Letter transcription:

West Lafayette, Indiana 47906
118 Juniper Court
July 4, 1967

Dear David and Bonnie:

Have been intending to write to you since before I went to Evanston (June 12 to 16) and here it is about time for me to go to Greencastle to School of Mission. I came home from Evanston one day and we started to move the next. Many people had said it was harder to move across the street than across town, but since I had so much help didn’t get as tired from the move to 118 Juniper. John and Lea and Mark helped all day on Saturday. Mark went back to Indianapolis Saturday evening. John and Lea stayed until Thursday morning. They had intended to stay until Friday, but Lea’s uncle Henry passed away Wednesday, so on Thursday morning John took Lea to Brook to be with her family. By that time they had done so much for me that the rest was things I had to do myself. On Saturday Dad went to Kentland to have office hours and in the afternoon I went to bed and got myself rested. On Friday after we moved on Wednesday the contractor came and got the place dug out for the garage. One day last week the block layers came and got the walls for the garage erected (concrete blocks). They worked not quite two days and left and we are just sitting waiting for the men to come and begin the framework. According to our contractor, when the carpenters come they will stay until it is finished, but that I doubt. I just hope they get finished so we can be straightened up before you come home. We have quite a few things stored on the patio and I hate to have our nice patio so cluttered, but it is all we can do for the present. As soon as the garage floor is poured and usable, we will get the things stored in the garage.

Last week Joyce FitzRandolph (Irene’s sister) came to Purdue to attend the Presbyterian Women’s Association meeting. We brought her out here for dinner one evening and Ruth and Floyd came. Believe it or not, we had dinner on the patio. We aren’t equipped to have cook-outs, so I prepared things that could be carried out and we had a perfect day for eating out of doors. As close as we are to our woods – some of the branches hang over the patio, we were not bothered with flies, mosquitoes or any kind of bugs. I have found in sitting there, the few times I have had time, nothing bothers me. We do intend to get some spray and give the immediate surrounding area a good spraying. Sunday afternoon we went exploring and found our property goes down very steep. We found a turtle, but left him in his little nitch. Joyce brought some slides which she took when she visited the relatives in November. We were in Switzerland in July and everything looked so green, she was quite glad to see our slides. She said the fog closed in after she reached the farm and she couldn’t get any pictures out of doors. We had quite a nice visit with her and Ruth and Floyd both enjoyed being with her. She wanted to know when we were going to visit her in Williamstown, N.J. She said it wouldn’t be too far for you and Bonnie to pay hera visit some time. She had been to visit Irene since her visit to you.

There was a refrigerator here when we moved into this house. It was so old, it had only a place to make two trays of ice cubes, end of freezing unit. We gave it back to the former owner (he furnishes apartments as an investment). When his wife heard me say we were going to give it to a charitable organization she immediately said they would like to have it. They live next door and are very friendly. We were glad for him to haul it away. We bought a new Co-op from Floyd. It is made by the Amana Co. with the Co-op label. One side is for refrigeration and one side freezer. We have nearly half a beef in the locker in Brook which we intend to bring home Saturday. Dad is booked to have office hours Saturday and I am going along to take care of a few things and attend a shower for Karen Johnson who is going to marry Fred Morgan (and go into the Catholic Church). I will also plan to see Mrs. Myers – and read all the letters which have accumulated since we were there the last time.

Tomorrow is the 4^th, but we are not planning to do anything other than the usual things around the house. Since I will be gone all next week – School of Mission from 9^th to 14^th and Purdue to attend Ecumenical Assembly of Church Women United the 15^th and 16^th, I feel I have to make every day count this week. If the workmen aren’t watched I am afraid they won’t follow instructions. I just happened to be hanging out some drip dry shirts on the patio one day last week and saw a solid concrete block wall where they should have been a door. I had to tell them and it had to be done over in the door space. Bonnie’s parents said we could keep one of their teakwood chests, but after this building got started, we didn’t think we could get away to get it. We just feel better about it if we are here to keep an eye on things.

[page 2] We have had two letters from two friends in Hong Kong. You remember the Bylers we visited at Greencastle? They will not be in Hong Kong when the McGraws will be, but Bonnie Byler wrote to tell me who would be in charge of guests during their absence. Also the Chinese boy, William Yue who attended Purdue the past year (we entertained him after coming to Lafayette) wrote to us thanking us for our hospitality and also said he would meet the McGraws if he knew their arrival date and flight no. I sent the information on to Centerville.

Love Mother

The enclosed insurance information may be worth reading.

©2017 copyright owned and transcribed by Deborah Sweeney
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