Diane Rusch Zinn, ’60
Sixty years ago many in our class of ’60 were preparing for new changes in our lives. Perhaps you had just graduated from college and were looking for or starting a job in the real world. Perhaps you were entering grad school. Perhaps you had been drafted or signed up for military service. Perhaps you were already established in a job, had started a family, or were taking a break before joining the “real” world. Whatever direction your life was taking, it was a transition, a new beginning.
Our situation was a little different that year because Dick had graduated in ’63 from Stanford and was looking ahead to his second year in law school at University 
of Kansas. I was employed as a bookkeeper for First National Bank in Lawrence. We had just rented a two-story, 3-bedroom Dutch Colonial home in an established neighborhood in Lawrence. Dick was working construction for the summer, and we were expecting our second child in August. We felt positive about our lives and our future.
The summer was hot. Our one and only room air conditioner failed, and our landlady, a stern German lady who owned Achning Hardware in Lawrence, would not repair the air conditioner. We certainly couldn’t afford to repair it. Thank goodness for the sleeping porch on the second floor and the window fan my grandmother gave us! Dick missed a lot of work that summer because of rain, so we really had to pinch our pennies. Our only treat was an occasional movie.
I kept an expense and income book the first few years of our marriage, and I have the 
one for May, 1964. I thought it might be fun and interesting to compare our financial situation then to what yours was. I’m sure it varied in different parts of the country. For instance, when we moved from Palo Alto CA to Lawrence, I had a substantial reduction in pay. My salary decreased from $450/month at Melabs, one of the early companies in Silicon Valley near Palo Alto, to $205/month at First National Bank in Lawrence. We had no idea how we would manage that, but somehow it worked.
So, here’s the itemization of our income and expenses for May, 1964,
INCOME $215.27 Dick started his construction job in June and earned $260.73 that month.
EXPENSES
Rent $ 95.00
Electricity 6.37
Gas 5.79
Telephone 10.33
Groceries 59.32
Gasoline 21.39
Insurance 60.50
Child Care 36.00
Miscellaneous 15.76
Total $ 310.46
That month we were “in the hole” $ 95.19, and I don’t remember how we managed to cover the deficit. Occasionally, we had to borrow a little from First National, usually a promissory note due in 60 days. Dick did have a small scholarship for law school, and nowadays the law school has funds to help students with living expenses so they can manage to stay in school. Our parents didn’t help us, but whenever we visited in Wichita, my grandmother would send home a bag of groceries with us. She even bought us a washer and dryer so I didn’t have to use a laundromat. She was our angel.
Fortunately, we had wonderful care for our daughter Lauri. Dick’s mom had contacted the minister at the local Church of Christ in Lawrence to see if he could recommend anyone. It turned out that he and his wife were considering having a third child and welcomed the chance to take care of Lauri to get a feel for having another child. To make it even better, they lived only a few blocks from us. It was a perfect situation.
The bank allowed me to work until a few weeks before our son Rob was due in late August and agreed to welcome me back after my maternity leave. Having that job assurance was a blessing, and by then my salary had increased significantly. Again, we were fortunate with child care. This time, through First Christian Church, we found a lovely woman who did child care in her home, and she lived on the next street from us. Her husband even had built a cute playground in their back yard for the kids. We paid $20/week to Mrs. Stewart for her loving care for our two children.
So life continued with Dick finishing law school in 1966. We remained in our rental house until September, 1967, when we bought our first home, again with the help of my grandmother.
Summer, 1964, was definitely a time of transition for us. Now, I hope you will share some of your stories. Use the Comment box below or write to me at ddzinn@aol.com.
Early marriage was clearly an adventure! I had no idea how to cook, and I barely had the discipline to keep the dishes done. We were at Wright Patterson AF Base in Ohio. Joel and I met at Wichita State. He is two years older than I, but did a 5 year degree in aero engineering. His first job was to go to graduate school at the AF Inst. of Technology. I graduated with a degree in painting and English. The biggest job for us was to learn how to live on 1ST Lt. pay, $350 a month. Joel’s brother and another guy followed us to Ohio with a car full of wedding gifts.
Our first night in the apartment I decided to try making lasagna. Everything went well, but the recipe called for a “pinch” of Cayenne pepper. I thought it would be better to use a heaping small measuring spoon. It looked good and had a nice strong fragrance. That with a red wine tasted good. It had a bit of fire, but we all went to bed, and the guys got up early and drove back to Kansas. Unfortunately my dinner blew out our insides all the next day. In the evening we got a phone call from Joel’s brother telling us they had to make pit stops all day and they were never going to eat my cooking again. I felt bad for all 4 of us, but then also had fits of laughter over how my 1st meal would forever be a family joke and story. One of my Christmas gifts from Joel that year was Joy of Cooking.
Without planning it, much of my married life has been great comedy. My boys grew up swearing that I used the smoke alarm as a cooking timer. Many years later my sister, a PhD neuro-geneticist, explained that cooking was chemistry. I truly had never thought of it that way, but I laughed and told her how the chemistry teacher called me aside and said he would sign the “drop” papers for me in Chemistry. He very kindly told me that if I stayed in class that I had a solid “F.” My older brother and sister were straight A students.
After burning the Christmas turkey a few years ago, my grandchildren have banned me from holiday cooking. I took a “little nap” while baking the bird and woke up to a panicked household of grandchildren trying to figure what sauce would make the dry bird edible. My smart older sister admitted that cooking a goose with all its stuffing still wrapped in paper INSIDE the bird is not the correct method.
Perhaps most amazing is that (1) Diane still has the 1964 book of expenses, and (2) Glenna’s cooking skills have not (yet) discovered a new, deadly military ordnance.
Diane – Great story. Dee and I were fortunate to have an income from the Army and teaching school. We actually saved money every month until we bought a house and started having children. Budgets were very tight from then on. Lee