in my life. My dormmates threw me a farewell/engagement party.

I enrolled at AIC to finish my degree. Actually, I liked the school. I had been there before and did know some of the students and professors. I was very fortunate to have a wonderful English teacher, Dr. Birnbaum, who really brought English to life for me and helped me hone my reading and writing skills. I am forever indebted to him. Years later, I returned to AIC as an Assistant Professor and worked under Dr. Birnbaum who was then a Dean.

On February 6, 1965, after a terrible snowstorm, Mike and I got married at Sinai Temple and had a lovely dinner reception at the Crestview Country Club. Thinking back, I realize that I did not plan anything. My mother took complete charge. She even took me to a place for wedding gowns and chose the one she liked. Even the colors of the wedding were her choosing - orange and gold. The bridesmaids wore gold colored gowns.Actually, I found them to be garish, but I was young, I was malleable, and I listened to my mother and she made the decisions. She told me what to do and I followed. How different from my own children!! The wedding pictures were all black and white. Mother thought they would be more dramatic. I miss seeing the color.

Michael and I honeymooned in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. We had a wonderful time. Then, it was back home to school and our apartment on 80 Brush Hill Ave. in West Springfield, MA. I started student teaching in West Springfield in the 6th grade at Tatham School. My supervising teacher was a real witch, Mrs. Smith. But when the going got rough, Mike buoyed my spirits and I survived. By April, I knew I wanted a dog. Not a lover of dogs, but a lover of me, Mike acquiesced! We bought our first dog, a loveable mutt, in Westfield and named him Farfel. He was an awesome dog, stubborn, I thought beautiful, and very mischievous. We bonded immediately! Whenever we would go somewhere, Farfel would go with us. My folks were not dog lovers - when I was a young child, we had a dog, Pal, and he lasted only a couple of months, much to my brother's chagrin. Anyway, they mellowed with Farfel and he was allowed to visit with us. One day, I let Farfel out. There were no leash laws, or if there were, I paid no attention to them! The day progressed, I would call for Farfel, but he never answered my call. That night, I unhappily got into bed, thinking that Farfel was lost forever. In the morning, the telephone rang. It was my mother. "Judy, you won't believe this, but when we went to open our front door, there sat Farfel!" I was incredulous...how he ever made it across the river from West Springfield to Longmeadow will forever remain a mystery, but he was safe and that was all that mattered. Farfel graced our household for 16 years, getting into trouble along the way. He would sniff out every dog in heat and travel from our home in Longmeadow across the border into Enfield, CT where he would be picked up, brought to a pound and Mike would have to go and get him.

At first we lived in a one bedroom apartment with an enormous fish tank. How Michael loved his tropical fish. Since he was in the Army Reserves, he had to go to summer camp for 2 weeks and left me in charge of his fish. One day, as I entered our apartment, I knew I smelled something that was not right. Looking into the fish tank, I saw all the fish floating belly up on the top. They had been fried! Evidently something had happened to the heater. What could I do? Hastily, I picked up the phone and called Fort Devens. I said his number ER 11404556 (I still remember it!!!) and told them that I had to speak to my husband immediately, that there had been a death in the family! Well, indredibly they sent Michael home!!!