Thursday, January 7, 2010

News from Oregon





Dec. 17, 1956

Dear Mother,

I didn’t mean for my letter writing to become an annual affair, but I guess that is just about what its degenerated to.

I think of all the family often, but there never comes time to get a note off. Maybe I just hate to write.

We have had a busy fall & summer, though we took a trip to Canada on my vacation in August. We drove to Tacoma & left Royce with Lottie while Morgan, Randy, Robin, & myself went on North. We had a lovely trip around the Island, through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and in Vancouver, B.C.

Later on in August Melody came & spent a week with us. She’s getting to be a big girl & we certainly enjoyed having her. She’s awfully good with the little girls.

In September Jeanne Johnson, Elin’s oldest, called up & said she was in town. She came out & stayed three weeks. She had been in Hawaii for almost two years and was on her way home. She’s a very nice, intelligent & good-looking girl. Elin can be very proud of her. After she left here, she went home for a while and then back to Spokane where she’s now nursing in a hospital.

Jeanne said that Stanley is in his second year of college and is studying pre-med. Apparently he’s a very capable fellow and should do very well for himself. Jeanne said that Elin is the same as ever but Ray still isn’t able to do much. He receives compensation for injuries he received several years ago and still has trouble with his back.

In October things were settling down a bit when Morgan’s mother had a stroke. She was moved to a hospital and seemed to be recovering when she suddenly had a second stroke and passed away. Since her other son lives in California and her daughter in Arizona, we were responsible for all the funeral arrangements and details that go with this sort of thing. It was my first experience of this nature.

To keep things in a state of confusion we had another turn of excitement last month. Morgan was in a automobile accident and suffered a broken arm and cut on the forehead. He and two other fellows made a trip to Eugene, Oregon and on the way home the fellow that was driving missed a turn and the car went out of control and rolled down a bank. Morgan was thrown out of the car or he might have even been hurt more seriously. The driver wasn’t hurt at all but the third fellow has a broken back. He’ll be laid up quite some time. Morgan is feeling quite perky now. He still has his arm in a sling but probably he can do away with that before long. The accident was had enough but he could so easily have been killed that we feel pretty lucky.

I’m still working but have received a promotion. My duties are now confined exclusively to burying and managing the notions and soft goods departments in the three stores. It’s a big job but I enjoy it.

The children are growing by leaps and bounds. Randy now comes above my shoulder and weighs over 70 lbs. He’s in the fourth grade and does well. He started wearing glasses last month because he was having trouble focusing his eyes for reading.

Robin is almost three and looking forward to Christmas. She wants a “pepano” (piano) and a dolly. She’s definitely a little girl rather than a baby. She says “Royce is little, but I’m big!”

Royce is a fat happy little butterball. She’s walking now and talks quite a bit. She’s shorter than Robin but weighs almost as much. They are very good companions.

We plan to go to Tacoma for Christmas. We won’t be able to say very long but at least we’ll have a little time to visit. I haven’t seen Lottie since last summer.

Guess that just about takes care of the news at this end. Hope this letter finds you well & that you have a Merry Christmas.

Thanks for the papers you send a while back. I enjoyed reading them. Thanks also for the other package.



B.







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