New Photo Of Ruth Surfaces -- Taken About The Time Ruth Graduated From High School -- Don, Perhaps, Just Out Of The Service (WWII)

Jan sent this photo  to me today (February 3, 2021) with no accompanying information except to say it is "Mom and Don."

I replied:

They were four years apart.

Don, b. 1923.

Ruth, b. 1927.

17 years old and 21 years old. Home for Ruth's high school graduation?

1923 + 21 = 1944.  Both Carl and Don, if I recall correctly, served in WWII. So, unlikely Don would have been in Iowa in 1944.

1945: after the war; Don comes home after the war?

1945:

Don: 22 years old

Ruth: 18 years old.

So, what did the back of the photo say? What year was the photo taken?

This note from Don that we received awhile back provides a bit of data points around the time this photo was taken:

I [Don] graduated High School in May, 1941—before Pearl Harbor but with much turmoil in the world.  Military service was a near certainty for the boys graduating.  I was working in a local drug store during High School and continued after graduating.  One of my high school friends was doing a similar thing in another store.  We met at lunch frequently and made plans to go to Los Angles to earn ‘big’ money in the defense work.

The two of us, in his car, left the Iowa farm on a spring morning in 1942.  Ruth, our parents and the family dog waved us goodbye.  We arrived in Los Angles, found living accommodations and a job.  I enlisted in the CG in December.  Sometime after our departure, our parents and Ruth left the farm and moved into Fonda.  Ruth completed high school and entered nurse training.