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SURVEY OF THE DECADES - HUSBANDS

The 1970s Husband

Here is a letter written to "Dear Abby" in 1976. Notable is that the writer's goal is to find a way to retrieve her wayward husband, instead of throwing the bum out, finding a good lawyer and psychotherapist.

DEAR ABBY: I am writing to you in desperation. After six years of marriage my husband just walked off and left me. I feel like my whole world is falling apart.

One day three months ago 1 came home and discovered that he had moved out. lock, stock and barrel. I nearly went out of my mind. Two weeks later he called to say that he was living out of town and was involved with another woman, but that he didn't want a divorce.

He comes in town once a week to see me. We go out together and he supports me. He's a musician. He says he still loves me but he doesn't want to live with me or stop seeing me.

Abby. I don't want a once-a-week husband, but I don't want to lose him. My friends tell me that I'm a fool and that as long as I give him his freedom to come and go, he'll never come back to me permanently. Should I give him an ultimatum? I still love him. Please tell me what to do.
OUT OF MY MIND

DEAR OUT: Do nothing in haste. The worst mistake a woman can make is to give her husband an ultimatum if she isn't ready to accept the consequences. If you still love him, hang in there, and in time you will know that to do.

Also of interest is Abby's response. It seems to me that the worst mistake a woman (or man for that matter) could make is to waste one more second on a person who up and leaves like that.

Husbands & Fathers - Far-Out Facts

In 1970, 57.3 percent of men, ages 25-29, lived with their own children in the household.