The purpose of an Acquaintance Dance was mainly that all the "guys who had been at war for all that time, and who had not seen a girl in years, and had for the most part forgotten what they were like, would get a chance to make the acquaintance of some girls." Marion was a Junior at Teachers College, and Howard Paul Grant was just out of the service and back at MIT finishing up his degree (and not very happy about it -- his grades were good, but MIT was very difficult).

Marion and Paul (as he was called) crossed paths. Marion firmly believes that Paul was after Nancy and her gorgeous strawberry blond hair, but by the time Paul moved in, Nancy was with someone else, so he settled for Marion, and they chatted and danced. Marion was not particularly impressed -- "He was just some guy" -- and she thought Paul similarly found her unremarkable. Paul did take the time to get Marion's phone number, but she was not surprised when he did not call.

She was surprised when he called about six weeks later, around Thanksgiving. Paul and Marion made a date to go to the Totem Pole dance hall in Newton. The Totem Pole was respectable and well chaperoned, and also had decent music, so not only would no parent ever complain about a date at the Totem Pole, the kids would actually enjoy it. They went there with another couple who had a car, and had a lovely time.

This quickly became a habit. About once a week for the next six months, Marion and Paul would head over to the Totem Pole, usually with the other couple, who had the car. But even when the other couple broke up, and the car was out of the picture, Marion and Paul managed to find a way to get together.

They dated on weekends and after school, and Paul would manage to get to Roslindale almost every Sunday so they could very respectably walk over to visit Gram MacEachen. Marion, an avid sailor dating back to her years as a Girl Scout Mariner, soon learned of Paul's love for boats and sailing, and her parents were quite surprised to learn that Marion and Paul had been sailing on an MIT boat on Easter Sunday, 1947, which happened to be unseasonably warm. Marion remembers it as "a perfectly beautiful day."

Marion was enjoying this nice boy's company, but it had not yet dawned on her that this was The Guy. She remembers one of her sister Nancy's friends, Alice Boller, gushing over Paul, saying, "He's so tall and so handsome and so bright!" And Marion said to herself, "Yes, I suppose he is."

They both eventually came to the realization that they liked each other quite a bit.
[Among the Scots, this passes for wild passion - Ed.]

They continued at school and at dating. Marion came to learn that Paul was from a broken home -- his parents had divorced (oh, scandal!) -- and he was not a Catholic, but despite these terrible shortcomings, neither she nor her parents could work up the appropriate venom towards him. He was smart (an MIT boy!) and hardworking (obviously) and honorable and polite and kind-hearted, and that made up for his hideous failings.

Paul graduated from MIT in June, 1947, but, a perverse fellow, did not bother attending his own graduation. Marion had another year before she would finish school, and although the topic of marriage had come up, Annie Beaton had made it clear that Marion would not get married until she had graduated.

Paul's long-time friend, Bob Turner, helped Paul get a job working in a laboratory at Harvard University. This provided an income (hooray!) and also opened several other doors. Door One was that while working at Harvard, Paul took the time to get a Masters Degree in Electronics Engineering, which he had studied in the Navy (he later said, "What the heck, I was there anyway, and it was free, since I was an employee"). Door Two was that the challenges they faced in the lab, and the people Paul met in the lab, eventually led to the creation of a company, which we will visit later.

Marion graduated on June 10, 1948, but did not immediately land a teaching job, so she went to work at Coleman's, a women's fashion store in Boston. Paul went in search of an apartment they could afford. This, in the housing shortage of the time, was no mean feat. But Paul, living in a boarding house and eager to get married and into a real family, worked at it.

Paul found a gorgeous apartment on Commonwealth Ave for $90/month, but, after a rigorous examination by Marion's parents, they realized that they would not be able to keep up with the payments, and backed out of the deal (which cost Paul $90!). They eventually found an apartment on Park Drive in Boston for $75 a month (everything included) and prepared to move in.

But first they had to get married, and they did this in the usual wild, romantic, passionate, uninhibited Scots fashion. They had virtually no reception, mainly because Marion was somewhat terrified at the thought of a huge production and had no interest in one. Also, they did not want to spend the money, and neither the Beatons nor Paul's mother (his father was dead) would cough up for a party. They were married in the back room of Sacred Heart Church, which was "about as attractive as the back room of a supermarket," not allowed to use the altar because Paul was a Protestant. Howard Paul Grant married Marion Jeannette Beaton on December 26, 1948, which completed the trifecta for Marion: her birthday is December 24, Christmas is December 25, and her anniversary is December 26.

Marion remembers their first apartment, 137 Park Drive, Apt. 16, as lovely and palatial. It had a large living room, about 12' x 16', an alcove big enough for a double bed and a bureau, a 6' x 8' kitchenette, a little bathroom, and a closet that had a window, where a baby could sleep, were they ever so blessed.

1949 was a wonderful year. Although they were flabbergasted by the astonishing cost of the apartment -- Paul later told me, "I distinctly remember it was $75 a month, because $75 a month was all the money in the world!!" -- and by the cost of living in general, they loved the apartment, and the location, and their lives, and even, in some strange, restrained, unspoken, rigid, straight-faced Scottish way, each other.

Paul continued to work at the Harvard lab, enjoying it immensely. Marion found a teaching job and tackled it happily.

Marion gave birth to their first child, Nancy Elizabeth Grant, on October 6, 1949, nine months and ten days after they were married, not that you were counting.

Click Part 6 below to continue.

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