"Just 3 weeks after my sixteenth birthday, I was married to the boy next door, Jim Dougherty."

"It was all my aunt Grace's doing; she instigated my marriage to Jim Dougherty. Jim was older
~ around twenty-one, going on twenty-two."

"Guess who designed my wedding gown? Aunt Ana.
I was so proud; I was listed as her niece on my marriage certificate."

"Jim's such a wonderful person. I want to marry him, but I don't know anything about sex.
Can we get married without having sex?"
~ Norma Jeane to Grace Goddard on Jim Dougherty

"I didn't know anything about marriage, especially the sex part of it,
and I was scared to death of what a husband would do to me."

"After our marriage, Jim said I was a most responsive bride, perfect in every respect ~ except the cooking department.
I was a warm, loving wife. If only I could cook."

"Norma Jeane was always a butterfly. She was beautiful all of her life, within and without. During our courtship and marriage I never stopped loving to be with her, to stare at her, to laugh with and love her. We had a wonderful, joyful marriage. But in the end, it was not enough for Norma Jeane. Like all beautiful butterflies, she had to fly away."
~ Jim Dougherty

The letters below written by Norma Jeane to Grace Goddard gives a sense of her love for Jimmie.
Click on images to read the letters in Norma Jeane's hand.

If you would like to learn more about Norma Jeane's life as
Mrs. Dougherty please read Jim Dougherty's book "To Norma Jeane With Love, Jimmie"

~ Copyright: The letters & wedding invitation are from James Haspiel's "Marilyn The Ultimate Look At The Legend".