The Offer!!!

With graduation in sight we began fantasizing about being able to buy a home of our own. It turned out to be just that...a fantasy. But it was fun driving around looking for homes for sale. I only remember one that was really my "dream house". It was at top of one of the Avenues in Salt Lake. The "Avenues" were streets named "A", "B", "C" etc. which ran north from South Temple to the top of a steep hill. Once you reached the top you could look over the whole city. The view was spectacular. It was at the top of "I" St. that Jim formally proposed to me. I don't remember what letter street that this house was on, but maybe it was just nostalgia that made me like it so much. It was brick with three bedrooms, two bathrooms (a rarity back then) and a full finished basement. There was a passageway that went from the basement to a workshop under the garage. Jim really liked that. But we knew that even if Jim got one of the top job offers we could never afford the whopping $25,000 that the owners were asking. But it was nice to dream. And it never entered my mind that we would not live in Salt Lake forever.

Recruiters from companies all over the country came to the University of Utah to interview engineering graduates. I had never even heard of half the companies, but Jim was familiar with most of them...at least the bigger ones. He interviewed with many of the larger ones which he knew would pay the highest salaries, but was realistic enough to interview with the smaller ones as well. He didn't want to end up with no offers at all.

Offers began to come in to the students and it was no surprise that the top students got offers from the the big companies. They were very free at letting their competitors, fellow students, how much they had been offered. I have to think that Jim was a bit envious, that was until he received an offer from Hughes Aircraft Company, a very large company in Los Angeles. He could hardly believe what they were willing to pay him. It was the second highest offer of all the graduating engineers...$580 a month. It seems that they had taken into account all of his Air Force experience. And I like to believe that they also took into account the fact that he had gone through school while working and supporting a family.

I had mixed feelings about the offer. I could see how excited Jim was. He had worked so hard to reach this point and now all of his effort had been validated by this offer. I was glad for him. But I didn't want to move to California, especially to Los Angeles. I didn't like it much when I saw it on that first visit with Uncle LeGrande. And I remember Dad having nothing good to say about it when he returned to Salt Lake after Mother died. I voiced my concerns to Jim, but I could tell my words went right over his head. To this day I'm sure he would tell you that I was as excited as he was, but I really didn't want to leave "my home in the valley". I never said any more after he accepted the offer. He had earned the right to live wherever he felt he could best support his family. And I knew I could be happy anywhere as long as I had Jim and my family.