1946

 Mary McLaughlin had continued with mostly the same activities since early in the war; working at Dun & Bradstreet in downtown Boston, living at home and helping with her younger brothers and sisters, and going to the USO events at the downtown Y and other nearby places.  Even as the war was over, things had continued as before, with servicemen coming and going.

On a night in February, 1946, Mary had gone to the Y.  She was surprised when she looked into the lounge, and told her friend Doris Welch, that she though she saw John Skinner in there.  It hardly seemed possible; but there he was, and he took them to dinner that night.  He had gotten a car after getting back, and decided to go to Boston, as he told Mary, to see if she was still there.  The rest you can easily guess......

Mary McLaughlin: 

One night in February 1946, I looked into the lounge at the Y and who should be there but John Skinner.  He took Doris and me out for supper at the Lobster House at 10 o'clock at night.  He had finished his six-year enlistment in October and come back to see if I was still there, he said later.  We started dating and he stayed until March.  We had decided to marry the following summer, so he had to go back to Indiana and enroll in school and find a job for a few months.  He planned to come back in May when I would have my vacation.

All this worked out as we planned.  We were to be married in August, so John decided to work around Boston and found a job painting houses.  We found a lot to do in Boston that summer.  We went to Pops concerts on the Esplanade, went dancing, to the beach, etc. 

We were married on August 18, 1946, and after spending a few days at Rockport and York Beach, started for Indiana.  We went from York up through New Hampshire and stopped at Rosebrook Inn where the McKennas gave us free lodging as a wedding gift.  We traveled around the Finger Lakes and Lake Placid and beautiful areas of New York, then through Ohio and finally reached Indiana.