Lots of new names (to add to my growing list of townies) are recorded in this letter. I’m not having too much luck tracking some of them down. So far the first two on the list have eluded me, and who knows who “Pinky” is! Al Myers was one of the town pharmacists and the father of twins, Keith & Kenneth, the same twins that recently enlisted in the Air Cadets. Al would have been about 45 in 1942.
Newel Lamb
Beulah Yates
Warren Sullivan
Donald Everett Funk
Al Myers
Marie Spencer
Pinky
Once I finish my BU class work, I am hoping I will have some renewed energy to work on the blog and do some additional research. Oh, and Girl Scout cookie season just started. If I haven’t mentioned it already, I’m a troop leader and the cookie manager. This time of year is always hectic and my plate is a little fuller at present than it has been in past cookie seasons. So I will definitely be limiting my letter commentary for the next few weeks. Why not enjoy reading the blog while eating a boxful of Girl Scout cookies?
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- September 3, 1942 (GRY) Envelope
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- September 3, 1942 (GRY), p. 1
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- September 3, 1942 (GRY), p. 2-3
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- September 3, 1942 (GRY), p. 4
Letter transcription:
Kentland Ind
Sept 3-1942,
Dear Daddy-
We had a definite change in weather last night. It was so close up here late in the afternoon there wasn’t a breeze but early in the night there was thunder & lightening & all of a sudden a chilly breeze so it is very comfortable this morning. I think it will help me feel better. I talked to Dr. C yesterday and he said he would try to come up today. I have about diagnosed my case. I think from the way I feel I need some liver shots. I can have Marie Spencer come out
(page 2) and give them, that is if Dr. C. thinks I should have them. That would save me going to the hospital for treatment before my time to go.
Had a letter from your Mother. She said Dad wasn’t having hay fever so bad this year. She wasn’t feeling so good when she wrote but I imagine the weather wasn’t helping any. Now that it is cooler she probably will feel better.
Had a letter from Aileen, one from your Mother & mine-and a statement from Physicians S. so had quite a lot of reading besides both weekly papers.
(page 3) Beulah Yates & Warren Sullivan were married last week. I knew she had announced her engagement but didn’t know to whom.
Monday is labor day and the boys will have a holiday. The faire is week after next and Mark is worrying about how he will get to attend. John will go out with the band. I told Mark I would arrange for someone to take him. He was much relieved when I told him he would get to go. John’s physical ed class had to pull weeds yesterday to get the foot ball field cleaned up. He didn’t
(page 4) complain much, but it was a hot job for yesterday afternoon. Today it wouldn’t be so bad.
Funk’s named the new boy Donald Everett. Bobby tells the boys about its little hands and feet. He seems very pleased over having a baby brother. There are thirty babies or more in the hospital now.
I see in the paper that Newel Lamb has rented the office. Nick hasn’t said anything about it but I suppose he will push things around so Newell can have enough space. Al Myers is going back to Whiting to work for Walgreen – so evidently he has given up going into service. Chas. Largent has been sent to Medford Oregon & Pinky to Phenox, Arizona-That is about all the news for today-
Love Mother
It is really kinda surreal to read my mother’s letters in the weeks just before I was born. I’ve never seen these before. I can’t wait until I’m there!
I have a vague memory of the county fairs that came along every year. The fairgrounds–as I recall–were somewhere north of town, so Mark would have needed a ride to get there. As I recall there was a lot of focus on farm displays and awards for best pig or biggest pumpkins, etc., but there were also the rides, merry-go-round and Ferris wheel. These were run by people who made their livings by traveling the Midwest by going from one country fair to another. And I do recall a sad sight: there was an obese blind man playing an organ which took up the better part of a circus wagon. His eyes were all white, all cloudy, and I remember feeling so sorry for him.
What a joke physical ed classes were!! “John’s physical ed class had to pull weeds yesterday to get the foot ball field cleaned up.”
I’m going to try this weekend to finish photographing all the pages of my baby book and get it to mailed to you. There are LOTS of names of townies in it….which may shed some light, or create more mysteries.
I find so funny how letters back then would always begin with discriptions of the weather. I was just reading some of my grandmother’s old letters and they all started the same way. Wonder why?