As previously mentioned, Laura was dating an older man named Ralph Closson while a 16-year-old senior in high school. I had thought that he was 34 at the time of the writing but there is conflicting documentation of his birth with some records stating that he was born in 1892 and others as late as 1904. A 1922 newspaper clipping mentioning him in the graduating high school class would put him at about 25-years-old when they met. Other newspaper mentions circa 1920 indicate that Closson was a basketball player in high school.
In her autobiographical novel Belmont she states that "Joe Jamison" was 24 and that they had met at the Belfast Public Library. He wanted to get married and was willing to pay for her to attend Lewiston Normal School and obtain a teaching degree but she was shuffled out of town by her brother John ("Obie" in the book Belmont [p. 103]) whom she was living with at the time to her sister Carrie's (either "Abby" or "Matilda" in the book [p. 123]) home.
Her and Ralph would hang out at Rollins' ice cream parlor and go to Lincolnsville where he taught her how to drive and afterwards en route back to Belfast they would pet and kiss. Which is somewhat explicit to mention but she fixated on such facts in her book. From all indications, Ralph and her agreed to wait until marriage to fully consummate their relationship but that obviously never happened.
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