Family accounts and newspaper reports, with their original qualifications and sources.
Courtship and journeys
Two songs for a dime
High-school weekends meant Cokes, friends and dancing. Bridget remembered piling into whichever family car a boy could borrow and heading out on Friday or Saturday night. The jukebox offered two songs for a dime or five for a quarter, and being invited to choose the music was a special honor. One wedding dance supplied a particularly good memory: wearing a fitted green hand-me-down from Eugenia Hawkins, Bridget found herself dancing repeatedly with another young man. Bob had said he needed to stay with the wedding party. After noticing the attention she was getting, she recalled, he decided he did not need to stay there after all.
Source: Bridget Morrison Roling, handwritten memoir, pp. 24–25.
Bagnell Dam by cattle truck
During Bridget’s high-school years, Bagnell Dam seemed a grand destination. When Leo Maag offered to take everyone who wanted to go in his large cattle truck, she was eager to join. The group piled into the back and set off. She remembered seeing the dam and having a wonderful time—and thought it was probably her first trip outside Chariton County.
Source: Bridget Morrison Roling, handwritten memoir, p. 25.
A movie among the feed sacks
The summer after eighth grade brought an event Bridget remembered as a milestone: her first movie. Elmer Bills Sr. rented a feed-store building in Bynumville on Friday nights. The feed sacks were moved aside, wooden chairs were set out, and a projector turned the building into a temporary theater. Her brothers took her along. She remembered that the screenings happened only a few times; her next movie outing came a couple of years later at the Lyric.
Source: Bridget Morrison Roling, handwritten memoir, p. 10.