Trumbull and Friends (2) – July 30, 1939

Grandpa has just seated himself in front of the typewriter to type his usual missive to Lad, in Venezuela, when he is interrupted by a carload of teenagers. This is the rest of the short notes written by friends and my Grandfather’s contribution to the weekly letter.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 Dick C. just had a session of reading aloud from Shakespeare‘s Julius Caesar followed by a psychology book at which, in desperation, Dick G., Dave, DonW and Jean chimed in, each reading from a book or magazine. Anything incoherent in the short note you will please blame on the aforementioned distraction. Dick reads on – Don W. also reads, Jean threatens to scream– she does– now poor Dick has changed books again but he got the bum’s rush and lost his other one first. Dick is now bored himself as he has lost his pupils and now has Donald W., who reads the funnies and yours truly is at the keyboard   Dick reads on— anon-

Notes From Friends (2)

I am doing very badly at this; no sentence or paragraph construction to say nothing of typographical errors.

Tuesday we are all going to N.Y. to meet Dan and hope it won’t be too long before we can meet you too.

Lots of luck – Ced (the Lug)

Interruption.

G. Kermode has just entered.

Hello Lad I will just say etc. for all the other things that the others have said. I never expected to write to you, but now that I am I will try to work this contraption and to think of something to say. You know that I live in the city so it is rather hard to tell you anything that might be news.

It wasn’t very long ago that I learned that you were away. How is everything? I expect that you are getting enough sleep, food, fun and in general are having a pretty good time. If I know you then I think you are. I am having more trouble trying to work this thing, in fact I am having so much trouble that I had better quit now while I still have my health.

We all hope you will be doing the same thing that Dan is going to do this week, that is, return home in the near future, so until you decide to do so I will say

So long         Geo. Kermode

As you’ll see from the above I have succeeded in lining them all up after practically two steady hours of effort. You will also note George Kermode arrived and we rang him in on the game to.

Well the day was saved, as Saturday P.M. I received your letter of the 18th enclosing Dan’s letter. Too bad you are in the red. I take it the color was a protest against my protest against the faintness of your black ribbon. Thursday of this week, I think it was Thursday, I sent you and airmail letter which sort of anticipated some of your questions as to what you should do. I can see no objection to your writing Max as you have indicated telling him you have no objections to the company, although I can see no real reason for it in view of the fact that you are no longer with InterAmerica, and the purpose of the letter, as far as I could gather was to assure Max, for the benefit of the Venezuelan authorities, that all those working for the company were content to go on with their work so that the job could be finished.

I am going to hold Dan’s letter for a while because I think Ted would like to see it and he is not here now and I don’t know when I will see him. We have heard no further news as to Grandma’s condition, so I suppose there is nothing definite one way or another. By the way, in the same mail as yours, I received a Socony-Vacuum check for July of $125. And that reminds me that I have not yet sent for your two drivers licenses. Do you want the public service operator’s license renewed, under the circumstances?

I certainly was delighted to hear about the change in your schedule, not only because it gives you civilized hours, but far more for what it signifies. I really don’t think that something good happening to me would please me half as much as this news does about your progress. That trouble-shooting business will be so much more interesting in what must be sort of a monotonous life. It will give you a mass of all-around experience that ought to be most valuable in the future. I am also glad they have the diesel installations down there so that you can do the sort of work you are interested in. I started right in as soon as I got your letter and wrote asking one of the oil trade papers to put you on their mailing list regularly and also sent for advertised literature having to do with diesel work in the oil field. By the way, I subscribed before you went away to a trade paper called Diesel Engineering, I think. I was under the impression you were not particularly interested in it and if you still feel it would not be especially valuable, I won’t bother subscribing again, as it is not one of the magazines I can send you free, but if you think it would be worth three or four dollars a year let me know and I will do the necessary. I hope you can pick up a camera soon, as I would like to see a photo of the marsh buggy and the other things you write about from time to time.

Reyom has not been at the cottage for a couple of weeks. Evidently he sneaked back the other day and cleared out, leaving the cottage in a terribly dirty mess. He left a note saying he guessed it was the only way out for him to leave. He owes debts to everyone – – to me, to Carl for gas, to Arnold from whom he borrowed $10, too many Bridgeport concerns, etc. No one knows where he has gone. And speaking of old debts, I have now cleaned up over half of Dr. Clark’s bill for your dentistry work. To date I have paid him $25, leaving $20 still due him, which I will pay in $ten installments over the next two months.

Elizabeth and Zeke left for a week’s vacation at a camp near Lake Kenosha. Aunt Elsie writes she is back in Tudor City again as they have lowered the rent. I guess the rush of visitors to the World’s Fair was not as great as was at first anticipated.

I am awfully happy about your progress.                DAD

This was a typical Sunday afternoon at the Guion house in Trumbull from the time my father was a teenager. My grandmother, Arla, always told her children that they were welcome to invite their friends over. Quite often, they would gather around the player piano, sing songs and have cookies and cocoa. Dave, the youngest and 11 years younger than my Dad, actually met his wife singing around the player piano. I can only imagine how my father was feeling while he read this letter.

For FREE copies of New Inceptions Magazine, an e-magazine, with several articles and stories based on letters and memories of my family, prior to and during World War II, you can click the following links.

Issue 1   Click Here

Issue 2   Click Here

Issue 3   Click Here

Judy Guion

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