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I got a Ph.D. finally, so I went to work at Ohio
State, I got a Ph.D. and a wife and I say the wife
has meant more to me than the Ph.D. Somebody asked
me what that meant. Well I said you know what B.S.
is and you know what M.S. is, that's more of it,
and Ph.D. is piled high and deep.
So that one Sunday afternoon, I felt like having
a date and I called up everybody that I knew and
they were busy. And I happened to think, remember
her, where I had seen her, and I called up, 'cause
I had a telephone number of that house she lived
in, and they said she isn't here, well where is
she? Well she was in a little church that was near
the campus. And I thought any girl that would go
Sunday night by herself to a church must be a
pretty nice person. Why I went to the church and
saw her sitting there and I went and sat down
beside of her, that was our first meeting. And I
have sort of felt that was directed from above.
I was in the Student Army Training Corps. That
was started when the war was about over. They
didn't take enlistments anymore, but they started
this for officers, I guess that's what they were
going to do. And that was a college right close to
home, so I joined up. My brother was taking
electrical engineering, and they let him off six
weeks early with credit to be on the farm, and so
at that time they needed food more than they did
men. I joined that (SATC) and it was over in three
months. They nicknamed it when the armistice was
signed, they closed it down in three months, we
called it 'Stick around till Christmas and Saturday
afternoon tea club.' But it was in the service I
got the regular medal they gave first war people so
I guess I'm a veteran.
When we got a three-horse plow, that was heaven.
Get up, milk 13 cows before breakfast, and I was 15
years old, and knew what hard work was. But our
folks always sent us to school. When I did this
public works in steel mills and labor I just
couldn't stand the company. The type of men in
there the way they talked about their wives and
that type of thing, so I quit and went to school.
Partly I exercised all the time when I wasn't
working, kept myself in physical shape and I played
a lot of horseshoes. In Vermont I won the state
championship when I was up there, and when I moved
to Texas, those were the only two places where I
had anybody to play with. In Texas I won two city
championships in the city I was in and got second
place in the state. So it was a game I loved. I
think that had a lot to do with my keeping healthy
because I always kept in shape and exercised and so
on, had something to do. And then I always worked
and never sat on my rear end and that type thing.
Well, I think our love is greater now than it
was then.
If I live to 2001, I've lived in three
centuries.
People think 69 years is a long time, but we
weren't married young, I was 28 and she was 25. But
to most people they think 69 years is a long time,
maybe it is. But we're still in love. But I say
it's just as important to like somebody, too. If
you like them as well as love them that's what
makes it last.
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Name: Edgar Bloom, 97 years old
Presently resides: Warm Harth, Blacksburg
with his wife, Vivian
Born: Bluffton, Ohio, Jan. 21, 1900
Moved to present hometown: Blacksburg 9
years ago, has lived all over the country
Type of work after the war: Biology
professor for various colleges
Family: Raised 2 daughters with wife,
Vivian
Branch of service: Student Army Training
Corps (SATC)
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