Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker Read Free Book Online

idea, or he seemed to. But he had dreams, too. He explained in his usual charming way that the Navy was a means to an end for him—that he thought he could get the Navy to sponsor his studies in the law or, better yet, his real passion, political science. This turned out to be a frustrating miscalculation. Despite glowing reviews and hearty recommendations from his commanding officers, he was turned down each time he applied for graduate-level course work. It always seemed that someone with connections, a congressman’s son or a senator’s nephew, got the appointment instead.
    Alone in Norfolk, Mimi had to pinch pennies while Don was at sea. The small checks from the Navy, about thirty-five dollars a week, would get lost in the mail, and she would have to rely on her neighbors for groceries and meals. It was a different story when Don was in port. With his Georgetown education, his command of languages, and his interest in international relations, the handsome young lieutenant was making a good impression. Aboard the Juneau, Don wasn’t just the ship secretary; he was the resident chess master, taking on all comers. Between missions, Don was the captain’s regular tennis partner, and he and Mimi socialized with the brass at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, where Don became known for fixing Iron Curtains, a potent lowball made with vodka and Jägermeister. Don’s smooth, professorial air impressed a number of admirals and generals—as well as at least one of their wives, who happened to come along as a passenger on one of the Juneau ’s trips to Panama.
    There aren’t many places to find privacy on a warship, but there are enough. Back on the mainland, however, secrets are not so easy to keep. The officer’s wife might not have known that one of her friends was acquainted with the wife of Don Galvin. When Mimi heard about that voyage of the Juneau, any last bit of allure of being the bride of a distinguished Navy lieutenant quickly faded. No one may have been more in thrall to Don than Mimi. But now, with two little boys to care for, she was all too aware that she needed him more than he needed her.
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    DON APPLIED TO a law program in exchange for committing to stay in the Navy another six years. He was turned down. He requested transfers to Panama, Cuba, or the Atlantic Division—all places where the Navy offered law classes. He was turned down again.
    There was another violently ill pregnancy, followed by another son: their third, John, born in Norfolk at the end of 1949. Don was away for this one, in the middle of a deployment in Glenview, Illinois, for four months of officer’s training. Mimi and the boys stayed in Norfolk as Don worked to be transferred somewhere, anywhere, else. Then Don received word that the Juneau was moving its home shipyard to Puget Sound—across the country on the West Coast, one step closer to Korea, where war was brewing.
    Mimi couldn’t contain herself any longer. It was time for Don to leave the Navy. On January 23, 1950, Don gave notice in a letter that laid the blame squarely on his home situation. “Deprivation of a wholesome family life is reason enough for my resignation,” Don wrote. “To remain in the Navy would deprive my wife and my three sons of a normal family life and a home.” Don also appeared to be stinging from his rejections—all the moments when the Navy had failed to recognize his potential. He’d had enough of being passed over for law school. “Motivation,” he wrote, “can only come when we want to do something, or someone instills in us a desire to do it. I have experienced no motivation in the Navy.”
    Mimi was relieved. Finally, her long exile in strange, faraway towns would come to an end. They planned to move back to New York, where Don would enroll at Fordham Law School in the Bronx, and they would get started on the life she’d wanted all along. They shopped for a house in Levittown, Long Island’s new enclave of affordable