I returned to Knoxville and UT for a couple of years while getting a graduate degree (and hooking up with Val). Believe it or not, Val had managed to grow to adulthood without ever learning to drive. She took a few driving lessons in the Studebaker after we met but didn't get her license to drive until we moved to KY.
While living in Paducah, KY, I disassembled the engine (which, at that time, had about 50,000 miles) to replace a leaky seal and decided to replace rings and bearings even though they were not in particularly bad condition. After that, I drove the Hawk, although not as primary transportation, for about another 15,000 miles while in Paducah, and while living again in Knoxville, where we went for Val to finish her graduate degree. She had not yet learned to drive a vehicle with a clutch; so she wasn't a Studebaker driver. I drove it from Knoxville to Sullivan County, TN, when we moved there for new jobs, but, while working there, I was too busy to drive the Hawk regularly. Eventually, it developed a few problems from just sitting idle, but it was still in fairly good condition.
We can't find any pictures of the Hawk from this era, but this photo shows a dent Val put in the rear fender below the fuel flap when she lost control of a tire and wheel in the upper part of our sloping yard in Kingsport. That dent was one of the more-trivial defects.
