Memories of an Old Man is a series of memoirs written by West of 50 member, Ken Felts.
I was shaken to the core and tried to keep things as they had been, but guilt was eating away at me. About a month later, I resigned my job, packed my things, and leaving Phillip at the curb, I returned to the safety of my old hometown, Dodge City. I went into business with my brother, and we operated Midtown Conoco Service. He was an excellent mechanic, and I handled the front-end business. Phillip wrote several letters, all of which I ignored. In his last note he said if I did not reply, he would bother me no longer. I did not reply and thought that chapter of my life had ended. But I longed for him.
I was doing some photography and frequented a local photo supply store, Southwest Photo Supply. The owner was somewhat older than me and we became friends. He had been wanting to expand his business to a nearby town; I borrowed money and bought a partnership and before long was manager of our new store in Liberal, Kansas, about 85 miles from Dodge City. Having little funds, I used some of the storeroom space for living quarters. New town, new life, still straight.
My store was next door to a small family restaurant and that became my source of meals. I regularly attended the Protestant church and later converted to another, but I always straight. A waitress in the café next door and I started dating and one night she took me to her home.
After a few weeks, I was now 31 or 32, she got me in bed with her, where I had my first sexual experience with a woman. Two or three times later, during one of our encounters, she saw me looking at my watch – it was such a ho-hum experience. She told me she had never been so humiliated in her life and asked me to leave.
Leaving home for Ft. Hays College in Kansas
Work at the camera shop occupied much of my time, but six days in the store with customers and then spending the rest of the time in my “living quarters” soon became disheartening and church attendance no longer held joy. Finally, I decided to return to college for my master’s degree. Proper arrangements were made, a new manager was hired for our store, and I was soon enrolled at Fort Hays Kansas State College. I moved into an apartment near campus and enrolled in a course of liberal arts. I received my master’s degree on August 10, 1963.
While there, I dated the daughter of the farmer I had worked for the previous summer but was never attracted to her. Upon graduation, one of my classmate friends had been accepted to the University of Connecticut for the coming fall and having no other plans, I decided to follow him there. We got a small apartment near the campus of the University and settled in. I was accepted into a course of anthropology and was able to get a teaching assistant position to help pay my tuition, which supplemented the G.I. Bill provided after my military service. We were strictly roommates and had no romantic interest in each other.
At the University of Connecticut with Gai Luron
Weekends in New England were filled with short trips to nearby historic sites including Olde Mistic Village and Old Saybrook. Particularly enjoyable was spending the fall in New England as the leaves turned color. At the end of the school year, Spring 1964, I was faced with the reality of having to go to work to support myself, and further courses in anthropology did not offer much in career choices. Thus ended my endeavors to achieve a PhD. Again, I packed my possessions and returned to Dodge City.