It was the summer of 1942. The urgency of war dominated the news. Jim had left Notre Dame in the Fall of 1941, and was married to Betty in April of 1942. Betty was now pregnant with Cathy, and Jim thought perhaps a defense related job would earn him a deferment. After trying to get into the Army, he was now trying to stay out. He had studied drafting in high school under Wes Mitchell, the assistant football coach, and with two years of college, he landed a job as a draftsman at Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Off they went, at ages twenty and eighteen, to begin their married life. They got out to Seattle by hitching a ride with a guy who illegally carried passengers in mobile homes that he was transferring across the county. Jim and Betty shared the mobile, mobile home with a group of eight other persons.

They were in Seattle for only a couple of months when a better opportunity opened up in the shipyards in Tacoma, Washington, just south of Seattle. They jumped at the opportunity, but Uncle Sam had different ideas. Rather than a deferment, Jim received his draft notice. They now wanted to get back to Minnesota before Cathy was born and before he had to go on active duty.

Since they had no money, Jim decided to raffle off their car. Once he collected the forty odd dollars, he decided he needed both the money and the car. He put the money in his pocket, got in the car, and with his pregnant wife, took off for Minnesota.

It was now November, and there would likely be snow in the mountain passes, but they had to leave. They strapped extra tires on the top of the car and patched a broken side window with cardboard. With the war on, new tires were impossible to find, let alone afford. They had their first adventure just across the state line in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where they had a flat tire which they could not fix. So much for the extra tires on the roof. Fortunately for them, a tire repairman took pity on them and recapped their tire. They spent one night in the attic of a rooming house, not exactly a bed and breakfast by today's standards.

Their next adventure was trying to get through Donner Pass. Donner Pass was made famous by the Donner Party (1846) who were snowed in for an entire winter when they tired to cross the pass in covered wagons too late in the season. They created a sensation, not only because they lived, but because they ate the remains of persons who died. Well, when Jim and Betty got to Donner Pass, they were supposed to have chains or they would not be allowed to go through. Remember, they were in a 1930’s car with recapped tires, a blizzard was going on, Betty was eight months pregnant, and the freeways of today had not yet been built. Once again, someone took pity on them, and the police let them go through, a highly risky choice at best. They inched their way across the mountains along with hundreds of other cars and made it back to Minneapolis. Cathy was born on December 6, 1942. Jim left for the Army Air Core in January of 1943.