War-time Wedding

Eleanor Leona Carpenter - Louis Edward Butler
married 17 November 1943
Seattle, Washington

When I was home on leave, between Radio School at Moscow, Idaho and advanced training at Bainbridge Island in the Puget sound off Seattle, Leona and I talked about getting married in December. But after I got to Bainbridge, we decided that if Leona could get up to Seattle, and that was no easy undertaking, that we would get married. So my mom wrote me a letter of permission to get married (since I was not yet 21!), and Leona brought it out with her on the train. The transportation situation was difficult; gas was rationed and the trains were crowded with both civilians and the military always trying to get someplace a long ways off. She ended up sitting on her suitcase part of the way.

Cutting the wedding cake

The Koons family - wedding hosts
and perhaps one of Lou's navy buddies

We were married on November 17, 1943, at the home of the Koons family that we met at the University Ward. We had dinner and a cake, and it was awfully nice of the Koons to make it so nice for us. Leona worked at the telephone company while we were in Seattle, having transferred from the telephone company in Pueblo where she had been working, so we managed to have enough money to live on. Housing was almost impossible to find because of all of the military and all of the shipyard workers and all of the aircraft workers, etc. We only had to stay in a hotel for a few days until we were lucky to just find a room in a private home. They also rented out a couple more rooms in the upstairs of their house, and we shared a bath with a couple of other couples. We had no facilities for eating, so we ate out when we first got the room.

We hadn’t been there long, before Mrs. Enyert (the landlady) told Leona we could use their kitchen for our evening meal. Knowing we had nothing and were very young, she felt sorry for us and was a help to us.

Gasoline ration stamps

At this time, gasoline was rationed as well as much of the food such as meat, sugar, etc. We didn’t have [ration] stamps yet and Mrs. Enyert told Leona that they had a grocery store were we could buy our groceries. She would give Leona stamps and she would tell her not to tell her husband that she gave them to us! Then we would go to their store and Mr. Enyert would come around and give us stamps on the sly which he would say that some customer gave him because they didn’t need them! He would always say for us not to tell his wife because she would not like it as it is really against the law. So we had more [ration] stamps than we could use.

Grocery ration stamps

After they had let us use the kitchen for a while, they suggested that we could stay down in the living room after supper if we would like. So we now had the use of the kitchen and the living room, plus she had lots of advice for Leona about how to cook! They were very nice to us and we appreciated it very much.

Most of the time I could get off of the base for the night, but it would mean riding a bus to the Sound, catching a ferry and riding for about 30 minutes, then getting off at the pier in Seattle and catching a bus to ride another 30 minutes or more to our apartment. Then in the early morning I would be back on the bus – ferry - bus and back on the base to study or stand watch for the day, and then start all over again after work. But it was worth it! We were young and had plenty of energy for the demanding schedule.

Lou and Leona
so young - but so in love!


65 years later - still so in love!