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JACQUELYN HALL:

How did you get along then? Did you live by yourself after?

NELL PUTNAM SIGMON:

No, I moved into town. I couldn't stand to live out there. I stayed with my sister. I couldn't go back in that house. I stayed with my sister and her husband, and then I moved into Conover. And then when that boy got home, we dated a while, and we got married then, and we had two children.

JACQUELYN HALL:

How long did you go out before you got married?

NELL PUTNAM SIGMON:

Oh, we dated about six months, I reckon, but we'd been knowing each other a couple years. He was in the service twenty-three months, I believe; he was overseas that long.

JACQUELYN HALL:

Did you have any trouble making up your mind about whether to marry him or not?

NELL PUTNAM SIGMON:

Well, yes, I was. And my daddy said to me, "I just don't think that you should be getting married, because you've always had your way, and you just sort of do as you please, and it'll be altogether different when you get married." Well, I was twenty-seven years old. And I thought, "Well, now, all the boys are getting back and going into school, and I'm still going to be sitting by myself, and I may as well get married."

JACQUELYN HALL:

Were you worried about the fact that you might not be able to do what you wanted to?

NELL PUTNAM SIGMON:

Well, I don't know. I was just …

JACQUELYN HALL:

Why were you so used to doing as you pleased?

NELL PUTNAM SIGMON:

With those brothers, they were just so good to me and Mother, and I don't know. You know, to grow up with five boys [laughter] , you just have a lot of fun. They'd bring their friends home, and I'd bring mine, so there we were, and we'd dance, and we had the most fun. They all brought their girls home, usually, when they dated.

JACQUELYN HALL:

When you first got married, did you find it hard at first?

NELL PUTNAM SIGMON:

Well, I don't know. I just made up my mind maybe I'd be better satisfied if I'd get married, so I did.