Lots of Letters

Connecting the past to the present

Growing up, I loved to write and receive letters. My mother was also an avid letter writer, and one of her pen-pals became a lifelong family friend. Like my mother, I had pen-pals from around the world, including a young man in France and a woman in Yugoslavia. I'm unsure what happened, but all the pen-pal relationships dissolved after years. I still have some of those letters, which I've not looked at for years. I recently reconnected with my French pen pal on Facebook.

When I think about letters, I remember the Perry Como show. He had a segment on his show where he sang songs from letter requests. I loved watching this show with my folks when I was a child.

So what about all of those letters in the picture? My sister Martha died in 1990, and several years after her death, I was sent some of her things. Photos, many magazine clippings of her successes, and over 200 letters she received from boyfriends, girlfriends, and service members were included. These letters were all written when she was in high school – 1953-1955. I've wanted to go through these letters for years but didn't take the time.

Once I finally got around to reading them I found that not only did I learn about the writers, but I also gleaned information on my own family. I learned that my mother had been hospitalized in 1953. Two of her pen-pals commented in their letters, "I hope your mom is out of the hospital and feeling better." My parents were easy on Martha. She got away with much more than I ever did! She was 13 years older and the oldest of four. We had some interests in common, including the fact that we both served on our high school yearbooks. I found out these letters gave me a window into my oldest sister.

Three of the service members were friends who grew up together in Northern Illinois. I'm unsure how she started to write them, but Tom sent her address to his two pals. These letters were pen-pal letters, not love letters. Some included pictures of the service members and service-related news.

Because of my genealogy bent, I wanted these letters to go to family members. I was hoping to find children of these men. If someone had letters from my family, I’d love to have them now. So, my search began. I found Dick's son, who was glad to receive them. He knew a little about his dad's service and only had a few pictures from then. His dad had died in the 90s after struggling for years with Alzheimer's.

I only have three letters from Jim. The bottom letter is my sister's letter to Jim, which was returned. When reading one of Tom's letters, he told my sister that Jim had been killed in Korea and that she didn't need to write Jim anymore. I immediately quit reading Tom’s letters and dug out Jim's. In the last letter Jim wrote, he spoke about how he was going to go on R&R on the 8th, "but I don't know if I will now that we are going back up to the line." He'd send her a small gift from Japan when he's on R&R because she's taken the time to write him in Korea. The letter is postmarked July 5, 1953. This may have been one of the last letters he wrote. He stepped on a land mine and died on July 12, 1953. In the previous letters, he had written that he was due to come home in September and get out of the service after that.

Since Jim had no family, I contacted Jim Wright with the Homewood (Il) Historical Society. He was excited to receive the letters and wrote a two-part series about Jim and his letters in their newsletter.

Tom’s 57 letters and pictures took a bit of sleuthing. I emailed family members on Ancestry and Facebook but received no responses. I finally emailed his son Mark at his work. He was so happy to hear from me, saying it made his day, and he still missed his dad. Tom’s sense of humor came out strong in the letters. I wish I had the opportunity to know him. According to one of his letters, I did meet him when he came to Evansville. I was 3 at the time!

The remaining letters, including Ronnie’s 75 letters in which he whined and confessed his undying love to Martha, went into the recycling bin.

Letters are so important. They can make someone's day. As these letters did, they could bring the fathers back to life for their children. They can heal relationships and even spark new friendships. I wrote my last long letter almost a year ago. I’ll write more about it later. When was the last time you wrote a letter?