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Adversity Is My Angel 38 ChAPTER VI PIMA CoUNTY ATToRNEY 4 In the early 1950sTucson was a small city, yet increasingly urban and busy. Its population of one hundred and twenty thousand made it the most important city in Pima County and the second-most populous metropolitan area in Arizona. I enjoyed Tucson, southern Arizona, and the rich cultural amenities available in the “Old Pueblo.”1 Practicing law in Tucson was rewarding and exposed me to all types of people: rich, poor, noble, and nefarious. I was also satisfied with my personal life while I was in Pima County. I relished time with my friends and family, as well as my time spent working, but as I entered my mid-thirties my mother kept asking me “When are you going to get married?” I deflected the inquiries with humor or lighthearted banter, but I finally moved, almost imperceptibly, into the realm of matrimony.2 My marriage, which has lasted fifty-four years, was the most important event of my life. My wife is the former Pat Norris, and she grew up in Wisconsin where her father was a banker at the First Wisconsin Bank in Milwaukee. After her father died, her mother, who had very severe emphysema and asthma,moved toTucson in an effort to ameliorate her illnesses. During the KoreanWar,Pat lived inTokyo,Japan.She was married toWilliam Norris, a young air force lieutenant from Lewiston, Pennsylvania. Lieutenant Norris lost his life in Korea and left Pat with two little girls, Beth and Mary Pat, who never got to see their father.3 Pat and the girls left Japan and visited Pat’s mother inTucson.Pat immediately secured a secretarial job with the assistant postmaster,N.L.Pritchard. Shortly thereafter,US marshal Ben McKinney offered her a job as a Deputy US Marshall, and she accepted the position. Pat provided security in the federal courthouse; she transported federal prisoners from the county jail to the courthouse, and then to the federal prison in WestVirginia.4 At that time I was in private practice and also held the position of deputy county attorney. On my daily rounds I picked up my mail at the post office, and 39 then I went to Litt’s Drugstore on the corner of Congress and Scott Street across from Jacome’s Department Store. One day I noticed this beautiful, blonde woman sitting at the other end of the counter from me, drinking her coffee. I could see her in the large mirror behind the counter, and we smiled at each other. Over the next few days I slowly moved down the row of seats, until one day we were sitting next to each other. I worked up my nerve and said,“Hello,” and we started talking. Then one day in 1951 Chris Cole, a television announcer and reporter for the Arizona Daily Star,stepped into my office and said,“I’m having a steak fry at my house in the Tucson Mountains. Could you escort Pat Norris to the party?” “I’d love to do that,” I responded, and that was our first date. We then dated for three years, and whenever the subject of marriage came up I avoided it. I thought I was a lifelong bachelor: I had gone to law school, I was happy, and I wanted to get ahead. I thought marriage could derail my long-term plans. Eventually, however, I realized that Pat was the one, and I planned to ask her to marry me. One of my clients was a jeweler, and I asked that he and Pat come to my office. He brought several rings, and Pat looked them over, picked her favorite.We were married in a small ceremony in Tucson. We realized that we could not live in the little house where I practiced law and neither of us owned a car. So as a young married couple with modest incomes, we decided to look for a house and a car. After much scrutiny, I purchased a Pontiac, and Pat and I began looking for a house in our new car. Finally we located an eight-acre parcel with a wonderful house on it at River Road and Dodge in northTucson.I hesitated,but Pat loved the place, and we bought it.We made a down payment,financed the rest,and over the years we put a lot of work into that home. Our neighbor, Gilbert “Gibby” Ronstadt, gave us several peacocks as an anniversary...

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