After the War

(as told by Elizabeth Perkins Buchheit)

After Vernon and I were married, we lived in Park Ridge for one year because after the war we couldn’t find a place to live.  There was a big group of people looking for houses.  My father and mother had room so we stayed with them.

Vernon went down to work at the University of Chicago where the first nuclear reactor was at Argonne Laboratories.  After work, we used to play badminton with our neighbors the Harphams every night.  Not every other night but every night.  Then after the game, we’d all have a beer.

VERNON WORK MYERS:  Somehow the women did very well after it got dark.

ELIZABETH PERKINS BUCHHEIT:  That’s right.  We could see better in the night than you guys could.

We got so good that by the time we left for Pennsylvania, the Harphams were entering big tournaments.  Vernon had a lot of offers to teach but he accepted the offer to work at Penn State University.