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(24 December 1945 - 30 August 1955) (divorced)
John Mahin was sure I d like a friend of his, a Sergeant Tommy Wheelock, in the Weather Service for the Air Force, down at Long Beach............
One Sunday I was introduced to Sergeant Wheelock. He turned out to be a big man who looked like a stuffed caterpillar in his uniform, not at all handsome, with very heavy eyebrows and heavy lines like parentheses around a thin mouth, all of which gave him the rather
sad look of a St. Bernard. He had a pleasant voice, and he was
most amiable. He talked with me during much of the afternoon,
telling me he had known John since they were boys in prep school
together. He had gone to Groton, and then to Harvard. "Never
graduated, though. Too stupid." He hoped he would see me again
next weekend, perhaps...........
And the next weekend he was there again, almost irritatingly
attentive, lighting cigarettes, getting drinks, hanging around and
showing his drinks rather too much. He had a talent that he inflicted on people whether they liked it or not: he played Dixieland
jazz on the piano. Now I know there are some people who think
Dixieland is an art form, the real folk music of our country, and
they speak of it in hushed tones. But I don t understand it and
1 don t like it.
While Sergeant Wheelock was hammering out "Twelfth Street
Rag/ I had a chance to say to John, "Is this the man you thought
I might go for?"
He smiled. "Yep."
"Why, John/ I said, "this is the dullest man I've ever met/
"He s a sweet guy, Mary a great guy."
Well, I knew how often I d been wrong in my judgment of
men; perhaps I was doing him an injustice. So when he phoned
to ask to take me to dinner, I accepted.
In civvies he looked much nicer, well groomed and clean. We
had a good evening, away from all the hubbub at John s. He told
me about his background, which was an impressive one, although he was modest enough about it. He was real Boston blueblood; his grandfather had held a chair of literature at Harvard. He had lived in China until he was ten, when his father died and his mother brought him to Groton. (John later filled in more of the biography. He had already lost a fortune in the market crash,
but he was soon to inherit a large sum left in trust for him in China.) He had been a stockbroker in Chicago, but when the war broke out he had joined the Air Corps. Being over age for active duty, he had "fought the battle of Long Beach" in the weather department. As soon as he was discharged he hoped to go into some business out here..........
I became Mrs. Thomas Gordon Wheelock on December 24,
1945. We were married in John Mahin's living room, with John as
Tommy s best manand Marylyn as my bridesmaid. She could
hardly keep from crying, because "it is just all so beautiful, Mom-
mie!" She was a walking exclamation point at that time anyway...