Child of the Sit-Downs_ The Revolutionary Life of Genora Dollinger - Carlton Jackson [41]
In addition to difficulties with her father because of her fame and expulsion from the SP, there was another price to pay. By 1939, Genora and Kermit were seldom seen in each other’s company; the trip to New York was an exception. Since the sit-down of 1937, Genora had been either on the road promoting unionism or convalescing in a TB sanitarium. Lengthy separations between the two began to take a toll, particularly on Kermit. On a moment’s notice, or so it seemed, Genora could be called away to some union hotspot. In December 1939, Riley E. Males, of Kokomo, Indiana, wrote to Genora that he needed her help in organizing the Delco Radio Plant. He had “about 1400 girls” who “need some women to work with them a while to prove to them that there is really a place in the labor movement for them.”38 Genora was always happy to honor such requests because it was an important way of bringing incipient women’s movements into line with labor concerns. But again, such departures meant leaving husband and children behind.
Not unmindful of the home life she was creating with her numerous extended absences, Genora vented her feelings in poetry. One poem indicated her personal feelings about leaving home so often. It was called “Goodbye Again:”
Goodbye again, goodbye again
Is it always to be like this?
A goodbye smile, a goodbye sigh
And then a goodbye kiss
Fleeting moments of happiness
Is not all that I desire
The ecstasy of a weighted heart
Caught deep and fast in the mire
Of life’s bewilderment—and then
Goodbye again, goodbye again.39
Apparently, all of her friends knew of the impending breakup before she did. She penned this poem when she realized the situation:
Say it isn’t so,
say it isn’t so People say that you don’t love me
Say it isn’t so
Everywhere I go
Everyone I know
Tell me that you’re growing tired of me
Say it isn’t so
People say that you
Found somebody new
And it won’t be long before you leave
Say it isn’t true
Say that everything is still OK
That’s all I want to know
And what they’re saying
Say it isn’t so.40
It was true. Kermit was lonely. A sensitive person, he was jealous of the attention Genora had gotten in the past several months. And, too, there was the bottle, which underscored the loneliness. Furthermore, there was Winifred Bauman, or Winnie, as her friends called her, who began to comfort Kermit in Genora’s absence. Genora and Kermit—after a dozen years or so of marriage—formally separated in 1941.41
Shortly after the separation from Kermit, Genora and her sister Barbara traveled to New York—mostly for a vacation. This was Genora’s first visit since 1939, when she and Kermit had attended the annual meeting of the SWP. Naturally, the two sisters attended several functions sponsored by the SWP. One night they went to a social at party headquarters and were surrounded by admiring men. One was Sol Dollinger (later known as Solly or Jerry Kirk—primarily when he was in trouble with a government), who had been enchanted by Genora just two years before when he saw her enter the room at the SWP annual meeting.
Some might call it too much a coincidence for Sol once again to find himself in Genora’s company. Actually, it was quite predictable. Sol, born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1920 (he was seven years younger than Genora), but raised with a brother and a couple of sisters in New York City, was a merchant mariner. He had committed himself in his youth to Socialist principles and found membership in the SWP amenable to his political and social ideologies. When in port, he usually attended the party’s meetings, including those of a purely social nature. Sol was thrilled once again to have spotted Genora. He bought three bottles of beer and headed for her group. He gave one bottle to Barbara and the other to Genora. Although he already knew who Genora was, he waited for formal introductions. He learned that the two had come to