TRUE STORY
Driven To Love
Never get into a car with a stranger, she’d heard
In the days of sock hops, poodle skirts, and big, curvy cars, many love stories began in high school. Some began in dance halls. And some began on the road.
On a cold winter Saturday in 1957, Jean and two friends were enjoying their freedom as single, working 23-year-old women. As they tooled down Michigan Avenue in downtown Wayne, Michigan, a small Ford factory-centric town still enjoying post-WWII boom times, a handsome young man pulled alongside them and indicated they should pull over.
Emboldened by her friends, Jean pulled the car over to the side of the road, giddy with laughter. The young man pulled behind them and climbed out of his car. Jean rolled down her window cautiously. The man leaned down and said, “Hi, I’m Don Smith.” Then, acknowledging the ubiquity of the surname, he offered his driver’s license as evidence. Jean glanced. Indeed, he was Don Smith.
“Where are you beautiful girls going?” he asked. The young women tittered and blurted out various destinations.
“Well, I’m on my way to pick up my mom from bingo,” Don replied with a charming grin. “Why don’t you come with me?”
“In your car?” asked one friend.
