Letter transcription:
March 18, 1971
Dear David, Bonnie and Debbie,
Yours received today and while I have a few minutes will answer. The last time Lea and Bob and John were here Lea said she was thinking about going to Rockport to stay with you when Bonnie gets home from the hospital. I would like to come and if the baby goes over as long as Debbie did, I may be able to come out, but can’t promise anything. Since I am Chairman of Missionary Education I have a responsibility at the School of Mission July 5th to the 11th. Lea and Bob are coming here the 28th of this month to play bridge. We are entertaining the Kentland Bridge Club and the Kennys can’t come, so Lea and Bob are coming to substitute for them. We will talk about the trip to Rockport when they come the 28th. Lea recently spent a week or so with one of her cousins (Betty) when her baby came and I think that was what gave her the idea to come and help Bonnie. I am hoping I will get a chance to come out before then, but haven’t any definite plans at this time.
We were in Kentland the last Sunday in February—Dad gave a program or rather talked to the high school class at the United Methodist Church about drugs. After the morning worship service we took Mrs. Myers to the parsonage and had dinner with the McClures. She really enjoyed getting out. She doesn’t get out very much anymore. About the only going is to get her feet worked on. The hairdresser goes to her apartment and does her hair so she doesn’t have to go out for that. I just wish she would go to a nursing home, but since she is so set against it, there is not much to do about it. I can understand why she wouldn’t want to go to one, even though it would be better for her physical condition to be where she could get some care. In the evening we went to Johnsons for bridge club. The Kenney’s ate at our table and told us Tommy has quit college—he had transferred from Indiana State University to I.U. He apparently didn’t do anything for a long time but just loaf around. Now he is working for either the University or the City on a trash detail. Sounds like quite a comedown for one who had a silver spoon in his mouth—like an unlimited checking account and a car of his own. He also quit the Catholic Church. Phyllis said that he wanted to go to Europe this summer and she wants him to go and get it “out of his system.” From everything I know about how he was allowed to grow up, I think he had no parental guidance and I think that was one thing he probably needed as much as anything. I think Art and Phyllis thought if they gave those boys everything they wanted and didn’t make them do anything they were being good parents. Bill is going to Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and from what I have seen of his work he is quite good. The Logans were here this evening. They came down once a year for check-ups—they are Dad’s only patients, outside of Purdue Students. Dad takes care of them for their yearlys and Dr. L., takes care of our teeth. We have had them here for dinner before, but this time they insisted they take us out for dinner, so we ate at Sarge Biltz. In spite of all the new places to eat here in Lafayette and W. Lafayette, that place holds its own. I suppose a good reputation for good food is hard to beat. The Logans were talking about Tom Kenney. We were surprised that Art hadn’t good to pieces, like he always did when anything went wrong with Tom, but he and Phyllis were both acting quite casual about the whole thing. Dr. L. thinks they are just putting on a good front. Dr. Logan goes to the drug store often and he says Art talks about Tom all the time and about what he is doing. At Christmas time, he went to New York to spend the time with a girl friend. Phyllis has a brother who is a lawyer and the plans were for Tom to go into his uncle’s office when he finished law school. Phyllis keeping saying that she thinks Tom will go back to school next semester. I still think his greatest problem is his parents. Phyllis said they never did tell him what to do, just let him do his own deciding.
Sounds like you had a big day with the Bishop and other ministers. Wish I could have been there. Also the Town Meeting sounded interesting.
When I get to Kentland, I read your letters to Mrs. Myers and knew from them that you were planning to come to Indiana for Christmas. While reading and catching up on news from you I had a thought. Why don’t you make a carbon copy when you write to her—using this kind of paper and send me a carbon each week. The only extra effort it would require would be an envelope and a six cent stamp. How about? If you will send me the carbons (copy), I will write to you each week. Fair deal?
The Logans left early because the weather forecast is for snow and they didn’t want to get caught in bad weather on the way home. The weather here this winter had been pretty good, but in listening to the weather from all over the country, sounds like you have had plenty.
Dad built a cabinet to hold our slide projector and 50 drawers for slides. I am in the process of sorting slides and putting them where I hope they will stay
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for some time. And also it will be good to have all the slides in one place. It is a neat little cabinet and he is about through finishing it. It will probably take me as long to get the slides sorted and put away as it took him to build it.
We are going to LaPorte (Janssens live there) Sunday. I have been asked to give a program on Missions at their church on Sunday evening. We are going in time to have dinner with them, also attend morning worship service with them. I gave the program to a Guild group last night. Our Conference office has procured a film strip that does a pretty good job of covering the work of the United Methodist Church in North Indiana Conference and Missions around the world. We have plenty of information if people would just bother to inform themselves. I am afraid too many of the people who go to church do not know what it is all about. Maybe I shouldn’t feel that way, but last night I asked how many had a prayer calendar and some of the other publications which women in that group should be reading and they looked at me like I was speaking a different language. I will say this for them, they pay their pledge to missions, but from what I hear, some of them ask, “where does our money go?” I told them last night in the literature I had with me was all the information anyone needed to know where their money goes.
Since I am Chairman of Missionary Education, I work with the Conference Missionary Secretary and he asked me to itinerate a missionary we have listed in our North Indiana Directory. He is Lawrence Thompson and this year he is working for the Board of Missions. in N.Y. office. He has been a missionary in Japan and will be going back to Japan this summer. He is going to be itinerated in Logansport District and Lafayette District. He will be a guest here with us from April 30th to May 3rd. He will fly back to New York the morning of May 3rd. He will speak in our church at the morning worship services May 2nd, and at a church on the south side of town in the evening. He will be in Indiana 10 days.
Think about the proposition I made about sending me the carbon copies.
Have been looking for Don’s address, but can’t find it. Will get it from his sister Annie Mishler—she is taking training at St. E. and her husband is in school at Purdue. Will call her soon and get the address.—Just looked and looked in my filing cabinet for my Christmas list and couldn’t find it under C where I always file it. Resumed this letter and happened to see a clip board that has been on my desk since Christmas and the thought suddenly occurred to me that my missing list wasn’t missing, but just at my finger tips. The address is Rev. Donald Yegerlehner, 2305½ Sand Point Road, Ft. Wayne, Ind. 46807. I think he has the title of Rev. After graduating from Purdue with a 6 point (the highest) he went to Minnesota for a year or two and took Theology. He is now doing social service with a church in Fort Wayne.
Received a letter from Louise recently and she was wondering if we could meet in Switzerland. I am afraid our schedules will not mesh. It would have been fun to be together and show them around to some of the places we are familiar with, and have them meet some of the distant cousins.
Love Mother
Thank for all the information about your activities. Glad Debbie liked her Teddy.
©2017 copyright owned and transcribed by Deborah Sweeney
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