More Royko in Love

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Carol’s Pinups

Though she was a “good girl”—as anyone who knew her from childhood has attested—no doubt, Mom knew what she had. Even when I was a kid, she did the occasional bit of modeling, or at least she updated her portfolio with some fashionable photos (I’ve included an example at the end). The references that Dad makes in his letters about the pin-up style pictures she’d send him provide some of his funniest bits of self-aggrandizement, such as this, from October, 1954: “Something cute happened today. We have an officer who is about two years older than me, fresh out of college, eager to please, and very confused with the A[ir]F[orce]. He was sitting around the office and he overheard someone mention something about me getting married. He was politely interested and asked to see your picture. I showed him your leopard skin cheese cake and he gasped and said ‘Gosh she’s prettier than Marilyn Monroe.’ Then he looked at me, looked at your picture, at me again, so I said, ‘I can’t understand it either.’ This embarrassed him so much that he stammered and said, ‘Oh, you’re nice looking too.’ When he said that and realized how silly that sounded he got red and couldn’t say anything else. Gosh hon, you sure get these guys shook up.”

1967: Mom at 33, keeping up with the times

As an 8-year-old kid, I though it all looked pretty funny—Mom a mountaineer? And for anyone who was wondering, now you know—her glove size was 7-1/2.