2. VIC AND GREG: EARLY DAYS
Vic being the boss' daughter, there was no way that she and Greg would not interact in some way. How they did was a surprise to both of them - although, perhaps not as much to Vic as to Greg. In later years, I can remember both of them saying that, by the time of their wedding, they knew more about each other than most couples did in a lifetime. I believe it - and I'm not just talking about their general backgrounds, their likes and dislikes, and such. According to them, among the things they discussed in their first few weeks together were civil rights, religion, abortion, the female orgasm(!!), and of course Vietnam. And I'm not talking about just "touching on" such subjects. They often spent one or two hours in their discussions. There didn't seem to be any subject that was off-limits, and they were unafraid of disagreements or differences of opinion. They just wanted to know what those were.
Just their topic list amazes me, but what is even more fantastic is that almost all this discussion - in the first six months they knew each other - took place Saturday mornings on the front steps of Greg's house. During the school year, Vic and Mandy lived in town, to save themselves from an 18-mile bus ride twice a day. They were at the refuge only on weekends, and Sunday the Andersons usually did family things together. Saturdays were really all Greg and Vic had. After knowing each other for about six months, Greg calculated that they had barely "known" each other 24 hours! Even so, by that time, both were convinced that they had the makings of a lifelong relationship.
"The course of true love never did run smooth," as Shakespeare had Lysander say to Hermia (in "A Midsummer's Night Dream," in case you're interested). Vic's and Greg's romance had its ups and downs, but none were serious, and usually easily resolved. They married in Magic Valley, Idaho, on July 23, 1966.
3. CHANGES
Their wedding was not the only big thing that happened in the summer and fall of 1966. With Mandy graduated from high school, her parents had fulfilled their self-imposed obligation to stay at Magic Valley, and Chuck began looking for a new assignment. He and Alice really wanted to move to North Dakota, while all their parents were still alive, but no jobs became available. Chuck finally accepted the managership of the Idaho Falls Refuge, only a few hours north of their then-current location.
At the same time, a decision was made to consolidate the two refuges, and have Chuck supervise both operations. A further decision - one proposed by Chuck and Greg - was to leave Magic Valley unstaffed during the winter months, when everything was frozen solid and there was no real need for an on-site manager. From November to March, a caretaker would be appointed, who would check the refuge once or twice a week to assure there were no problems.
This sounds like it might have left Greg without a job but, actually, it worked out well for him and Vic. When Chuck and Alice departed in early August, Greg was appointed assistant manager-in-charge of the daily operations at Magic Valley, he got a promotion, Chuck was still his boss, and he and Vic moved into the manager's house. They enjoyed two months together before Vic (and Mandy, who had been living in town) went off to college - Vic for her second year, Mandy for her first. Greg stayed on until mid-November, when he turned the operation over to Tim Johnson, his maintenance man, to serve as winter caretaker. Greg moved to the Idaho Falls refuge as Chuck's on-site assistant until March, when he returned to Magic Valley. Vic and Mandy stayed at Idaho Falls during the Christmas school break, with their parents and Greg. Then, when school was out in June, they returned to Magic Valley.
The situation worked pretty well for everybody. Chuck thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of the new refuge, and Alice loved being on the refuge and also able to get off it when she needed to. Greg liked his new role, and was glad to escape the frozen loneliness of Magic Valley in winter. The caretaker solution proved a good one.
For Vic and Greg, being apart during the school year was hard. They had adapted to the separation during Vic's first year, with regular visits by Greg for football games and more personal activities. They found it was quite different now that they were married, and were both used to being what Greg had labeled an "every night" husband and wife. Greg tried to ease the pain by getting to Pocatello every chance work and weather permitted, which turned out to be almost every weekend. In their most Pollyanna-ish moments, they told each other that things were "okay," and admitted that their situation was no worse than that of many young couples. It didn't really help. They were often lonely, and starved for their usual deep discussions.
Things stayed the same into the winter of 1967-1968. As I said already, Vic and Mandy came back to Magic Valley when school ended for the summer, Vic to join her lonely husband and to work parttime as his clerk-typist. Vic's and Mandy's roommate, Nancy Williams - who also was a high school friend in whose household the Anderson girls had boarded - was returning to her home each summer, so Mandy was able to live with her, while working in town as a waitress. Mandy's bed was still in her original room at the refuge, so she joined Vic and Greg there whenever she had days off work. In town, she spent sometime with Terry Black, school friend, her escort to both her junior and senior proms, and the masculine half of her first kiss. Greg always thought that could develop into a romantic attachment, but Terry's situation was complicated by he and his brother Scott taking care of their widowed mother, managing the small family farm, and trying to make enough money for both to attend college. (Normally, I wouldn't like to think that I benefited from someone's bad luck, but I may owe my own very good fortune later in life to Terry's complications!)
With the contacts he and Vic had made at college, Greg was able to interest a number of students in conducting research projects on the refuge. He didn't have funds to pay them, but he offered money for gas, a free bunk house to stay in, and the occasional treat by Greg to a meal at the Wentzels' diner. This enticed all of the original bird-banding crew (except Matt Taylor) to return for several more mist-netting sessions. It also encouraged a woman botany student to begin to develop an herbarium for the refuge, and also a young man interested in small mammals and "herps" (amphibians and reptiles) to survey for them. It was feeling more like a real wildlife refuge to Greg.
Around New Year's 1968, Chuck's "dream job" at a North Dakota refuge opened up. Although he and Alice were happy at Idaho Falls, he thought it was just too good an opportunity to pass up. He applied for the job, and was selected. He and Alice moved in April.
Likewise, Greg was happy at Magic Valley, but he hadn't ever given up on the thought that he might be happier in some type of work other than refuge management. With Chuck and Alice leaving, he wondered if it might be time for him to renew his interest in a transfer. He and Vic talked it out. She professed no particular ties to the area or the college, and would be ready to leave whenever he was.
Greg realized he didn't have a lot of experience to write down on a job application, but he also knew that his interest and knowledge of such things as the Endangered Species Act and the Wilderness Act far exceeded that of most current refuge employees. He pitched his idea to Mac, the refuge supervisor. Mac knew of Greg's interests and, already feeling the need for someone to handle some types of activities not closely associated with "old school" refuge management, he developed a new position of "assistant refuge management biologist" and hired Greg for it.
By June 1968, a refuge manager had been hired to take Chuck's place at Idaho Falls. Also, an assistant manager had been selected to fill Greg's slot at Magic Valley. Greg flew to Portland in late July, for a preliminary look at his new job. While there, he found and rented a furnished two-bedroom apartment, not far from Portland State College. In August, Greg and Vic put almost all their belongings in storage, and drove to Oregon. Mandy, having no strong ties in Idaho and feeling more and more a member of the new Cleveland-Anderson family, went with them.
To The Writing It Down Homepage
Leave a Comment: symbios@condortales.com