Lover had to say goodbye Norma Jean
Young Jim Dougherty was working the night shift at the Lockheed aircraft factory in California in 1941, when his mother asked of him a favour. He was asked if he could pick up the neighbour’s children from school in the afternoon. One of those children was 15-year-old Norma Jean Baker, a ward of the state after her mother had suffered a breakdown and had been committed to a mental hospital. Norma Jean was living as a foster daughter with her mother’s friend, Grace
Goddard, who was also a friend of Jimmie’s mother. Dougherty was happy to take both Norma Jean and Goddard’s biological daughter Phoebe home.
Dougherty later described Norma Jean as “very sweet”, “shy” and “sensitive” and Grace asked Jim if he would be her date at a dance and to find a date for Phoebe as well. He obliged and had a “lovely evening”, after which a relationship began to develop.
When Grace’s husband was transferred to Virginia in 1942, the law prevented Grace taking her foster child across state lines. Norma Jean might have to be sent to an orphanage.
But there was another solution, if Norma Jean married it would keep her out of an institution. Grace asked Dougherty if he wanted to marry her foster daughter.
It took him by surprise, he had never thought about marrying such a young girl (she was turning 16 in June 1942). He was thinking of enlisting in the Merchant Marines and knew he would frequently be away from home. He thought that if he married her at least he was giving her a place to stay, but he was also happy to wed such a beautiful woman. So he said yes.
They were married in June 1942. The union would not last. Norma Jean left him in 1946 when she was offered a movie contract and the studio would not sign her if she was married.
She divorced Dougherty and became Marilyn Monroe. Their short marriage would be what Dougherty would be forever remembered for, despite his service in World
War II and a distinguished career as a police officer and helped establish LA’s first SWAT team.
Although Marilyn would later say it was largely a marriage of convenience, Dougherty insisted they were in love in their first years together.