Jitterbug Contest US Grant 1944
My best memory of being at the US Grant Hotel was after my husband and I had just gotten married in August 1944 during World War 2. My little Jimmy was stationed in San Diego where he was a sailor on the USS New Kent. So while he was still home on leave before he left to be shipped back to the Pacific, we decided to go to the US Grant Hotel for a night of dining and dancing before he left. We both loved to jitterbug, and we knew there was dancing at the Hotel. I had just found out I was 2 months pregnant with our first child, so when the music started, my overly concerned husband decided it wouldn't be such a good idea for me to enter the Jitterbug Contest they were having that night. So he invited the rather nice looking wife of a friend of his who went along with us to dance with him, to my chagrin. It made me a bit miffed, so I invited her husband to dance with me, without my Jimmy knowing. So one by one the dancer's were being asked to leave the dance floor as they were eliminated. Eventually there were only 2 couples left on the dance floor. My husband and his partner received first place, and me and my partner got second. He let his partner take the trophy home with her, and I took my second place trophy home with us. I wouldn't let him dacne with any one else the rest or our 62 years together. He has been gone 5 years, but I will always remember the wonderful memories we had at the US Grant Hotel.
Wilma Jo (Coffman) Boren
