November 16, 1957 The Flu Shots, The Potluck, The 16th Birthday and The Mail

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"I'm glad you got the flu shots & hope you don't take the flu.  It is still going around here but isn't so bad now.  They say it is such a long time before you get any strength after you get it.  I have had a sore throat this week but it is better & not the flu.  I've been staying in as much as I can and taking sulfa and it is better.

We were supposed to have the potluck group here tomorrow night but Edna is going to have it instead.  She insisted & I told her that would be like the blind leading the blind.  She is much better now and has been doing things lately.  The Dr. says her back has been all right all along but her trouble is a pulled muscle.  He is giving her x-rays now and if that doesn't stop the pain he'll try something else.  She has been awfully patient about it.

I was hostess for an hour yesterday at our school's open house so I didn't get to see the building.  B had gone to a meeting at a State Park near St. Louis so I couldn't go back in the evening like I wanted to.  He gave a talk last night and got home about 2:30 this afternoon.  He took a school car so I'd have ours to drive.  It was a Plymouth and he sat up so high in it that I told him the car looked too little for him.  He said he didn't have a chance to try it on for size.

Charlotte

It doesn't seem possible that Charlotte could be 16 but I guess she will be.  I must get something mailed to her.  Did Interstate ever ship the gooseberries to Beulah or will they wait till spring?  She hadn't got them when she wrote last.

Charlotte & Beulah

I finished our Mother-daughter dresses in time for us to wear them to school yesterday.  Ann was so proud.  I have a permanent to give her when we can find a time.  Her hair is kind of stringy now.

Ann enjoyed your letter.  She is like all of us.  She likes to get mail.  Bob's room is planning to write letters next week.  He says he is going to write to Auntie. 

Hope you are both fine and that Daddy's face is better.  Is the eye clearing up now?

We are beginning to think of Xmas but don't know yet about time off for B.  Does Bessie still plan to have us all there?"

                          Lots of love,

                                 Bonnie

NOTE:  During the 1950s, the Crusade for Freedom was an aggressive propaganda initiative designed to raise money for Radio Free Europe.  Ads for both were common in popular magazines as pictured above in the Woman's Day.  I remember hearing scratchy audio clips on the regular nightly news.  Although most homes did not have shortwave radios, there was much discussion about RFE and a lot of news coverage about it.  For more information, watch the video: