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Note: , they saw Gone With The Wind on opening night in Santa Fe. Six months after World War II started, John joined the US Army, even though he would not have had to serve because of their "pre-Pearl Harbor" baby. He went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He became a "ninety-day wonder" by earning Commissioned Officer status in 1942 and then Engineer Officer, and served as Intelligence Staff Officer with the 1297th and 1694th Engineer Combat Battalions. After a series of assignments in the States, during which Rosemary went with him, he was sent to the Philippines to train for the invasion of Japan. Rosemary and their two small children returned to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be with her family. She felt the ground rumble on July 16, 1945 when the atomic bomb test went off at the White Sands Trinity site. When John joined Rosemary and the family several months after Victory in Japan Day as a Lieutenant Colonel, their third child was six months old. John started school at the University of New Mexico and completed a BS in Civil Engineering before their twin boys were born. They made Albuquerque their home, where he worked for Mossman Gladden Homes, and she for the University of New Mexico until retirement.
Rosemary grew up in a railroad family that moved many times during her childhood. She lived in El Paso, Texas, and San Marcial, New Mexico, as a small child. For one school year, she lived in Pueblo, Colorado, with her maternal grandparents. Her family eventually settled in Albuquerque. Rosemary excelled at St. Mary's High School, where she was valedictorian and editor of the school newspaper and dreamed of becoming President of the United States. On graduation, she won full tuition scholarships to the University of New Mexico and Mount St. Joseph In Cincinnati, but her mother, who believed universities were bastions of communism and moral corruption, did not allow her to attend UNM, and said they could not afford to send her to Mount St. Joseph. Rosemary went on to business school and secured a job in Farmington where she met John. Sources: John McNerney and Rosemary Tischhauser McNerney.
Note: John grew up in Kansas City, graduating from Paseo High School in 1930, going on to study surveying at Kansas City Junior College. He met Rosemary in Farmington, New Mexico, where both worked for the Soil Conservation Service. On their first date
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