It was September 14, 1957, a beautiful early fall Saturday night. I was so excited. This would be my first date with Milan Hart. My Grandma Dame was an active member of the local Rebekah Lodge and at this point in time, the Lodge had organized a chapter of Theta Rho which was a girls’ club affiliated with the Independent Order of Oddfellows and our first big event was a hayride and I had invited Milan, whom I knew only from church, to go with me. He was very handsome, with dark brown hair and beautiful chocolate brown eyes, and we were so young. I had turned 14 in August and he was still a month away from his 14th birthday in October. His mother was having a hard time with this. He was the oldest of her five children, but was always her “little boy” and she was not happy with the thought of sharing him with me. But she had known my family for years. The two families of “Hawks” and “Jennings” all grew up in th...