Chillicothe, Illinois. 2:16 AM – Tuesday Morning 1962
I was sleeping in my bed in the back bedroom and heard the sound of wooden front door open. It was so quiet at that time at night. You knew when the door opened and when it closed. It had that certain memorable sound. It was my father dragging in . . . sneaking in from his Monday night rehearsal with the Orpheus Club in Peoria. The Orpheus Club was a group of all male singers, and the most notable member was United States Congressman Bob Michel of Peoria. Illinois.
Of course, if you believe a rehearsal lasted so late in the morning you got to be kidding! My mother didn’t believe it either. She had put up with it too long as it was, and she had had enough. It was time to confront my father. They had been sleeping in separate beds and she was ready to meet him head on.
“Where have you been? I know practice certainly didn’t last this long!” my mother cried out in anger, “What’s her name?” Big silence!
I don’t remember all the words that were spoken or shouted, but I do remember finally my father was very combative. They argued throughout the house and finally ended up in front of my bedroom door. From my bed I heard my father shout out, “I will kill you!” That ended it.
My mother backed off and somehow, they stayed married for over fifty years. Years later, I got married and moved away and to his day I remember hearing those awful words laying in my bed.
Bed Number Two
Wheaton, Illinois. 3:16 AM - 1988
My wife, Meg, and I were sleeping on the waterbed that she had hauled from Laramie, Wyoming to Lincoln, Nebraska. After we got married, we carted it to Melbourne, Florida and then up to Wheaton, Illinois. The bed was cozy with the temperature set right. Our marriage was cozy. Both of us were divorced when we met. But that didn’t stop us from getting married and looking forward to a peaceful life together.
One of the reasons why I liked Meg was, she was unattached to her family. She had disowned her sister and three other siblings, her mother and father had divorced when she was very young, and they were not a part of her life. Thus, no family conflicts to disturb our marriage, or so I thought.
After Meg’s mother divorced her father, Ruth and young Meg had moved to California. Meg’s mother had a mental breakdown and was institutionalized and treated with electric shock treatments. Meg was sent to an orphanage. As she recalled, she was a captive of the State of California imprisoned with bars on the windows. Meg’s escape came here her aunt and uncle in Michigan took her in thus … her cousins became her siblings and family.
Back to Wheaton, Illinois at 3:16 AM and the phone on the bedside table is ringing. I raised up from the comfort of the waterbed.
Groggy, I answered it. “This is Larry.”
I certainly didn’t recognize the voice on the other end of the phone. I was the manager of the TV Production Department at WCFC-TV 38 in Chicago, and I had no idea why someone would have a problem at this hour of the day.
The voice on the phone said: “Hello, I am so and so, with the CBSA the Canadian Border Services Agency and do you know a Ruth McCourtney?”
By this time, Meg was slowly rising to ask who it was.
I covered the mouthpiece of the phone and said someone from Canada was calling about Ruth her mother
.He went on to say that Ruth had boarded an airplane in California an