"Second Strike of Lightning" was firmly based on the true-life romance between Bryce and Lorene Jackson, my parents, during World War II. Their on-again, off-again romance has what all romances require - a happy ending.
But more than that, the thing that inspired me to tell their story was their unspoken decision, independently developed, not to talk about what happened in that first marriage. By 1946, they were both very different people than who they had been before WWII, and their love was a new love.
Interestingly, Bryce decided to only celebrate one wedding date, the first one, even though there were four years missing. He figured he should have been married to Lorene during that whole time. I think he learned a lot about growing up in those years, and what he had lost.
- 1938 First marriage of Bryce and Lorene
- 1942 Divorce of Bryce and Lorene
- 1943 Marriage of Bryce and Helen (we never knew her last name)
- 1946 Divorce of Bryce and Helen; Re-marriage of Bryce and Lorene by the same minister that married them in 1938.
The following are poems, mostly written by Lorene Jackson, of which I included a portion in the play.
"I want to am
Where you is
Instead of where I be
Cause where you are
Where I are not
Just ain't no place for me."
We fulfilled our ambition to make good ammunition
For the boys fighting over the sea.
We did our job well, so the records will tell
A real challenge to shifts "A" and "B'.
There was method in the madness of the powers that be
When they pointed their finger at good old "C"
And said, "The best recipe" and it sounds good to me
Is to give one-half to "A" and one half to "B"
With this rich new blood in the veins of the two
Maybe they'll do the job like C used to do.
Though we still can't help but regret the demise
Of the shift that was always healthy and wise.
We'll join the others to bring nearer the day
Of victory and peace to the U S of A.
By Lorene Jackson,
on Shift C being re-assigned, 1944
Ten years ago when I was young
I thought, for me, life had just begun.
I married a fellow, younger than I,
Because I thought he was one swell guy.
We had a son, a duplicate was he.
Now I thought life was nearly complete.
But something happened that was meant to be.
We grew unhappy and parted company.
While the war had started and changed many lives,
He changed his thoughts and changed his wives.
The turmoil ended and the boys came home
After years of tramping and having to roam
Over places that were beautiful to tourists and such
But in those dark days was blood and muck.
The guy I'd divorced came home on a furlough
And it seemed we were friends from the first hello.
One day my telephone rang on the wall
He had called to see if I'd marry him at all.
I was sure I wouldn't - right at first
Then changed my mind I could do worse.
The years before had not been happy
But decided I would again marry "Pappy"
I now call him my second husband, you see,
Because he's not like the first one could be.
He's an ideal husband, and I'm proud to say
He's easier to live with since I've learned his ways.
He must have taken lessons on how to be
The wonderful husband that he is to me.
These last months have been hard ones
So don't look back at the past.
As what's happened was bound to be.
May the future be a bright one
And bring joys that will last.
Written by Lorene Jackson
Dec 1948
Lorene said that the three years she spent during World War II, working at Lake City Ammunitions Company was a wonderful time. She learned how to interact and kid with men, after having spent all of her life before that catering to women. She learned how to dance, and bowl. She always sewed her clothes, because of her short stature - 4'11".
Bryce William Jackson was born on October 29, 1940. I made him a little older in the play than he was originally, so that he could be active in making his parents get back together.
Pop Jackson actually died prior to the remarriage, but I needed him as a supporting character in the play.
I wasn't born until after the remarriage, in 1950. And they had a third child, another girl, in 1957. Lorene bestowed her best treasure upon the new-born - her prized named of Jackie.
In 1948, Bryce and Lorene, with son Brycey and mother Esther, the grandmother, moved to Glendale, Los Angeles area, in California. Most of the relatives of both of them trickled out to California, most of them to stay.
In 1966, Bryce was transferred to Seattle, Washington when Lockheed Aircraft Corporation bought the McCurdy Shipyards. The family re-located to Seattle, and it was a relief to be away from the rest of the relatives!
June 9, 1969, Bryce died of a heart attack, at age 49. This time it was till "death do us part". Lorene is alive and well, as of the writing of this play, at 90 years old. She still drives her car and gardens. She never remarried.
Was Esther Jackson in real life, the way I depicted her in the play? Depended upon who you talked to in the family. I saw both sides of her personality, and how she interacted with my dad. In any event, the way she was influenced events of my dad's life, and made him into the man he was. She died at age 86, having moved back to Missouri in the last year of her life.
