The Former Beauty Queen's Surprise Offer

The Former Beauty Queen's Surprise Offer

A former high school homecoming queen, Mabel Thompson closely resembled her beautiful mother. Mabel also went on to win a local beauty contest when she was 18. But unfortunately the stunning brunette with blue/violet eyes who some said resembled a famous movie star also inherited her mother's bossy manner and short temper. Thus it came as no surprise to many who knew her mother that her rocky marriage ended soon after the birth of baby #5 and her ex was never seen or heard from again!

Their oldest child Mabel, aspired to one day be an actress in Hollywood with a leading role. Three years in a row she starred in her high school's spring musicals for she had also inherited her mother's singing talent. Mabel dreamed of one day leaving her hometown in damp, dreary Washington State and moving down to sunny Hollywood, California to begin her career as an actress.

For years Mabel saved the allowance she received each week for doing chores for her single, divorced mom. To support her big family Mabel's mother worked long hours as a legal secretary and so it fell to Mabel during the week to supervise her younger siblings after school, cook dinner, wash the dishes, do laundry and clean the house. Mabel was just an average student with no interest in a college degree, she was entirely focused on pursuing an acting career. But her high school required did require her to take a business course if she wasn't college bound.

"Okay, I'll take the classes in order to graduate but there's no way I'm going to end up working in an office 9 to 5, chained to a desk like you are," Mabel told her mother. I'm going to make it as an actress and hopefully I'll even win n win an Oscar some day!"

The summer she graduated from high school and turned 18, Mabel easily won the "Miss Rhododendron" beauty pageant at the County Fair Flower Show (the Rhododendron being Washington state's flower). That fall she decided to escape the drudgery at home and pursue her dream. She took the allowance she had saved from her household chores over the years and left town on a bus, and with a couple of transfers finally ended up in Hollywood.

But cold reality set in soon enough. Her money was disappearing fast for cheap motel rooms and fast food restaurants and she found it impossible to secure an agent or audition with no previous acting experience.

A dream dies hard....she told herself

Very discouraged and with her money nearly gone, Mabel was sitting in the dismal Greyhound depot in downtown LA and wondering what to do next when she learned that beautiful Santa Barbara, which is home to some rich and famous stars was only two hours away and right on the ocean! Perhaps, Mabel thought, she could make an exciting new start there! But when Mabel arrived she was appalled by how expensive everything was!

She quickly learned from the locals that the cost of living was much less up in Windy Oaks, a small community located about only an hour and a half away on the other side of the mountains. It is one of several towns located amidst miles of yellow grasslands and oak trees. The area is known for its horse ranches and its hot, dry, windy weather.

Once she got off the bus there Mabel used the last of her savings to rent a cheap room. With her clerical and computer skills from the business classes, she quickly found a part time job mornings in the admissions office of Windy Oaks Community College. While she was grateful to get hired so quickly, the mind numbing work of typing student information into a computer all day was a far cry from her dreams of stardom in Hollywood!

Again she thought, a dream dies hard

To ease her boredom and loneliness, Mabel enrolled in the college's popular Current Events class which met Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It was there that she met her future husband, a bright, handsome and charismatic and ambitious sophomore named Harry Willetts.