January 16, 1969
January 16, 1969
Thursday 10:30 A.M.
Dear Larry:
Well, here I am again with a few lines and hoping you are ok. As yet, we haven’t been getting any mail from you. What have you been doing? I can’t understand why you can’t write to us more often. Here is hoping again today that the mailman will bring a letter from you.
Dad worked at the club last night, and this morning, he decided that he didn’t want to go to work. He hasn’t been off for some time, so he called in and told them he was sick. He will probably end up sleeping most of the day.
January 14, 1969
January 14, 1969
Tuesday 10 A.M.
Dear Larry:
Well, here I am again with a few lines to let you know all is well here and hope you are the same. We haven’t heard from you in some time again, but I keep hoping for a letter soon.
It is still cold as ever in Anderson, with snow on the ground and the streets are still slick. The kids went back to school yesterday, but the buses are slow coming around to pick them up. It’s been slick and cold since the first of the year. The weatherman said today that it is supposed to get a little warmer. I sure hope so, then maybe it will melt some of the slick spots. When we go out now, we have to walk on needles and pins to keep from falling. Ha.
January 6, 1969
Monday, January 6, 1969
9:30 P.M.
Dear Larry:
Thought I would write a few lines and send you some clippings from the paper. I thought it would be better for you to read it in the paper than for me to try and write about it. Be sure to read about the 2 youths. We were very shocked to hear about that.
Well, we finally had our first big snow as you can see in the paper. Tresa and I went out and shoveled snow off the sidewalks this evening and it is really crispy out. I also took the Christmas lights off the front porch.
January 5, 1969
January 5, 1969
8:30 P.M. Sunday eve
Dear Larry:
Well, here I am again with a few lines to let you know all is ok here. About everyone in Anderson is sick with the flu, so we are keeping our fingers crossed here. As cold as it is here, it looks like the flu bug would freeze. The temperature here has been in the teens and almost zero the last few days.
We received a letter from you Thursday and, as you know, we were glad to hear from you. I haven’t been writing as much as I wanted to, but with the holidays over and the kids will be going back to school tomorrow, I will probably be back to normal (I hope).
December 24-26, 1968
Christmas Eve ’68
Hi, how are you? This is going to be a short letter because my paper supply is limited as my time is. What did you do on Christmas? What are you gonna do on New Years? Do you think you’ll get drunk as anything?
Mother has been busy today. She baked a ham and 3 pumpkin pies. Last night, she made some cranberry salad. Aunt Mary, Uncle Deda and Uncle Ray were just over here. Aunt Mary got me a pretty blue nightgown. Uncle Deda got me a pair of underpants and Uncle Ray got me a real neat yellow dress with a scarf to match. It is really cool. Barbara got me a pretty cool pair of earrings and a bracelet to match. Carol Porter bought me a charm for my charm bracelet. Vicki Lanone got me some scented perfume and Kathy bought me 3 pairs of really cool earrings. Uncle Tommy got me a real neat pair of cameo earrings. So far, we have just opened presents that our aunts and uncles got for us, but will open the rest from mother and Dad on Christmas morning.
“This Christmas holiday has been a lonesome one for me.”
Christmas day [December 25, 1968]
Dear Larry:
Received your Christmas card and were glad you got the package. It wasn’t much, but I am glad you received it. Whatever you want and think we can send to you, write and let me know.
This Christmas holiday has been a lonesome one for me. We had 4 days off and Uncle Harold has been sick and is still in bed. That flu that everyone is getting is bad and it hit him hard as he has bad lungs. Tomorrow starts another work day.
December 17, 1968
Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1968
10:30 A.M.
Dear Larry:
I thought I would take time out to write you a few lines.
I went shopping with Joanna yesterday and I am kinda behind on my housework. In a way, I’ll be glad when Christmas is over because it means a lot of running around trying to please my family for Christmas.
I didn’t get anything for you, but like I said in one of the other letters, I’ll buy you what you need when you get home. I doubt if there is anything I can get you to use over there.
Well, how are you doing? How did you spend your birthday? We thought of you on Saturday, and I baked a white cake and fixed half of the turkey that I got for Thanksgiving. We even sang Happy Birthday to you with one candle on the cake, which was Tresa’s idea. The cake and turkey didn’t last long. The next day, the cake was all gone. I let Joanna take some of the turkey and cake home with her.
Story of the Haunted House
We were looking through some of Larry’s things recently, and we discovered an old English paper that Larry had written when he was 11 (almost 12). Since the story is of haunted nature, and since today is Halloween, we thought it would be a nice treat (trick or?) to post it for you all to see. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!
Larry Rudolf
Nov. 19, 1959
English
Story of the [Haunted] House
One day I was walking home from school, and it was getting dark. I wanted to get home fast, so I took a shortcut through the woods. About in the middle of the woods I saw a weird two story house When I saw the house, I forgot about getting home, so I went in. When I went in something got on my face. I did not know what it was, but I found out it was only a cobweb. When I was upstairs I heard a weird sound, so I started running. When I reached the door, I stopped, and it was only a bat. After that I thought I spent too much time there, so I ran home, and I never went there again.
December 10, 1968 (Joanna)
12/10/68
Dear Larry,
Hi! How’s everything goin’? I hope you’re getting along alright.
By the way, Happy Birthday.
I guess that’s a hell of a place to be celebrating your 21st birthday. Ah well, you can make up for it when you get home.
I was just thinking that in less than a month it will be one year since you’ve been in the service. It’s gone by pretty fast it seems. You’ll be out of Nam pretty soon, too — so just be careful for about six more months and you can come home on leave and go swimming in our pool, ok?
December 12, 1968
Dec. 12, 1968
Thursday 10:30 AM
Dear Larry:
Well, here it is two days before your birthday, so I had thought I had better write a few lines to let you know we are all ok and just hoping that you are the same. By the time you get this letter, you will be 21 years old. I will probably bake a cake and even though you are not here, we will be thinking of you and wonder what you will be doing. Let us know.
It is cloudy and windy here today. The weather man said that it is supposed to rain and get colder and then the rain is supposed to change to snow tomorrow.
I haven’t been writing to you as much as I did, but that is because I have been busy trying to get caught up on some of the work around home. I am making some new curtains for my kitchen as the ones up there now are about shot. I want to finish the new ones, so I can put them up before Christmas.
