New Inspiration About a Story to go with the Letters

I just finished reading Sue Monk Kidd's latest book, "The Invention of Wings."

Before reading this book, I had been all set to just publish the Grandma and Grandpa letters as is with no story.

But after reading the Author's Notes in the back of Kidd's book and learning that the story is based on real events that occurred, I am re-thinking writing my own story to go with the letters.

I need to be okay with allowing myself the artistic license to distort some of the facts and come up with a story based on the letters even though I know all the facts and how their story ended.

New inspiration can be very energizing! :)

The Hardest Blog Post to Write

It is with bittersweet emotion that I write this post.  I have obviously been avoiding this one, as it has been three days since my last blog entry.

Why?

Because, about three days ago, I folded up the card table I have been using to sit at and type letters.  I moved it out of the furnace room and back to its spot behind the door in the laundry room.

Yes, I regret to have to write that I have transcribed the last letter found between my grandma and grandpa.  They both wrote letters to one another on 3/13/31...the last letters in the shoe box.

Grandma's work at the Donnelley Corporation in Nevada, Ia. was to only last the first three months of 1931. She then quit and went back to live and work on the farm in Marshalltown with Grandpa...so the letters back and forth, of course, ceased.

However, my journey with these letters is not complete.  I now have before me the task of editing and writing in some back story from what my mother remembers as well as adding in information about some of the relatives mentioned in the correspondence.

When I began the project, I gave each character a voice by changing the font of each letter depending on who was writing.  As the letters became more intense, I stopped taking time to change the font, and just vigorously typed listening to their voices in my head.  So, one of my arduous activities will be going back through all the letters and making sure they have the correct font.  And while all the letters have been transcribed, I absolutely must include samples of their handwriting throughout, so will need to scan several letters to intersperse in the compilation.

My job will not end there.  Finding an appropriate way to publish the compilation and making copies for the family members will be the last step.

I want to thank everyone for following along here with this letter project, and I hope you will check back in now and then to see how the final step of the project is progressing.  It is the most beautiful love story I have ever read.

The Letterhead Stationery Said it All

To earn some extra cash in January of 1931, Grandma went back to work for The Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation in Nevada, Iowa.  By this time, Grandma and Grandpa had been married for just over a year, and Grandpa still had dreams of making farming their livelihood.  The cash to fund his dream was not coming easy, so Grandma did the only thing she knew could earn some money--type.

Making seven cents a page and typing 65 pages a day, grandma contributed what she could so they could buy cows, pigs, and chickens to raise.  Meanwhile, Grandpa tended to the livestock chores and gardening while working at the Skelly Oil Company in Marshalltown.

Grandma would get a ride home or take the bus on Saturdays and Grandpa would drive her back to Nevada on Sunday nights.  The bus ticket cost Grandma $1.10, and she agonized over the fact that the round trip ticket would not cover two trips from Nevada to Marshalltown, but was only good for a Nevada-to-Marshalltown-and-back-to-Nevada trip.

The letters from Grandpa showed his exhaustion and frustration.  They were not the relaxed, poetic works of heart he had written to Grandma from California.  They were short, sloppy, and contained numerous spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.

"Recieved you letter yestidy.  I was ver much astonish.  Howsomever you mad 1 mistak.  I worka from middy Sat. to sun by Sun.  I will brung the whash in Sat. Mourn.  Well this will be all fer awhile."

During the week, Grandma and a couple other girls working at Donnelley's stayed with a widow lady in Nevada--a Mrs. McCullom.  Apparently Mrs. McCullom was a lonely woman and loved the company of the young girls...

"...she wants to play cards or something every night.  Monday night when we came home from supper she had popped corn and had apples; Tuesday, gum, apples and candy kisses; tonight apples and popcorn.  Something every evening.  She serves real good breakfasts.  Have just been eating an apple at noon but tomorrow will have to get something else or will be appled to death."

Salutations and Greetings

Now that the news of the nuptials is known, the salutations are sweeter.

From Grandpa to Grandma the greetings have progressed from "Little Girl" to "Little Wifey"...

• Dear Helen
• Dear Little Girl
• Dear Girl
• Dearest Little Girl
• Dear Little Sweetheart
• Dear Little Sweetheart wife
• Dear Wife
• Dear Little Wife
• Dear Little Wifey

The openings from Grandma to Grandpa include...

• Dear Florian
• Dear Kid
• Dear Little Boy
• My Dear Florian

...however, the latest pet names have me mystified.  In a letter dated January 21, 1931 Grandma writes to Grandpa "Dear Pudi" and closes "With Love & Kisses, Buji"...

I would love to be able to ask them about the meaning behind these names.  I can find no reference to these names as historical characters, so can only assume they are just cutesy names they made up to call one another.

More later about why there are still letters back and forth now that the two are married...

The Cat's Out of the Bag

Apparently Grandpa had to break the news of the secret marriage to Grandma's mother and Grandma's grandfather all by himself.

In the letter dated March 31, 1930, Grandpa tells Grandma...

"Well, it's all over now.  I went over to see your mother.  She said that she thot we were married when she heard they had a shower on you but that she couldn't figure when, so I told her when.  She said that she wished us lots of good luck and I said 'thanks, maybe we'll need it.'  She didn't seem angry in the least, I didn't tell her where we went or who went with us tho.  You'd better pass the candy and get ready to quit Sat."

Looks Like the Honeymoon is Over

If the letter contained bitter words and anger, Grandma's bold, block lettering was a telling indicator compared to the penmanship on other envelopes as pictured below.

I have mixed emotions about sharing the contents of the latest letters.  

The dates of the letters are now post Grandma and Grandpa's elopement, and they are certainly not what I would expect to hear from two newlyweds.  It would appear that they definitely had a rocky start to their semi-secret, impromptu nuptials.  Again, I have to remind myself that the ages of these two individuals (whose letters I'm reading now) were only 19 and 23 at the time.  Florian and Helen were not the 60-something grandparents I met when I came on the scene.

From their letters dated January 28, 1930:  instead of enjoying a honeymoon, the couple agonized over money and job issues, former love interests, relatives, and feelings of humiliation and uncertainties.

Rather than divulging the unpleasant details of these two particular letters from 84 years ago (almost to the day), I will leave you with these findings...

Grandpa used the word "cribbin" in his letter:

"Check out up there this week end.  If you don't I'll know your cribbin on me."

In looking up the word "cribbin" in the online Urban Dictionary, there are several definitions--all of which seem to be slang for more current-day activities.  I did find one definition that could be related to what Grandpa was saying which was Definition #4:  "The act of staying in ones area of residence or comfort zone."

...and then this finding...

Grandpa's first letter to Grandma after they were married was written on Kiwanis Club stationery.

The Proposal?

The dates on the letters from today's transcribing are November 11 and November 14 of 1929.  They are still spending every weekend together and writing during the week.  I really wish I could fill in the blanks of what happened on those weekends!

In Grandpa's letter to Grandma he writes:

"There are a lot of things I'd like to ask you so you answer them, will you?"

...but then he doesn't go on to ask anything in the letter!

In Grandma's letter to Grandpa she writes:

"When you said in your letter that there were a lot of things you would like to ask me and for me to answer them, I got already with my answers but found that there were not questions.  Nevertheless one answer is 'No.'  Now I think that is one H _ _ lish of an answer because it should be 'Yes.'  Saturday night I might ask you to be my Husband and wonder what the answer will be."

I can only imagine that on Saturday, November 16, 1929 in Marshalltown, Iowa, one of my grandparents proposed to the other and the answer was YES!

Over the Hump

Some important milestones have been acheived this week.  If you've been following along since November (NaNoWriMo), you know I was posting a daily word count on what I was getting typed of the letters.   Well, THIS WEEK, I surpassed the 50,000 word mark!!  I also got curious and did a count of the number of letters I have transcribed as well.  The answer to that is over 75!!

All of a sudden the goal of having the letters ready to publish by December 7 of this year seems totally attainable now that I have those major numbers under my belt.

The other exciting factor that is a known in this whole equation is the date Grandma and Grandpa eloped (12/07/1929).  The letter I transcribed today was dated July 22, 1929.  Even though Grandma and Grandpa don't know it (in their letters), I know they will be tying the knot in just six months from that letter.  It's a wonderfully strange feeling as I'm reading the letters knowing that these two lovers will be getting together and will share many years and raise a beautiful family.

Some Observations

While the intensity of the letters has cooled off somewhat since Grandpa returned from California, the feelings of love and devotion are ever present.  Grandpa's yearning for home and to be loved and trusted by Grandma have been replaced by his feelings of inadequacy and day-to-day living issues.

I continue to gain new insights into my grandparents' past as well as knowledge about history during the late 20's.

Observations:

• Grandpa apparently was sick a lot with one ailment or another--colds, cold sores, boils to name a few.
• Grandma has always been competitive on every level--not just weight issues but typing speeds and physical strength as well.
• Grandpa made brooms (he mentions it in two different letters).
• Grandma's obsession over her hair was ongoing from at least age 19 and probably earlier and continued into her 90's.  
• Grandpa loved fishing and tinkering with cars.  He mentions test driving a Graham-Paige.
• Grandma only made $15 a week some weeks at her typing job for Reuben Donnelley and apparently hated the work.

Corn Belt Oil Company and Reuben Donnelley Corp

Only 32 miles separated my grandma and grandpa when they exchanged letters in early 1929.  Grandma had taken a job with a marketing company in Nevada, IA and Grandpa was back at the service station.

From the letters and my mom's knowledge of her parents' courting history, Grandma would get a ride from Nevada to Marshalltown (usually by hitchhiking) most Saturdays and Grandpa would take her back on Sunday evenings.

Grandma roomed with two other girls--one of which was her cousin Velma.  Grandma and Velma would go "to the show" some evenings--a great way to relax after a day of typing.

"Keep well my 'Sugar Hearted Dumpling' until you see your Cherry Hearted Papa."

The MIA is Back in Action!

The holidays took their toll on my letter transcribing project.  Days turned into weeks, and I began to feel like Grandpa must have felt those last few weeks in California...will I ever get back?!?

The hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations, family gatherings, New Year's Eve and my 50th birthday celebrations, in addition to the basement room remodeling project sidetracked my letter project.  But I'm back...with a fistful of New Year's goals that demand my attention.  Specifically, I want to transcribe two letters a day until this project is complete!

It felt so good today to sit at my little makeshift desk in the basement furnace room typing out the familiar scrawls of Grandpa's pen.  It was like coming back home.


As of my last blog post (nearly a month ago), we found Grandpa working on a highway paving crew in Iowa in April of 1928 and writing letters to Grandma from Waverly.

Today's two letters were both postmarked "May 25, 1928."  One was from Grandpa and the other was from "Walt."  In my blog post from Nov. 16, I alluded to a letter with beautiful penmanship "oozing scholarly romanticism."  One of today's letters was THAT letter.  Here are a few of Walt's flowery phrases for your reading enjoyment...

"My dear Miss West:  Of all the nerve, you will say, that long-eared, cock-eyed, bowlegged nut writing to me, the Queen of Sheba, or maybe the queen of Iowa, or at least of Marshalltown, that thriving garrulous city in the heart of God's poultry kingdom; but this much conceited and inestimable gentleman is going to write regardless of your feelings which he wouldn't hurt for anything on this green place called 'Hinterland'."

"I was egotistical enough to believe you might write me to come to Marshalltown and incidentally to look over its present color of paint."

"I suppose you think I am about 100% Scotch.  But, never let a little thing like that worry you my dear brown eyes, for I have yet to meet a 'tight' Scotchman.  Usually they never buy enough to get that way."

"At least ye might give the steady a rest for a minute or so, and drop me a line, not too hard now dearest, and tell me just how thy little big heart responds to this scratching of mine pen.  Don't you think that would be fun?  Ain't we got no fun?"

"Perhaps you will pen me a response rapidly if not much sooner than you receive this wretched piece of unmitigated conceit."

I absolutely LOVE Walt's way with words.  I'm sure he had quite the way with the ladies in person, as well.  Why don't people write that way anymore??

"Are You Going To Eat That?"

I remember my grandma constantly obsessing over what people were eating.  They were either eating too much or not enough.  She based her own food consumption on what Grandpa was having to eat most of the time.  It was more of a competition rather than an enjoyment of the cuisine.  She would actually count the number of helpings people went back for.  One time, she even kept track of the exact number of strawberries my son had eaten!

That being said, it is no surprise that she obsessed over not only her weight but everyone else's as well.  I thought it was just something she did as she got older, but reading the letter I transcribed yesterday, all I could do was chuckle.  Grandma had been obsessing over weight issues from her teens, and even managed to make it a competition back then.  Following is from her letter to Grandpa dated April 25, 1928...

"I was 5 ft. 3 in. in my stocking feet and weighed 129-1/2 according to Drs. scales.  According to the schedule for my height, I am 9-1/2 lbs. overweight.  Fern was 5 ft. 1-3/4 and weighed 131-3/4 lbs.  So she weighs the most taking height in consideration."

She was also quite curious about every little detail.  Apparently Grandpa hadn't divulged enough information about the highway paving job when he wrote about an unfortunate series of events, so Grandma's inquiring mind wanted to know more...

"That certainly was too bad about your misfortune...You didn't say as much about it as I expected you to, so am going to ask some questions.  Did you stay at Allison only two days?  Were the boys getting along all right over there when you left?  How come those guys didn't show up over at the other end?  Didn't they have enough sense to come or didn't you tell them when to come?  Was that 500 ft. all that was paved that day or the remainder of what you didn't get covered?  Who is that Bryant thing, a company or what?  See you might as well have started in the beginning and told me to the finish.  You certainly know by this time how curious I am about everything." 

The LAST Letter from California

If I have found them all and have them in the right order, it appears I may have just transcribed the last letter Grandpa wrote to Grandma from California.  True to his word, the letter dated Oct. 15, 1927, indicated he would be leaving for Iowa taking the Southern route.  Looking ahead, the next letters are dated in April of 1928 when Grandpa had a job in Iowa working on a highway crew.

I must admit I'm a bit disappointed.  I have so many questions about what happened when Grandpa got back to Iowa.  Also, it is known within the family that Grandpa worked for a tomato canning factory when he lived out in California.  I was really hoping he would've written about that in his letters at some point.  I guess him just saying he "got work" was all the more he was going to say about that in his letters.

• How long did it actually take him to get home?
• Did he end up helping with the corn harvest in Iowa that fall?
• Was his reunion with Grandma all he was hoping for?

Grandma's last letter to Grandpa in California was dated Oct. 9.  In it she revealed she had started a night class at the Central Iowa Business College.  She also answered a question Grandpa had apparently asked about what she wanted him to bring her back from California...

"Well, you can bring anything and everything from a toothpick to a fur coat, including a keen sheik, if that is satisfactory with you.  If not, bring one of Henry Ford's 'best.'  If you can't pick anything within those limits, I will be S.O.L."

I also noticed quite a bit more in this letter from Grandma that she was maybe trying to impress Grandpa with her advanced vocabulary using words like:  compulsory, arbitration, conciliation, and habitual.  Unfortunately, she wouldn't use them in quite the right context making her come off as not very smart after all.  One particularly disjointed sentence went like this...

"I will remark about the 'burning love.'  You might be burning but I don't think it is that kind of love, so you had better connect a detachment."

I don't remember Grandma talking very much as I was growing up.  Perhaps she was told at some point that what she was saying didn't make any sense, and so she just didn't speak her mind very often.

However, her frequent times of silence could have had something to do with another part of this last letter...

"I am still that same girl always saying something crazy if there is anyone around to say it to.  One of the girls (you know the one I mean) at work acts so inhuman sometimes toward her guy.  If I were him, I would show her a few things.  The way she acts reminds me of the way I do and I think to myself that I am going to try to get rid of those crazy habits and not be so silly.  I might be a little more cultured in that respect when you get back and still you probably won't see any difference.  It remains to be proved and seen."

Grandpa Predicts the Future

Grandpa was only 21 years old when he wrote to Grandma from California...21!  I was clueless at age 21.  I certainly didn't have a grasp of true love let alone life and how it could turn out.  Grandpa seemed so ahead of his time, even with some of the insecurities he wrote about.

Perhaps his self-description of being like a robot or cyborg had a much deeper meaning that would explain his advanced thought processes...

"I don't always show thru my actions what I am.  A good share of the time I am an Automaton."

 I had that chills-down-my-spine sensation when I transcribed the following line from his letter dated September 25, 1927...

"Do you really realize just what my coming back means?  I'm coming no matter what now, but I some times wonder if you know what the future holds for you.  I can see Helen, just as tho it were past.  I can see us at 60 yrs. of age, but there will be be much happiness and much sorrow behind us."

 ...and again with this line from his letter dated October 9, 1927...

"There is one thing that keeps us apart.  That's money.  Maybe you think I was foolish to come out here this way.  I don't regret it and maybe you can understand it.  Back there I got in the old rut and I wasn't saving anything.  I'm just this trip ahead for I'd still have been broke back there.  Now I believe I have learned a lesson.  I think I can not only make money but save it.  That's what counts.  Maybe in a couple of years we can be married then." 

"With a bucket of love

and a dipper of kisses

I am

Your Dizzy Izzy"

Marvin the Meddler

Transcribed several letters from "Marvin" recently.  I know there are more in the shoebox as well, but wasn't sure I wanted to include them just yet.

Still don't know Marvin's last name, but think I have an idea why Grandma might have gone out with him in January of 1927.  Obviously, I don't have the letters Grandma wrote to Marvin, but she evidently corresponded with him occasionally, as he mentions receiving them.

Here's what I've pieced together from Marvin's long-handed, green-inked scrawls...

• He was a friend of Loren's.
• Loren wanted to go out with Nadyne (Grandma's friend).
• Loren and possibly Marvin worked at an oil station in Boone.

In fact, on one of the letters to Grandma, he wrote on the oil station's letterhead...

My best guess is that Nadyne didn't want to go out with Loren by herself so coerced Grandma to go along on a double date.  Unfortunately, Marvin was a smitten kitten, and began competing with Grandpa for Grandma's hand.

Marvin even refers to Grandpa in a couple letters by using the initial "F."

"I sure do think of you.  I can't help it and I sure hope you can manage to think of me when you are not thinking F.  Bet he would like to get a hold of me."

Happy Anniversary Grandpa & Grandpa!

On this day, 84 years ago, the two people who exchanged the letters I've been transcribing...tied the knot! Using their middle names on the official record and taking Grandpa's mother to be their witness, they traveled from Marshalltown, Iowa to Knoxville, Iowa to elope.  Upon their return to Marshalltown, they each went to their respective homes where they would continue to correspond with each other for several months before telling the family about their secret marriage.

Why they got married on this particular day and why they kept it secret for so long will hopefully be revealed as I continue reading their story and gathering information through their letters.  

NaNoWriMo Day 25 - My Thots for Today...

"Something funny happened tonite so thot I would start another letter and keep writing a little at a time until I get one from you which should be tomorrow or next day.  Well, I went uptown this evening to get a magazine to read.  I saw a pair of scales, it was one of these fortune telling kind and I put it at 'What work am I most suited for,' and dropped in a penny.  The hand came up & said 'Raising a Family.'  I don't see how I'm to do it all alone tho do you?"

While Grandpa clearly had an excellent grasp of grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and spelling, there were some words in all his letters consistently spelled incorrectly.  That being said, I feel like they were actually abbreviations he used rather than misspellings...

• thought = "thot"
• tonight = "tonite"
• though = "tho"
• through = "thru"

Besides the climate change from Iowa to California being favorable, I think Grandpa really appreciated and enjoyed all the fresh produce.  His letters often mentioned fruit...

"I just got thru eating a pear.  They're just getting ripe, and my dressing table is covered with pears & peaches, prunes & plums."

Definitely explains why he and grandma had several fruit trees on their acreage throughout my growing up years.

TOTAL WORD COUNT TO DATE = 34,688

NaNoWriMo Day 24 - What's in Your Cigar Box

In Grandma's letter to Grandpa on July 31, 1927, she writes:

"Your letter was waiting for me when I came home from work yesterday noon.  Was rather surprised but I always look in the mail box (or rather cigar box) every day."

In Grandpa's letter back to Grandma on August 5, he responds:

"You always want to look in cigar boxes dear so that you won't be surprised--sometimes it's hard on the heart and I don't want my little girl to have heart failure you know.  Besides you can't always tell what you will find in cigar boxes, you might even find me there some night." 

I did some checking and could not find any reference to a mailbox being called a cigar box.  So I can only assume this was an inside joke between the two lovebirds.

TOTAL WORD COUNT SO FAR FOR THE MONTH WHICH INCLUDES 39 TRANSCRIBED LETTERS TO DATE = 31,868

NaNoWriMo Day 23 - ...fame AND Fortune

Yesterday I mentioned finding fame in the family line, but I would be remiss in not mentioning fortune as well.

Grandpa's letters were not only steeped in an all-consuming love for Grandma from the very beginning, but they were RICH in poetic prowess.  The eloquence in every letter articulated not only his true adoration but his insecurities.  Reading his letters is akin to watching a Broadway musical.  He blends humor with honesty and quotes from great works of literature right alongside bits of scripture.  Sprinkled throughout for effect are lines from songs of the era.

At this point, I'm afraid if I tried to incorporate a story to go with the letters, I would not do the character justice.  The letters speak louder than words and perhaps just need to stand alone as a collection for the family genealogy records.

Here are just a few of the songs which Grandpa used lines from in his letters:

[**my apologies to those of you reading this blog on a tablet that doesn't support Flash, as the following YouTube videos are apparently done with Flash**]

"Gimme a Little Kiss, Will 'Ya'? Huh"

"Let Me Call You Sweetheart, I'm in Love With You"

"Yearning (Just For You)"

NaNoWriMo Day 20 - This is Spiraling out of Control!

Imagine my surprise today when I opened up the letter from Grandpa dated August 6, 1926, and found this...

Grandpa was clever in both the WAY he wrote and the way he WROTE.  :)