MULTNOMAH FALLS HISTORY

Some Background

It was only a few days earlier on Sunday, September 15th, that Dotti and I first laid eyes on each other. It was a clear day, that reached a high of 81 degrees, I was standing the Petty Officer of the Watch, dressed in my “dress whites” uniform, including a single chevron under the eagle on my left arm, and a 45 automatic on my hip, when I spied a group of young ladies heading for the gangway. When they came aboard, the Officer of the Deck directed me to open the bridge for the ladies, in order to allow them to tour the space. A few of the sailors onboard were Mormons, and these ladies were from their church. The sailors had invited them to come and take a short tour of the ship, which included a stop at the bridge. The outer hatch was padlocked closed, and I had the keys, so I led the group up the ladder to the hatch and stood by while they looked around.

One of the girls really caught my eye. She stood about 5′4″ tall, had short brown hair and dimples that jumped right out at me every time she smiled. She seemed unattached, and looked like she had a cheerful personality. I was sad when I had to lock up the space, and watch them leave. At the time I didn’t realize it, but I had just seen my future wife for the very first time. I can so clearly see Dotti standing there on the bridge, it is like it just happened yesterday. Great things were ahead of me, and only the flutter of my heart gave me a clue as to what they might be. Fortunately for me, one of the guys who attended their church was an electronics technician like me, and we worked together everyday. This was the ticket to what was to follow.

On Monday, September 16th, while Gerald Ford was giving his first, and painful, press conference after pardoning former president Richard Nixon I was discussing the group of ladies that had come onboard during my watch the day before with Bob, the aforementioned Mormon in my Electronics Technician shop. He told me that the church was going to have a volleyball game on Wednesday night, and the girls would be there, and I could come along if I wanted. I wasn’t so much interested in "the girls," but there was one girl I already had my sights on. I thought that coming along would be a very good idea.

Wednesday, September 18th, 2004, I finally I got to speak with Dotti, in the car on the way over. And before that I had just thought she looked great! She was bubbling over with things to say, and it was like sitting next to a mountain stream listening to her. The volleyball game got going and Dotti and I were on the same team. At one point she hurt her shoulder, an old injury that still troubles her from time to time today, and I was very concerned. Another girl was trying to pull me back into the game, but I would have none of it until I knew Dotti was okay. After the game, the church had a movie that we sat through, that promoted the church and explained some of the doctrines of the church. Dotti and I sat next to each other and I was asking her questions, and it seemed we were talking the entire time, because Bob was upset that I was not getting properly indoctrinated by the movie (he didn’t word it that way exactly, but it was what he was concerned about ) with all the time I was dedicating to listening to Dotti. We were actually talking about the movie most of the time, so Bob’s concerns were unfounded.

By evening’s end, Dotti and I were really hitting it off. She said that the Mormons were having an ice skating party on Friday night and she was wondering if I would be interested in coming along. I said, "Sure!" However, I had to tell her that I had to go down to Tiller and return my mom’s car to her before our ship pulled out to sea on Saturday. I was flying back up on Friday afternoon, and I wasn’t sure if it would be early enough to make the party. But I told her that I would try. What I told myself was that I was going to make it back in time if I had to fly the plane myself to hurry it along. I knew Dotti was very special already, and by the end of that upcoming Friday night, I knew that I was going to marry her someday, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Friday, September 20th, I had my second chance to talk with Dotti.

The day started with me in southern Oregon, and my Mom driving me to the Medford Airport to catch a plane back up to Portland.

I landed in Portland in the afternoon, and my friend Bob picked me up at the airport. He said, "Dorothy has been asking about you, and whether or not you are going to be there tonight." That did my heart good. It is always a good sign with a lady you are fond of is asking about you!

As it turned out, it was going to be a busy evening. First of all, we were going to be spending some time at a local ice skating rink and having some fun. We then were going to the guys’ apartment for a "cleaning up party" before our ship headed out to sea the next day. (This ship’s deployment was unfortunate timing indeed for what I wanted to be doing instead.)

Bob drove me to the ship from the airport, where I picked up a few things... including a pair of dress pants for me to wear that night ice-skating, my guitar, and my music book. We drove over to the apartment the Mormon guys were sharing, where I got changed. When I finally got see Dotti, she and her roommate chuckled at how fancy I had gotten dressed up, and said that she was duly impressed, and told me to go back and put on some jeans for the ice skating, just in case I took a fall. I figured if she didn’t mind my being comfortable, that was fine with me.

We finally all made it over to the rink, and got our skates. Soon we were on the ice. Now Dotti and I came from really different skating backgrounds. She was born in New York, and lived in Vermont for a while. She skated like she was born to it. In the winter, when she lived in Rutland, Vermont, there was a field at the Rotary Club that they flooded with water, and it froze up into a really great skating rink. All winter long she went there and skated. She was a natural.

I was born in Southern California and thought ice was something that you got out of your freezer for your glass. I had successfully roller skated once in high school, and that means I could go around an oval without falling down, if I went slowly. I had accomplished the same feat one time on ice skates on a church outing in the early summer of 1970. But that was the extent of my skating history. The only skating thing that I had to brag about by evening’s end was that I had not fallen down at all, but it was close. I skated slowly and poorly around and around near the railing so I could grab it if needed.

Dotti skated hither and yon, doing figure eights, loops and all sorts of other fancy things. She could go around the rink a dozen times in the time it took me to go once. I was very impressed. Even when she fell she looked good doing it. But I even more enjoyed the times when she slowed down to my pace, and pulled me out into the middle of the rink and got me to speed up a bit. And then the best time was when we stopped and talked at the rail and I got to know the woman that I was rapidly falling deeply in love with. We talked of life, love and morals. We spoke of so many things and our views were so similar in so many areas that it was almost spooky. Like a minor who had been digging for years and who suddenly picked out a chuck of pure gold, I knew this was what I had been looking for all of my life.

There was one point along the way, while we were at the rink, where something was lost or missing. It may have been before we even started skating. I don’t even remember what it was, but I do remember that Dotti had to go back to her place to get the missing item, and naturally I offered to join her. It was close enough to walk to, but we decided to run instead. There was something about that little run that sticks in my mind. The active spirit, the athletic side of this beautiful young lady was just one more thing that I loved about her.

After the skating, there followed the housecleaning party. The Mormon girls came over to join in, and the place was put into shape fairly quickly. At one point I sat down with my guitar, while Dotti was finishing up some cleaning in the kitchen. A few of the girls sat down to listen. Dotti stuck her head around the corner of the kitchen every once in a while and smiled at me, and I knew all was right with the world. I was playing every song for her, even though she was out of view most of the time.

That night I spent in the apartment with the guys, and after the ladies had gone home, I wrote my very first letter to Dotti. I didn’t have any writing paper, but I did have an envelope. So, I steamed the envelope all the way open, and wrote my letter on the inside. It was undated, and began, "Dorothy," and ended, "Love, Al" I won’t burden you with the rest. I filled up the side opposite the address panel, and then I sealed it all back up again and gave it to Dotti the next day when she came to see us off.

When she opened the envelope, she was looking everywhere inside trying to find the letter it contained. She finally figured out what I had done and opened up the envelope and read the letter. She said that she knew I was going to be one she was going to have to keep her eye on.

It was only a few hours until I wrote my second letter, which was my first on proper stationery. But that was on September 21st.

On Friday, September 20th, I had traveled from Southern Oregon to Portland in the north. On September 21st, the girls came down to the pier to watch the USS Ozbourne (DD 846) pull out, with the Mormon guys, and myself on it. It was the first time that Dotti and I were going to be separated by the Navy. It turned out to be one of many times. I gave Dotti the letter that I had written on the envelope and we said our goodbyes. Since we were just getting acquainted, it was rather formal, but I was really happy she had come down to the ship to see me off.

Later that day, I wrote my first letter to Dotti on real letter paper. I said, "This is really bad timing by me. A week ago I didn’t care if we were going to Alaska or San Diego or anywhere in the world. Portland wasn’t anything special. I’m afraid that is no longer the case. I finally walked into something special and now I have to go play Navy for a couple of months..." I was feeling pretty sad about the fact that we were going to be gone so long, especially so soon. But things didn’t turn out as bad as I feared.

The mail didn’t leave the ship all that often, so I didn’t put that letter in an envelope and drop it off yet. I continued writing the next day when we were in the Pacific, after making the 100+ mile trip up the Columbia River to its mouth. We had stopped at Astoria and loaded our ammunition. (They didn’t want a warship parked near downtown Portland carrying enough munitions to make a real mess if they went off.) We crossed the Columbia bar, where so many ships have wrecked over the years, and reached the Pacific Ocean. We turned south and steamed towards San Diego, where we were supposed to meet up with the fleet for maneuvers. But for once the gremlins did right by me. Murphy’s law took a day off, and the ship lost its spare boiler. We had to turn around about the time we hit the California border. For the second time in 3 days I was traveling from Southern Oregon to Portland, and I was even more excited this time! My letter for September 22nd started out, "We are headed North now..." I went on to explain how we were going to have to stop at Astoria again and offload our ammo, and then we would be heading home up the Columbia to Portland once more! I wrote, "Sounds good to me!"

One other thing I wrote in my letter was something unrelated, but I can still clearly picture the event in my mind’s eye, "We passed a large school of dolphins today. The whole ship’s crew was on the deck watching them leap. We were moving the same direction as they were, and they stretched out left and right... as far as we could see. It was really beautiful." I can still remember the clear sky, the blue water, and the dolphins leaping gracefully out of the water as they kept up with us.

At the end of the letter I stammered and stumbled around what I wanted to say. I was in love already and I knew it. But I didn’t want to move too quickly and scare her away. Dotti was already in my heart and there was never going to be anyway to get her out again. She is the best thing that ever happened to me!

Monday, September 23rd, we had reached Astoria. My letter said that the crew had not been notified yet of what the ship was going to do for sure. As it turned out the ship was not repairable at that time, with those facilities, and so we headed back to Portland the next day after unloading the ammo once more. I also wrote to Dotti, "You have captured my heart..." so I had stopped stumbling around a bit in 24 hours.

Tuesday, September 24th, 1974, the ship pulled into Swan Island in Portland. We scrambled off the ship as soon as they would let us go, and placed a call to the apartment where Dotti and some of her girl friends were staying. To the statement, "We are at Swan Island," Dotti replied, "I didn’t know there was a Swan Island in San Diego." When she understood that we were back in Portland and would heading over to see her in just a few minutes she squealed and said that she was going to have to scramble. It was in the evening and she was already in relaxed attire, washed her hair and was generally not ready for company. But she set a record in getting ready because she looked just great by the time that we arrived.