Wednesday, September 30, 2015

April 18, 1971 The Sewing, Washing and Shopping, The Evergreen Seedlings, The Good Exercise, The Interesting Patients and The Leftovers

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"Ann has gone back to school and maybe things will settle down around here for awhile. We have sewed and washed and shopped all week.  I have material for her wedding dress, and her going away outfit which will be a dress and coat. The dress will be pink flowered and the coat plain pink lined with the same material as the dress. We went to Peoria one afternoon and found some shoes and shorts for her. It was fun to shop in a different place although we probably couldn't have found the same things here.

She really enjoyed her visit in Richland and brought home such nice things. One of my friends is going to give her a shower and it probably will be a towel shower. She needs them more than anything else.


The weather has finally turned nice. Bob & Pat kept planning to put out tomato plants but haven't yet. We have some evergreen seedlings to put out but haven't got around to it. A lumbering company sent them to us from their forests in Oregon. They offered them to us when we were at that meeting last fall so we signed up for some. They are tiny but real nice and I have them in water but must get them out.

Bob & Pat will have their visit about over by the time you get this but I simply couldn't get everything done yesterday. I sewed on buttons & snaps this morning. Bob said they'd be back here Wednesday evening and I suppose they'll stay the rest of the week. I hope he tells you about some of his interesting patients. We always have to coax him a little but I'm sure he'll show you all his tools. He's so proud of every one he gets.


I've started golf lessons again and it was fun. It is good exercise and I wish B would learn but he just isn't interested. I may have a hard time finding time to play this summer but may have to let something else go.


B is puttering around the car and will be wanting lunch most any time so I'd better see what I can find. We'll be eating leftovers several days, I guess.

Hope you all are fine."

                          Love,

                            Bonnie

NOTE:  As for the pink going away outfit, that must have been Mom's fantasy. Can't imagine wearing anything like that, much less on a 100ยบ day in an unairconditoned VW bug!

On the last week of April, Grandad's health began to decline quickly. Mom went to Richland and I took my car there and left it for her. She stayed there off and on for much of May, with the exception of the week of my graduation. There were no letters written in May. I felt badly that she was so tired from all of the worry and traveling back and forth between Normal and Richland.

Some May graduation snapshots, included in a later summer letter are pictured below.

As it turned out, Uncle Floyd (Grandad's brother) died on May 16, followed by Grandad on July 5. Below, a favorite photo of them as young boys.







2 comments:

  1. What a terrible time for your mom! Hope she stayed well and the stress didn't make her ill. She must have been a remarkable woman.
    Oh, and congratulations on your graduation!

    ReplyDelete

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