When I graduated high school it was 1935. The word “prom” wasn’t a part of our vocabulary; I mean, that was for rich people who lived on Park Avenue. There were no dances or anything like that in high school. I think it’s because of the Depression. We couldn’t afford dresses and the rest. We were just too poor.

After high school, I went to Hunter College, which in those days was free to anyone who had the high grades. I was a pre-med, and I went through two years of Hunter College. [My boyfriend] Marvin went to Iowa, of all places, to go to college. And I got lonesome for him. And I quit Hunter and went to Iowa to be with him and finish school.

When we finally came to our junior year [in college], we were told about the junior prom and that Glenn Miller was going to play. And everybody was jumping up and down that we were going to have Glenn Miller for our prom. And I said to my husband, “Who the hell is Glenn Miller?” He said, “I don’t know. He’s some important jazz person or something.” Because we were all strictly classical musicians; Bach was our thing, not Glenn Miller. We didn’t care.

Marvin and I actually had an argument about going. He was forever in favor of the working class and he says, “What do you need that for? What does it mean? It means nothing; it’s a bunch of bologna.” And I knew that what he said was true, but I said, “Look, we’re only young once; we’re having an experience. A junior prom is something that we’ll always remember.” He grudgingly gave in.

Source: www.gayprom.com.