My mom passed away 13 months ago as of April 2017. While going through her effects, my sisters and I came upon a series of letters written to her by my dad over a couple of months in 1953.
They are powerful to me on a couple of levels. The history, what was going on in the world in 1953, touching paper that was touched by their own hands, left me in awe, but most powerful of all is reading their thoughts and feelings toward one another.
Growing up, I experienced the middle of the decline of my father to alcoholism and all that accompanies that disease. My mother enabled. Of course, I didn't understand the mechanics or ramifications of this disease until much later in life. That's why reading these letters was such a healing experience. I got to read, in his own words and thoughts, how he felt about my mom during this time. He loved her deeply and it seems that she reciprocated.
The year is 1953. James Noel Curry and Gloria Marilyn Nelson have a long distance relationship that will end in marriage in 1954 and the birth of three daughters after that.
Adams is the tiny village in north-central Wisconsin where my father was born and raised. My mother's family were originally from the area as well, but my mother's father had left Adams and moved the family to Cocoa, Florida before the birth of my mother. Their families were familiar with one another so it was interesting how they even met.
My mom, who had moved to Wisconsin to be with her cousin, was a singer in a church choir. A teacher of hers, a Mrs. Gladsen, knew my father's mother and apparently had put in a good word about my mother. My father had some sort of limp and thought of himself as physically 'less than', and somehow these two hurt people found their ways to one another.
The first letter is postmarked January 3, 3:00 p.m., 1953 from Adams, Wisconsin. It's from Jim to Gloria. I looked up the date and one of the things that strikes me is how close after the New Year it was written, and how full of hope and excitement these two must have been. I wonder if they made resolutions about their future together? All of the letters are typed on my grandmother's trusty old typewriter. I can still see that device in my mind's eye, sitting on her working table at her house. She used to type letters and notes to her friends and colleagues.
January 3, 1953 was a Saturday. From takemeback.to, the US president was Harry S. Truman (Democratic). In the UK Here In My Heart by Al Martino was in the top 5 hits. My Cousin Rachel, directed by Henry Koster, was one of the most viewed movies released in 1953 while East Of Eden by John Steinbeck was one of the best selling books.
The contents of the letter follows.
Dear Gloria,
Just arrived home, and got my supper eaten and packed myself a lunch, read to hit the dear old grave yard shift. I don't mind working but that shift seems like its going to kill me every time I get on it, and I thought I would send off a couple of lines to you.
How did it go at work for you Friday, I suppose it was rough, we had quite a two day period there but it sure was fun, I really enjoyed myself. I hope you can say the same, you know I was just thinking we didn't go to a downtown movie although our time was very well taken, that is one thing we will have to do next time.
I called your house Friday from the depot just before I got on the train in hopes that you might be home from work by then, but you weren't, but I was just going to call and say good by. It sure is a shame when I think about it having to to come home just for one nights work and then get the weekend off, right away. Oh well I guess that is life. I should go to the Rapids during the week end, and I think that is what I'll do. You know I was going up there when you were last here but just never got there.
Well Gloria I just wanted to dash off a couple of lines to night to you, to let you know I'm back home, and that I really had a wonderful time this weekend, and may we have more. I hope you can come home foer that church celebration, be sure to write me and tell me if you are coming.
(Handwritten: Yours/Jim)
PS I hope you don't mind the typewriting of letters.
Mom was living with her cousin, Elna Horan, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My dad would take the train from Adams to Milwaukee to visit and she would do the same in reverse. Dad mentions the grave yard shift, so I'm not quite sure where he was working in 1953. I know that by the time they married in 1954, he was working for Badger Army Ammunition Plant where he continued for the next twenty some years in a job he always called a 'timekeeper'. I always thought of him as an accountant but it seems he really was checking the times that were punched on a manual clock by the workers in the plant who were making the gunpowder. It must have been a full time job in those days.
The reason my dad types his letters is due to what he always referred to as his 'handicap.' He had some sort of a shake that was severe enough that he couldn't write very legibly. It was always interesting to me how his shake would become more severe the more stressed he became. It was also noticeable that the shake was not evident so much when he was raising a glass or a bottle of beer to his lips. I don't think I'll ever really know how much of the shake was physical and how much was mental, but it was there so we'll leave it at that.
No comments:
Post a Comment