Blanche: Honey, it's a terrible thing to do something out of guilt. Believe me, I know. Just about the time that George and I were getting serious, he was shipped off to Korea. Well, I wanted to do my part for the war effort, so I took a job in a factory that made canteens. I figured that one of the canteens that I had riveted would somehow find its way to George, and his lips would drink from the galvanized spout I had so lovingly fashioned, thereby symbolically reuniting us.
Rose: Oh, Blanche, that's a beautiful reason to take that job.
Blanche: Well, that wasn't the only reason. That factory also had a comprehensive dental plan, and I was in desperate need of a bridge and two crowns.
Dorothy: War is hell.
Blanche: So were my teeth. Anyway, while I was working on that assembly line, why, I met a young man named Andrew Beandorf. Oh, it was just a platonic thing. We just went out to the movies and dinner. But when George came home on leave, he was furious. He accused me, unjustly, of infidelity while he was off fighting in some foreign land, some godforsaken land where people didn't even believe in Jesus. And he forbade me ever to see Andrew again. So, of course, I didn't.
Dorothy: So you lost a good friend just because George made you feel guilty about it.
Blanche: That's right. I lost a good friend and a wonderful companion and an excellent lover.
Rose: An excellent lover?
Blanche: Did I say "excellent lover"? Oh, no, I meant excellent riveter.
Dorothy: I can understand how you could confuse the two.
Blanche: Anyway, the point is guilt is a very bad thing. Story over.

Blanche: Oh, I just love barbecues. We used to have the most wonderful ones back home. I can remember sitting out under a big old tree with the Darcy triplets: Hank, Beau and Dove. Eating and talking and laughing. And then along towards the end of the meal, why, the boys always got into a fight over who was going to get to lick the barbecue sauce from my fingertips and kiss away the little droplet of butter that always drizzled down my chin. Oh, has it gotten awful hot out here?

Dorothy: You know, when I was in college, I taught school part-time at one of those schools for the blind. It is really amazing what they can accomplish.
Lily: Oh, I went to one of those schools for a little while. It's just a lot of talking and hand-holding. Never been so bored in my life. I think I'm just the kind of person that likes to get out there and do it.
Rose: Did you know that my sister Lily still holds the record at our high school for the 100-yard dash? She served three terms on the city council, and she was the first woman in St. Olaf's to ever have a pilot's license.
Blanche: Oh, really? Well, we have something in common, Lily. I was the first woman in my hometown ever to have a pilot.
Dorothy: Blanche's bed is next to the X-15 at the Space and Aviation Museum.