He disliked New York, and three years later, he returned to Richmond, Indiana, with vocalist Helene "Smiles" Davis, so named because of her identification with the (then new) song "Smiles" while singing to the troops during World War I. The couple married May 2, 1934, in Richmond and lived first on their 5 acres farm, known as Just-a-Mere Farm, ll miles west of town on the National Road (now U.S. Route 40).