Ralph Adolphus Simmons and Dorothy Elizabeth Rhode

He often told the story of the first car he ever drove. He and his father went to Lafayette and bought a new Model T Ford which he had to drive home. He got along pretty well until he came to the gate to their farm lane. He was going too fast as he made the turn, and his father was yelling, "Come slow, come slow, come slow." "Fortunately, I made it through that gate without incident, but just barely," he told us. As a young man, he farmed land on shares so he was exempted from World War I in l918 as most farmers were. After the war, he planted his crops so that he would have enough money from the sale of his corn to pay his tuition to Indiana University. He was registered at I.U. in Bloomington, but his corn crop failed for lack of rain that season and he did not have the money to attend. In those days, not many college students began when they were older than 20, so he never tried again. This was the disappointment of his life, and he always encouraged all of his children to go to college even when times were tough. All four of us had college degrees. My Dad met my mother through her brothers. Forest and Albert Rhode. Courting in those days consisted of going to a few parties and dances, but mostly it meant that the young man called on the young lady in the evenings and they just talked or listened to the gramophone. Sometimes my mother played the upright piano and my dad sang. They dated for several years, and then one evening he said to her. "Well, honey, I think its about time we got married."

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