A Terre Haute native, Bill Dodson attended one year of Indiana State Teachers College before being drafted into the US Navy in 1943. As quartermaster aboard LST 51 during World War II, he served in Italy, North Africa, and was at Normandy helping bring British troops ashore at Gold Beach during the D-Day Invasion. He also served in the Pacific Theater, the Philippines, Carolinas, Ryotos and Japan. Betty Milholland grew up on the same street as Bill and was a childhood friend. During the War, she joined the US Navy’s WAVES program, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, and trained as a welfare specialist at the College of William and Mary. She became a chaplain’s assistant at San Leandro Naval Hospital in California. After the War ended, Bill and Betty married on May 25th, 1946, at Centenary Methodist Church in Terre Haute. They both went on to earn teaching degrees from Indiana State Teachers College and taught for three years in Alaska territorial schools before returning to Terre Haute to teach in 1953. After earning a master’s degree in school library media services from Indiana State University, Betty was bookmobile librarian for the Vigo County Public Library from 1971 to 1985.