Trumbull – To The Guion Settlers – Greetings – A Birthday Remembrance – September 8, 1940

Alfred Duryee Guion

R-92    September 8, 1940

To the Guion settlers in

the Cook Inlet and Orinoco River Sections,

Greetings:

Nellie ( Nelson Sperling) is home again. He is on leave of absence from the Army for recuperation purposes. He walked in here a few minutes ago. He doesn’t know whether he will go back to his old post or be sent to Kelly Field in Texas. He likes the Army, and the treatment he receives. Mrs. Mantle has heard nothing from Art but as his term of enlistment is about up she would not be surprised to see him walk in any time now.

For the last week we have been having bright sunshiny weather with just enough edge in the coolness to suggest fall days ahead. Alas I cannot take unadulterated enjoyment from the fact because sneeze days are here again and, while each year, attacks seem to be a little milder than the previous year, they are yet bad enough to be unwelcome. Maybe if I live long enough I’ll outgrow the thing entirely. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why I have stopped taking morning walks. Stirring up pollen or merely being in amidst it in field and wood quickly puts my eyes, throat, nose, etc., in such a state of irritation that all the benefits of the exercise are nullified. Another reason why I discontinued the walking idea in the early summer was because as soon as the mosquitoes became prevalent it took much of the joy out of woods walking and then, as I do not especially enjoyed tramping highways with cars whizzing by at frequent intervals, I strike off as soon as possible into words, roads, across fields, along narrow paths, etc., and I found that early in the morning the dew is so thick on the fast-growing vegetation in early summer that before many hundred feet my shirt, trousers, shoes and in fact every bit of clothing was saturated. I might as well have stood out in the rain. However, I intend resuming walks in the fall and winter.

Following my usual custom in order to celebrate the reaching of another milestone on the journey through life, I have started on its way to each of you boys a little birthday remembrance. ( To celebrate his own birthday, Grandpa always gave his children presents.) Of course it won’t reach you by the 11th but it would be pretty difficult to know when to mail it so as to reach you by parcels post at any designated time. As far as Dave and Dick are concerned, I am considering the possibility of taking them to New York to see some of the current shows, but this is contingent on Dick’s being able to get time off. Dick is talking about saving up his money and taking a hobo trip with Bobby Kascak through Florida.

It looks as though I would have a busy few days next weekend. Mr. Burr has promised to have somebody up here with a power saw so that we can saw up that wood which has been piled up near the barn since you boys took down the Locust trees and it may be that we shall be able to complete arrangements with the Trust Company, to move into new business quarters, and naturally Sunday is the best time from a traffic standpoint to do this.

Gale Brand, Bruce Lee, his daughter and his niece came up one day this week. We were unable to persuade Gale to do any card tricks.

No letter from Lad this week, a short one from Ced and a real letter at last from Dan, very interestingly written and being passed around through many hands. Someday when Dan is famous and his biographer undertakes “The Life and Letters of Daniel B. Guion”, this one will have a place, if for no other reason then it’s dating the time of patent medicine advertisements, Ugda tablets, etc.

Wells, a few words to each of you individually and then I will see what Charlie McCarthy has to say.

DAD

Saturday and Sunday I will post more Special Pictures.

Judy Guion

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Peabodys And Duryees – Dear Laddie – A Letter From Aunt Betty To Lad – September 8, 1940

Aunt Betty Duryee

L. DURYEE

72 Elm Ave.

MT. VERNON, N.Y.

Sept. 8, 1940

Dear Laddie,

Your letter of July 28^th, which I received on Aug. 6^th, made me feel ashamed of myself for not answering your former letter to me last May. You certainly returned good for evil and I appreciate it and hope you will forgive me as well.

You see I am trying to make amends by writing so soon after getting the letter and picture of you feeding the deer, it is a very good picture of you, and the deer must be very tame. You spoke of your father mentioning about my saying that I had not heard from you for ages, as I have said, I did get a letter in May. You did say in that letter that you had received a birthday letter, but what I had really meant was whether you had received the account of the Duryee family that I had sent at Christmas time, for since sending that, I have mislaid my copy, so please keep your copy for it is now the only record we have.

Now this letter, which I received on August 6, does answer all my questions and you have indeed thanked me for everything.

Now about the trip on Mother’s Day. It was a lovely Sunday in May and Dad, Richard, Cedric and Daniel came down in a new Buick car he was trying out, stayed to dinner here at the Knolls, then Dad said that being Mother’s Day, they had planned to take me on a trip in the country and that I must choose where I would like to go. Of course anywhere was just grand for me for I don’t get many rides as a rule, so then Dad said, well, he had thought I would enjoy a ride to Newburgh to see the Smiths. Oh boy! I had never thought of anything so delightful so we got an early start and were over the Tarrytown Ferry up by way of, and through, West Point, and then over the Storm King Highway to Fairfield which is the name of the Smith’s place. They were home and so very glad to see us. Elliott had not seen Dad since he was a little boy and he was so glad to have an opportunity to talk to him and to meet the boys. The boys were all over the place and Mrs. Smith treated us to drinks (soft) and cake. We left there about six o’clock and drove back to Mount Vernon and Mrs. Seipp insisted that they all stay to supper which really turned out to be another dinner. Altogether it was a very delightful day.

I do so hope that you will be able to come home soon, anyway the time slips away so fast that the rest of your time will not seem too long, not as long to you as to us, we all miss you. I have been staying in Trumbull the last three weeks in August but it was so cold and damp that we could not be out much, so did not enjoy it as much as usual. The baby is dear, so good and smiles all the time, and only cries when he hurts himself or is hungry. I am glad you can see from some of the pictures that you have a car.

Keep the desire for work with the diesel engine in the back of your mind and I am sure the opportunity to get in to that field will open up for you. What we desire, yearn for wholeheartedly comes to us sooner or later. That mechanic may not turn out to be “so hot”.

I have been to the World’s Fair three times this year, standing one hour in the line to get into the General Motors, and see their exhibition of the Highways and Horizons of Tomorrow. I think it was one of the best in the fair.

I have joined a Willkie for President Club  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Willkie ) and tomorrow am going to get a card for people who are undecided which to vote for, Willkie or Roosevelt, to pledge to vote for Willkie and then see that they are sure to register and turn out on Election Day. I know Dad is writing to you today and telling you all the latest news of Trumbull and also of Dan and Ced, it is fine they seem so well contented. I am so proud of you all, to think you all have gone out and found jobs for yourselves.

Thank you for your very interesting letter.

Lovingly,

Aunt Betty

Tomorrow, a letter from Grandpa to the Guion Settlersin the Cook Inlet and Oronoco River Sections.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – Venezuela And Alaska, All Hail (2) – Individual Notes To Each Son – September 1, 1940

“The Old Swimming Hole” at Anzoategui Camp, January, 1940

Supplement to R-91           Sept.1, 1940

Dear Lad:

Some weeks ago when Arnold and his sweetie were showing me through their trailer they mentioned in the course of a discussion on pots and pans that they would like very much to have some of this new stainless steel ware that lasts a lifetime but that the cost was so high that they did not feel able to afford it except buying one piece at a time. The other day when I was in Read’s (Department Store in Bridgeport, Connecticut) I ran across a beautiful set of two stainless steel pans with copper plated bottoms put out by Revere of Boston. The sets were a double boiler, something I have wanted to get for myself for a long time but did not feel able to afford the necessary $6.50. However I did buy this double boiler as a gift from you to Arnold and from what they said last night when they came over to borrow the punch bowl, it must have been a happy choice. So you are set back $6.50 by your spendthrift Purchasing Agent father. I hope you will think I did the right thing by our little Nell.

I am still holding firm on the purchase of a movie projector, playing one store against another to get the best price possible. I find I shall have to purchase a screen also.

Cedric Duryee Guion

Dear Ced:

Thanks for your last letter also enclosing the note you started in Seattle to tell me what happened to the Willys and never finished. I will await with interest the history you are writing. By the way, the thin sheets ought to have reached you by now.

I shopped around several days last week to try to find a suitable uniform outfit and finally located what I think you wanted at an Army and Navy store. Practically the same thing at Meigs would have cost two or three dollars more. Jacket, pants (which, because of the long legs and narrow waist had to be ordered from the factory) shirt and leather necktie totaled $7.13. This is a couple of dollars more than you allowed and you had better consider the excess a gift from your Dad. I have been after Dick all week to get out the blue dungarees and Brown dress coat and will try to ship them off to you Tuesday in one package.

Daniel Beck Guion

Dear Dan:

I don’t know why I continue to write to you, unless that’s it is that hope springs eternal in the human breast. Saw Barbara (Barbara Plumb, a neighbor and Dan’s girlfriend) yesterday and she said she had a couple of letters from you which were very nice letters but she did not think I would be interested. I would be interested however in hearing from you as to what the contacts you have had so far on the job promise for the future. Do you like the man with whom you work? Are they Army officers and are you subject to Army discipline? Did you have to sign a contract and, if so, was it with the US government, or did you have to enlist in the Engineers Corps? You have told me practically nothing and naturally I am a bit interested. Aside from the present job, have you decided on any more definite plans for the future than you had when you left? Are you going to the University at Fairbanks and if so will you study geology? If not, what line of work do you expect to follow? If you haven’t yet made up your mind, it is about time you got together with Dan and had a quiet heart-to-heart talk and decided something instead of just allowing yourself to drift along. Maybe I’m doing you an injustice to imply that that is what you are doing but, in the absence of any news from you, that is all I can assume.

One other topic and then I’ll stop. That is health, doctors and hospitals in Anchorage. When you were in Venezuela I did not worry because of Ted’s assurance that health was taken care of and I don’t now worry about Lad for the same reason, but I don’t know how good a doctor there is in Anchorage or if there is any sort of hospital. Ced wrote you were laid up a few days ago with a cold. Let me know the dope on this.

DAD

Tomorrow I’ll post the third portion of this letter, a confidential and personal letter to Lad.

I’ll be posting Special Pictures on Saturday and Sunday.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – Venezuela And Alaska, All Hail (1) – Local News Of Interest – September 1, 1940

Alfred Duryee Guion (Grandpa)

R-91

September 1, 1940

Venezuela and Alaska, All Hail:

I’ll take up the photos first because, presumably, you have looked at these already before reading the letter. They are enlargements of small snaps taken either by Zeke or Lois on various occasions. I borrowed the negatives and had these made for your entertainment. At first I thought of putting captions on the back, but decided this was superfluous as what they are is quite apparent and you may prefer to supply your own titles. They were taken in the early summer of 1940. (Which snapshots Grandpa is referring to, I do not know)

Hay fever season is here again and I have started on my sneezing bouts. Does ragweed grow in Alaska or have they some other pollen bearing weed that takes its place? Does anyone have hay fever in Anchorage? In Pariaguan? If ever I decide to visit either place in the late summer this might prove the deciding factor.

Monday Aunt Anne ((Peabody) Stanley, Grandma Arla’s sister) arrived with Gweneth (her daughter), dog and crutches. Her ankle is still in a plaster cast so quite naturally every step she takes has to be with the aid of crutches. She looks better however and says she has gained 14 pounds. She left with both children the next day to return to Virginia via New Rochelle with the idea of getting settled for the fall school term. She is having alimony trouble with Fred right now and although Fred was supposed to contribute towards Donnie’s (Don Stanley, Aunt Anne’s son, who arrived to spend the summer in Trumbull with very little notice) huge capacity for eating while here and Anne was going to see that if Fred did not make good she would, I have so far received only a $12 check from Fred. Due to Don’s visit our plans for the summer were completely negatived, not only by his being here but because of extra financial burdens. Helen also owes $16 yet from the things she bought on my account at Read’s last Christmas. I’m beginning to think (my own fault of course) that maybe the Peabody’s are taking me for a ride and I’m soft enough to let them do it.

Aunt Betty is still with us but expects to go back early next week. She has done a lot of mending, darning, etc. Bruce Lee stopped in one night during the week and invited us all down to Westport Friday night. It seems Alice was away for a few days vacation, and Pat had a cousin, a 17-year-old girl, from Maryland visiting them, and nothing would do but that the girls, without any help from Bruce, prepare a buffet supper. This they did and a good time was had by all. Last night we all went to the movies – – Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sea_Hawk_(1940_film)

The summer, if you can call it such, is practically over. Tuesday or Wednesday I guess it is, Dave goes back to school, and I’ll have to begin thinking about furnace fires and ashes and kerosene, etc. oh, yes, Elizabeth told us that while we were at the movies yesterday, Britta  and Rusty stopped in on their way home from Wakefield.(Rusty Heurlin and his sister, Britta)

We are still dickering with the Bridgeport City Trust Company, who owns the building on South Main St., that we are considering renting. The trouble is that it is up two long flights of stairs, and when we order paper in packages of 120 pounds or when customers like Ashcroft send us 28,000 envelopes each month with four enclosures for each and the truck man has to carry this material up these stairs, there is going to be a sit down strike right then and there. So I am trying to get them to rig up some kind of hoist, but to do that they say it will be necessary to knock a hole in the outside wall and put in a new window which will cost about $80 and could not be done for the rent they are charging. So, we’ll see.

Arnold (Gibson, Lad’s best friend) is to be married today and they will leave in their trailer for a trip through New England. They came over here last night and borrowed our punch bowl. Arvin Zabel (the brother of Raymond Zabel, Elizabeth’s husband) has lately been in his third smashup. Paid a $25 fine for reckless driving. Zeke says he is now thinking of joining the Navy.

And that’s all the news for this evening, ladies and gentlemen. Next broadcast of local news will be one week from today, over, Station

ADG

Tomorrow and Wednesday, two more portions of this letter. Thursday, a letter from Aunt Betty (Bettie Duryee, Grandpa’s Aunt) and on Friday, another letter fgrom Grandpa to his three oldest sons in Alaska and Venezuela. Judy Guion

Army Life – Observations From Normandie After D-Day (2) – Dan Writes Home – August 3, 1944

Daniel Beck Guion

The German soldiers, recently here, were youngsters from 16 to 20 years old. They were largely service troops, and very poorly fed – “even the dogs would not eat their food” said one reliable source. They often became so hungry that they would munch grass! Some returned from furloughs in Germany almost in tears, with reports that their families, their homes, their friends had all been killed or destroyed in the allied air offensive. Germans visiting French homes were quite agreeable when they came along to a house, but if two or more came together they were distrustful – afraid that what they might say would be held against them by the others.

I have taken every opportunity to talk to the people, hoping to become proficient in the language while I have the opportunity. I talk to the washerwomen who come to the stream running below our camp. I speak to the farmers working in the fields near us. I speak to the children who long ago, learned to ask for “shooly goon” (chewing gum) and “bon-bons” (candy) from every passing soldier. I visit the farms each evening and gossip with the families – reviewing the war news, asking for cider or cherries, answering questions about America (“are there many elephants there, and camels in the deserts?”) I help two charming French girls with their English lessons, patiently striving to make them pronounce the “th” without a “z” sound.

It’s a very healthful life, living out-of-doors, getting plenty of sleep, appreciating food that would have seemed unpalatable in London, enjoying every minute of this new and absorbing life. Because things here are more exotic than in England, I count this experience second only to my sojourn in Venezuela, and I thank the fates that pull the world’s strings for giving me this opportunity. Packages received here in France will be much more appreciated than they were in England because here we can buy nothing except cider, cherries and an occasional egg.  All the villages, hamlets and cities are “off limits” to all American servicemen and what rations of cigarettes, candy and toilet articles we receive, are doled out meagerly by the army, free of charge and at irregular intervals with the plea that we take only what we really need.

                  Particular requests

                   Cashmere Bouquet soap

                   Gillette’s Brushless Shaving Cream

                   Chocolate bars

                   Any 35-mm camera film (except type A Kodachrome)

                   Half and Half smoking tobacco

On Saturday and Sunday, more Special Pictures.

Judy Guion

Army Life – Observations From Normandie After D-Day (1) – Dan Writes Home – August 3, 1944

Daniel Beck Guion

Normandie, 3 Aout, 1944

Altho’ much of the novelty of our new surroundings has worn off, I am still impressed by the casual manner in which the people here live their lives while whole villages and towns are bludgeoned into stark masses of rubble and the roar of planes fills the sky and the endless stream of trucks, jeeps, tanks etc. rumble incessantly toward the front, camouflaged in their own tattle-tale dust clouds. Norman folk carry pitifully small bundles that represent their personal possessions are crowded into the steep-sided gutters that line the narrow roads. They are people who are returning to their homes – many of which are mere spectral walls, some of which are miraculously untouched.

In odd contrast to the villages and roads, the countryside has made no compromises with the old man Mars. It is as if he set his feet down only in certain villages which lay along his path, and no evidence of his passing exists beyond the tall, thick hedgerows lining the highways. It is haying time. Fields are dotted with piles of sweet hay, with men kneeling beside them, tying the hay into neat little bundles by a dexterous twist of a strand of grass. These bundles will be fed to the horses and cattle when winter comes, later in the year, to Normandy.

War is fickle. We seem to have been projected into a countryside that scarcely admits the war is going on. I cannot help remembering the day we left London to come here – the sirens were moaning plaintively and we saw several buses laden with evacuee children. Yet here, so much closer to the front, evacuees are returning to their homes! Only at night do we hear Jerry’s planes – usually just a few scattered bomb-reconnaissance planes. We can no longer hear the guns from the front.

I have spoken to many French people since coming here, and I am gratified to know that my French classes at Richmond were thoroughly worthwhile. I have difficulty in understanding French when it is spoken rapidly but that, of course, is to be expected. The following bits of information I was able to catch from those Frenchmen who were persuaded to speak slowly:

Rations under the Germans – 2 pkgs (40 cigarettes) per person per month; 2 small pieces of crude soap per month; no chocolate or other candy. Cider is made in December. If it is made right it will keep for three years (if the Germans and the Yanks don’t get it!) From the hard cider is made “Cognac”, more properly called “calnados” from the country that manufactures it. Even more properly it might be called rot-gut apple jack by those who have the temerity to try it. Eggs are not abundant because it has been impossible to find grain for the poultry.

Tomorrow, I will finish this letter home to family and friends in Trumbull with more observations from Dan.

Judy Guion

Army Life – Dear Dad, Aunt Betty And Jean – A Change In Plans – July 31, 1944

Marian (Irwin) Guion and Alfred Peabody Guion (Lad) in Pomona, California

Monday

7/31/44 (Grandpa’s notation)

Dear Dad, Aunt Betty and Jean,

Here we go again!  Life in the Army is very much like sitting on a time bomb. We never know whether we will go off in the next minute, or whether our precarious seat will prove to be a dud.

The fellows have been told that they should have some technical training, so beginning tomorrow,  Lad is going to be teaching a course on the finer points of the Electrical System of Diesel Engines. This should last about two weeks. Actually, it means absolutely nothing, beyond the fact that it will keep the fellows busy! So, the way things stand now, we should be here for another two weeks, but just as soon as I put that in writing, the Army will change our minds for us! Consequently, you now know just about as much of our future plans as we do, and as to their definite-ness – your guess is as good as ours!

Life goes on pretty much the same these days, in all other respects. Lad is back at the Pomona Base now, and doesn’t have to report for work until 5:45 AM. He’s keeping busy, but is not working as hard or as long as he had to when he was at Camp Haan.

We thought we were going to be able to send you another addition for the ”Rogue’s Gallery”, but we were not satisfied with the finished product, so the photographers are going to see what they can do about it. But it will take another two weeks to get the pictures back. But you’ve waited this long for a picture of us together, so it shouldn’t be too hard to wait that much longer.

On the next cool Sunday, when you have nothing else to do, will you look in the top shelf of Lad’s trunk that is in the attic and see if his flashlight is there? It has a black, hard rubber case, with the red tab on it which says, “Approved by Underwriters Laboratory” on it. It is a gas proof and waterproof one, and Lad would like to have it with him if it is there. If you can’t find it in the trunk, contact Babe Mullins Lad’s girlfriend before he went into the Army), and see if she knows where it is.

Aunt Betty, I’m sure Ced has been using his most persuasive powers to get you to Alaska. But don’t forget that there might be some question about your being able to smoke those cigars of yours up there. Families, you know, understand these things and make the necessary allowances, but strangers are apt to raise their eyebrows at such goings on. And I’m sure the natives wouldn’t understand at all. They might think you were on fire, and  bury you under an avalanche of snow. So don’t say I didn’t warn you. Besides, who’s going to help me shovel a path to the garage if I come to Connecticut this winter?

With all our love,

Lad and Marian

Tomorrow and Friday, a very interesting letter from Dan, In Normandie, France, after the D-Day Invasion. He writes quite a b it about the countryside and the people he has met.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – To All My Sons, Except Ced (3) – Special Birthday Letter To Dick – July 30, 1944

This is the continuation of Grandpa’s Birthday letter to Dick.

Richard Peabody Guion

So my heart is full of thankfulness that we are a congenial family. (And that goes for the new daughters in law, too). It is a circumstance I know from what she has so often said, that would greatly please your mother if she were here to share it with me. And of course you, as one unit, must take full satisfaction in doing your share to make the sum total what it is.

Then there is the personal (and somewhat selfish) satisfaction I feel, in you, my son, as an individual. Somehow your being away for so long has made me appreciate all the more those little traits of character that go to make up one’s personality – your even-tempered and good nature, your whimsical ideas and comical way of expressing them, your artistic urgings to self-expression that never really have had an adequate outlet or chance for full flowering – your pride in doing well the things you undertake, your possession of high ideals and early start in married life with an attractive loyal mate, with like ideals, all bring a feeling of certainty that whatever the future may hold for both of you, it will be good. Someday I hope it may be your privilege to watch a little son or daughter, or both, grow up from babyhood through childhood to adult years and that you may have occasion to take the same full measure of joy and satisfaction in the result as I have and have had in you.

There, I still have not been able to get across the sort of birthday greeting I had hoped to accomplish when I started this letter, but for the rest, you will have to read between the lines. Right now, I want most of all to have you back home again, safe and sound, all the better, mentally and physically and spiritually for this horrid war interlude, but until that time comes, you’ll just have to imagine the love and boundless goodwill you deserve and command from your loving

DAD

Tomorrow, I will post a letter from Marian to “Dad, Aunt Betty and Jean” and on Thursday and Friday, an interesting letter home from Dan who is in Normandie, France, after the D-Day Invasion.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – To All My Sons, Except Ced (3) – Special Birthday Letter To Dick – July 30, 1944

This week, the posts will be short to fill the week. The next letter in chronological order is a five-pager and will take a full week in the next rotation.

Richard Peabody Guion

Trumbull, Conn., July 30, 1944

Dear Richard:

If this were intended to be just an ordinary letter, you know, it might have started off with “Dear Dick”, but as this is in communication of a very “special occasion”, we naturally have to observe some formality. Of course it is a bit ahead of time, I know, but the 19th will roll around fast enough and I would much rather have this reach you a bit ahead of time that a bit late. But to forgo further preamble, here, as you may already have surmised, is what is intended to be a very special birthday letter.

By this time, you will say, he ought to have had enough experience to write a bang up birthday letter. Let’s see. Between you all, 151 birth days have come and gone, and while it is true only a small portion have occasioned letters, there have been quite a number at that; and yet with all this practice it is just as difficult as ever to say the things one feels deep down inside and to give voice to all the thankfulness and well wishing and great expectations for the future which anniversaries like this stir up in one’s heart.

Perhaps the predominant thought is a feeling of deep satisfaction for the kind of son you have turned out to be. So many times in a family of our size there is likely as not to be at least one who, in spite of all the hope and care and good intentions of the parents, go off at a tangent causing heart aches and worry and disappointments, or even if not anything so definite, there is at least an ill feeling or resentment among brothers and sisters that brings disunity in the family unit.  And, unfortunately, it takes only one to cause the rift.

Tomorrow I’ll post the rest of this special Birthday Letter to Dick, on Wednesday, a letter from Marian, on Thursday and Friday, a very interesting and informative letter from Dan who is in Normandy, following the D-Day Invasion. 

Judy Guion

Trumbull – To The 3 Corporals, Ced and Jean – News Of Family And Friends – April 18, 1943

The Trumbull House

Trumbull, Conn., April 18, 1943

To the 3 corporals, Ced and, Jean:

Poem For the day:

Oh, what a happy world t’would be

And sure, I don’t mean maybe

If Mrs. Schickegruber

Had never had a baby.

          With this exalted thought with which to start off my weekly bugle, I shall now return to more mundane matters. First about Grandma. She writes: “Shall I say you are a peach? I wish you could know how I prayed for your answer. Your letter arrived about an hour ago. I had written to Dorothy (Peabody) much the same as I had written to you. She replied that Anne ((Peabody) Stanley, one of Grandma Arla’s sisters) is now at Conde Nast’s in Greenwich as a receptionist and that Gweneth (her daughter) and I are to come there to stay. I prefer Trumbull but on account of Gweneth, too, leaving here, I believe I had better follow their plans for now. I am coming to Trumbull some time, if only for a visit. A thousand thanks for your goodness and of course you will hear from me soon. My love to all of you. Mother”. There is more of a personal nature to her letter, but the salient facts are as above.

California came through with the letter this week. Lad says my letter reached him on his birthday which he celebrated locally by attending a party in his honor of the occasion given by one of his lady friends. Marian, he says, resembles Babe (Cecelia Mullins, his girlfriend in Trumbull) in a number of ways, even to her occupation. Lad has resumed his diesel teaching, but has run up against lack of cooperation on the part of one of his superior officers, which takes some of the joy out of the work. This sort of thing, in my experience, is quite common. In almost every big organization there is always someone who makes life miserable.

Dan also sends a cryptic message expressing delight in the prospect of Grandmother coming here, and informing me he is going back to Lancaster for a week of bayonet training (this goes over big, as you can imagine, with Dan).

Jean (Mortensen) Guion (Mrs. Richard)

A postal from Jean announces that Dick is a Corporal Technician. She has acquired a coat of tan; has met a girl with whom she shares an apartment where they cook their meals. (Jean left Trumbull a little while ago to join Dick in Florida)

A few highlights of local news: Elizabeth was up here one day this week and on the way home ran into Smoky (the family pet at the Trumbull House) with her car. He is pretty lame but otherwise seems to be O.K. Mrs. Ives is home from Florida. The Trumbull’s are staying with her. Catherine and Paul (Warden, the couple who rent the apartment in the Trumbull House with their two young children, Susan and Skipper) have gone to Mass. to bring home their children (who were staying with Catherine’s sister while Catherine was in the hospital for surgery). Irv. Zabel (brother of Raymond Zabel, Elizabeth’s husband) is home from the southern Pacific. He returns soon to join a crew on a newly commissioned destroyer. Art Mantle a neighbor and friend of Lad’s), whom he saw quite frequently, is back in service again but is on coast patrol duty. Dave has quit the state guard because of “pressure of other business”. We have been quite busy at the office for the past two weeks. I hope it continues.

Dan: As requested, I shall renew your driver’s license. Lad: Do you intend to renew your P.S. license? Dick: Better let me know about that insurance. Jean: If you have not made return reservation you had better do so at once as I understand they are booked up to the middle of May on the good trains from many places in Florida. No checks have come from you yet.

Well, so much for this week’s Clarion. Have you heard the new song in which Herr Goebbels says if they continue to lose planes at the present rate the war won’t even last for the duration.                                    DAD

Tomorrow and Sunday. more Special Pictures.

Judy Guion