THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994 TAG: 9406210163
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN S. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940623 LENGTH: Medium
Lois' mother was a chaperone for dozens of Norfolk's most prominent young ladies, known as the Virginia Belles. The young women volunteered to dance with servicemen at dances each week throughout the war. Even though Lois was not quite old enough to dance with the men, the teenager was still allowed to tag along and watch.
{REST} ``It looked like so much fun,'' the grown-up teenager recalled recently during the 50-year reunion of her ``mother's girls.'' ``Those girls were so glamorous to me. They were like movie stars in my life.''
Just like she did 50 years ago, Lois Bellamy Martin, now 64, came to be with the belles at the June 17 reunion in the Officers Club of the Naval Amphibious Base at Little Creek, where so many of the World War II service dances had been held.
``They're still all so friendly,'' the ``honorary Belle'' said. ``It's almost like I'm 14 again.''
For the 37 former Belles who gathered at the club, the afternoon was dedicated to reminiscing, renewing old friendships and, yes, even dancing.
``I haven't danced the jitterbug in years,'' admitted Ardis ``Honey'' Morris Emanuelson, one of the former Belles who performed a dance routine at the reunion. ``I didn't know if I could still do it. But it came back after a while.''
Emanuelson was just 18 and an employee with the Virginian Railway when a friend told her about the Belles. After assuring her mother that the dances were well-chaperoned, she was allowed to join the group.
``I really enjoyed the war,'' the Virginia Beach resident said. ``You had to be crazy not to if you were a Belle. You got to do all that dancing, and the fellas really cut in a lot. Back then, I was pretty shy. . . Going to those dances really brought me out a lot.''
``We had one heck of a good time, dancing to the big bands,'' said Rae James Martinette, a former Belle who now lives in Virginia Beach. ``I was more interested in dancing than meeting guys.''
``We were there to dance,'' echoed her former roommate, Mary Price Hummingshake, also a Beach resident. ``You really didn't get a chance to know the men.''
Although strictly chaperoned, some Belles did find romance at the dances. Six months after meeting a sailor from Pennsylvannia on the dance floor, Annie More Harkes Merten married him during one of his leaves. And they're together still.
``He told me that night he wanted to marry me, but I didn't believe him,'' the former Belle recalled with a laugh.
``I just wanted to dance.''
by CNB