Sounds to me like Anna Hindman had good cause for wanting to divorce her husband, namely a) his belief that 4 hours sleep is all anyone needs, and b) wiring her bed to shock her every 4 hours to prevent her from sleeping longer than that.
But according to the news reports, she eventually forgave him and withdrew her divorce petition — after he got rid of the "shocking machine." And it sounds like they remained married for the rest of their lives... if the Anna Hindman in this obituary is the same person (which it must be, because all the names/dates match up).
Anna Louise Hindman, 74, of Rogersville passed away Thursday, September 13, 2012 in Springfield. Anna was born on July 8, 1938 in Springfield to Eulan and Olive (Turner) Bussard. She was married to Michael J. Hindman on July 17, 1953 and he preceded her in death on December 15, 2004. She was an accomplished roller skater, both figure and racing and performed for President Truman. She had her pilots license and enjoyed flying and riding motorcycles with her husband.
Sources: Kansas City Times: Feb 27, 1960; Mar 10, 1960.
"Johnson's wife, Iris Ann, 36, told [police] her husband was shot while they played a game in which he ran around the yard while she shot at him with a .22 caliber rifle."
I guess Iris Ann won the game.
Source: The Hazleton Plain Speaker - Oct 10, 1958; Also here.
An Australian man has explained that when he discovered his wife had "deformed" nipples — which he only discovered two years after they got married in 1972 because it took that long before he saw her undressed — that was when he knew he wanted out of the marriage, but he stayed with her out of a sense of duty, and they proceeded to have 3 children together before finally separating in 2011. But for the sake of deciding how to divide up joint assets, he feels the marriage should be considered to have ended in 1974, at the moment of the nipple disfigurement discovery. The judge, however, didn't buy the argument. [stuff.co.nz]
The 1947 case of DeWaal vs. DeWaal established nagging as legitimate grounds for divorce (in Nebraska). I assume this was before the availability of no-fault divorce. (A quick google search reveals that Nebraska only adopted a no-fault divorce law in 1972.)
Note that Mrs. DeWaal argued that her husband was at fault (and not herself) because he went to motion picture theaters and read "sensational magazines."
(left) The Harrisburg Evening News - Oct 28, 1947; (right) The Lincoln Star - Oct 24, 1947
A 1970 report by the British news program Nationwide on a group of housewives who didn't believe in gender equality and thought their proper role was to pamper and serve their husbands.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 15, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Wives, 1970s
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.