Dear Mother & Daddy,
"Last Sunday we drove through several small towns and out to the ocean. I've never seen even Missouri woods any prettier than these are.
We stayed quite awhile on the beach and picked up shells. There was a fish shop on the dock where you could buy fish and lobster. It really had a smell to it. I wish you could see the fish markets here. They have every kind imaginable. I think I will buy fish then I get that smell and then I change my mind.
We get the best bread here. There are lots of bakeries and they bake foreign breads for the foreign people here. We get a different kind each time. The loaves are huge and only .09 or .10, but they don't last us very long. They are really good.
We went to church Sunday morning. The service was uplifting. The building is beautiful inside. Absolutely beyond description.
B went to his first seminar meeting Wednesday night. They all ate dinner in the college dining hall and went together to class. They all sit around a table and discuss the topics--teachers and students alike. There are ash trays on the tables and they smoke if they want. B said the professors had awful big things they called pipes. He meets his first Jr. College class tonight. He will teach only one class, one hr twice a week. He will get $136.00 for that. These boys he teaches are war workers and the man who hired him said if he heard anything from the draft board to let him know and he'd write a letter telling that he was training war workers.
Wednesday I got a letter from Wheelan Photograph Office in N.Y., asking me if I would take a job here in the studio. I can walk to work. Pay starts at $16.00 a week.
Write soon and often."
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| Bonnie (left) at work |
Lots of love,
B & Bonnie
Probably my favorite so far Ann, so descriptive and I could feel the excitement in the letter. Thanks so much for sharing these bits of the past!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like this one. I do, too. The 1940s are my favorites and to think of my parents as 21 year old newlyweds having all of these new experiences so far from home is pretty neat. And yes, I can feel the excitement too. Thanks so much for your comments!
DeleteCouldn't leave a comment on G+ - had to say, though, how much fun your parents look, love the way your dad has his trousers turned up! A lovely post, I know I've probably said it before but it must be so wonderful to have these letters.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Mike. Yes, it is wonderful to have the letters and I'm always happy when they give pleasure to someone else as well. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteTerrific stuff. Thanks again Ann !
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Luke!
DeleteI started reading your blog these last few days and I just love these kind of writing that show great times of the past and the photos makes every post alive and more interesting, did you ever thought of publishing these in a book?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the magnificent work that we really enjoy reading!
I am so pleased to see your comment and I'm delighted that you are enjoying some of the letters! The ones written in the 40s are the most interesting to me, and of course it's fun to imagine our parents as young newlyweds just starting out. The idea of a book does intrigue me, but at the same time it's a bit overwhelming to think about it. The blog took me 4 years to complete, and this past July I finished posting the last letter of the collection so for now, I'll take a break. Thanks again and I do hope you find things you enjoy in the letters. I appreciate your comments very much.
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