Happy Fathers Day, Old Letters

1. Robin called from CA to wish Jim Happy Father's Day. She read him a letter he wrote to her in 1982 when she was living in New York City. He was writing to console her when she was going through a rough patch of heartbreak. Keeping the letter then reminding him he had been there for her.
A touching gift.












2. Fathers Day - 2009
Jim and Jimmy - a fine pair.

I am still emptying boxes in my office so when I found a folder of letters, inspired by Robin, we gave Jimmy a letter he wrote to us in 1987 when he was living in Germany. There is material for several stories in the letter - the more so because we all know what happened several weeks after he wrote it and mailed it to us. He was delighted. "Hey, I forgot I had that Casio battery powered mini typewriter." After reading it aloud he pronounced. " Oh - that old Mercedes. This is a keeper."
Yes, we know. We have kept it for 22 years.

3. Even older letters:
A grandfather writes to his grand-daughter.
There was so much to love about a letter I found at the DAR library 20 years ago when I first began my genealogy searches that I have kept it safe. It is filled with advice and inspiration for stories. I use it often in storytelling workshops.
In 1893 Mr. James Parks answers his grand-daughter who has written asking about their family.
He ends the letter with this statement:
" You will see that there were no great ones among our ancestors. They were all in the common walks of life, no blue-blooded aristocracy, but just upright, high-minded honorable men and women. If there were no"great ones" among them, there were none of who we were ashamed.
September 9, 1893 (signed) James Parks

Isn't that a wonderful legacy!