Our First Home After the War

I was 21 years old when World War II ended in 1945. The end of that year, when I got discharged from the Navy, I was married and had three children.
I got my Navy discharge in Norman, Oklahoma.
As soon as I was discharged Wanda and I went to her parent’s house where she had been living while I was in the Navy out at sea.

Wanda’s grandparents bought a three room house behind Wanda’s parent’s home to live in, but then they decided that they didn’t want to leave their farm.
Wanda’s grandparents wanted to give Wanda the house that they bought because Wanda was their favorite grandchild.
Wanda’s Mother told them, “No, not unless you want to buy all your grandkids a house.”
So instead of giving Wanda the house, her Grandparents sold the house to us for two thousand dollars. That was what they had paid for the house.

When we moved in, it had a kitchen, front room and a bedroom. I bought bunk beds for the kids and a bed for Wanda and myself. We all slept in the same room.
The house didn’t have a sink or running water in the kitchen. There was a faucet outside and also an outhouse to go potty in. The kitchen did have a gas stove but no cabinets.
I piped in the water, put in a sink, and built cabinets.
To take a bath, wash dishes or clothes we had to heat water on the stove and put it in a washtub. We used a washboard to scrub our clothes clean.

The house was out in the country two miles from Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Dad