Monday, January 6, 1969

ISN before arising. Another day of relaxation. Up late—just visited—and commented on the severe weather. Bob + I had big breakfasts. I continued reading in Mrs. Moore’s book. We had lunch, listened to one of Bob’s comedy records. I finished Mrs. Moore’s book. –and started on the autobiography of Marion Anderson. Got sleepy, so took a nap. When I woke up, John was here. I got up, feeling pretty groggy. We had supper, then watched TV: the Laugh-in. The others worked on double crostic puzzles. I read in Marion Anderson. Later we watched more TV. About 12 John went home—we said our good-bye. Lea, Bonnie and I stayed up talking until quite late; finally decided to go to bed; lights out about 3:30 (Eastern time)

Tuesday, January 7, 1969

Don’t recall when we got up—but it was in time to see Bob off for work. We had a leisurely breakfast, I shaved, packed the car—John came over to see us off. We left Champaign about 12 noon Eastern time. Highways were mostly clear and we had tail winds, so we were in Lafayette in a little over 2 hours. Mother was here alone. Rest of the day was spent relaxing; I called Helen Correll to arrange to visit her tomorrow. Watched some TV in the evening, an interview with the Smothers Brothers, but I got more reading done in Marion Anderson autobiography. I’m about 2/3 of the way through. I’m pretty sleepy tonight, since we were up so late—and I didn’t have any luck trying to nap in afternoon. Off to be around midnight.

Wednesday, January 8, 1969

ISN before arising. Another leisurely day for the most part. By late this evening I had finished Marion Anderson’s autobiography—and had made slight progress in Kathleen Kenyon’s book Beginning in Archaeology. We had planned to go up to Wolcott this evening to see Helen Correll, but an ice storm began late this afternoon, so I called to cancel plans. Got some of the reading done, and watched TV. Had a very sound nap this afternoon after taking Mom to the church. I found Miss Anderson’s book very rewarding—I found some good excerpts—I might do a sermon on her soon. And I must get some of her recordings. Bonnie + I read after the folks had gone to bed. Off to bed ourselves after 12:30.

Thursday, January 9, 1969

Around 8:30 or 9 Mother called us out of bed. The temperature had dropped during the night to about 5º—and our car had to be started—I doubted that it would go, but it did. I took Mom to the grocery store and then took the car for the state inspection. The mechanic suggested it needed a brake job to pass inspection—but he also suggested we skip it since we were going back to Mass. Home for lunch; changed license plates on car. Took Mother to the bank, came home, shaved, picture taking. Mom + I went to pick up Edna Wallace—dad’s former secretary—she had supper with us. After supper—watched TV. About 9 took Edna home, more TV—this has been a relaxing vacation; after 11, had a snack. Bathed, off to bed about 12:20.

Friday, January 10, 1969

Up after 9. Had small breakfast, was occupied with getting the car loaded. Did some cleaning in it as well. We had a steak lunch as a send off. We left Lafayette about 1:15. Stopped in Wolcott to see Helen Correll, but she was in school as we suspected. We arrived in Gary about 3:30 our time. Paul + Marty were still in school; we had to wait for them in the cold cold car for 1 hr. 45 minutes. We got warmed up when they finally came, visited a while; decided to go out to supper; had a very good supper, came back to their apartment—spent the rest of the evening talking, about family, about politics—about the woes of teaching in Gary. About 1 o’clock our time decided to get to bed.

Saturday, January 11, 1969

Up about 9:30. Had a leisurely bath, shaved, had breakfast. It was a short morning, since we were still on Eastern time, but Paul + Marty were on slow time. We finally got all our things together and got on the road shortly after noon—our time. We got up to I-94 and were able to make good time—I was able to maintain 70 MPH much of the time. We had a flat tire about 75 miles west of Detroit. We arrived at the Kings about 5 pm. We had a nice visit and a pleasant supper. About 8, Levon and I went to a service station to have my tire fixed—didn’t take too long; we came back + put it on the car—the rest of the evening we spent visiting. Mattijane seems to be coming along well after her mental collapse. Off to bed about 12:30.

Sunday, January 12, 1969

We got up reluctantly just after 7 this morning. We had breakfast with the Kings and were on the road by 8:30. By 2 o’clock we had reached Buffalo, N.Y. We didn’t make any extended stops. I drove 150 miles east of Detroit, then Bonnie took over until we were on the NY Thruway. I took over again. But she got us to Schenectady, where we stopped for an hour + a half with the Stoners—had supper. Arrived there about 7:30. Left about 9:05. We stopped then only twice and arrived in Rockport at about 1:20. We had driven just 800 miles. Jim Tanner was here when we arrived, he hadn’t gone to bed yet. There was a huge pile of mail which I must attend to tomorrow. It was good to see the cat again. We unpack partially, read some mail—and got to bed c. 2:30.

©2017 copyright owned and transcribed by David Madison and Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found: https://genealogylady.net/2017/05/13/davids-diary-january-6-1969/