Christmas without you isn’t so merry!
December 15, 1968
Larry,
Hi man, what’s happenin’? What did you do on your birthday? You should’ve seen all the stuff we had to eat on your birthday. We had turkey, dressing, dumplings and white cake. It was really groovy. Has anyone written you about M.H. [Madison Heights] getting zulched by Crispus Attucks? They beat us by about 20 points.
What are you doing on Christmas? Do you think you’ll get drunk? Did you get drunk on your birthday? How did you spend that day? Like usual, huh? Well, have a very merry Christmas.
Love ya,
Carol
November 16, 1968
Larry,
Hi man, what’s happenin’?! This is Fri. nite and there are zero things to do except go out and get BLITZED. I think I will, I usually do every once in a while.
Mother has been griping at me lately. Today, her gripe was the fact that she gave me $10.00 down payment for my class ring. My class ring should be tough. It’s yellow gold with aquamarine setting. It’s gonna be cool, I hope.
Have you been doing anything neat lately? Do you ever have a chance to get BLASTED DRUNK over there?
[Paragraph is illegible]
Thomas wrote me and wants you to write to him. We have a bet on the AHS/MHHS basketball game. If MHHS wins, Thomas buys the liquor and we are gonna get drunk. If Anderson wins, I’ll buy the booze.
Well, I better go! Here’s an ugly picture of me.
Be good.
Carol
October 19, 1968
Dear Larry:
Thought I would drop you a few lines while sitting under the dryer to get my hair dry.
Received your letter yesterday. Glad to hear that you got the box I sent you. Did you like the stuff I had in it? Let me know if there is anything else I could send you. Aunt Mary will probably be sending you a box in a few days. We are trying to send them so you won’t get them all at once. I am surprised that you didn’t get Uncle Ray’s box yet. They sent it to you before I sent mine. If I know Aunt Jennie she probably had quite a bit for you in that box. Maybe somebody stoled it. I know Uncle Ray will be disappointed. It cost him $2.50 to send the box and that is not including what was in it.
“How’s that sound with ya, cold beer?” – October 13, 1968
13-OCT-68
Hi Rudy,
How ya been? Heard you’re out of the hills now. Talked to your ol’ man last week and he was mowing the yard. He said when you get home you can do it again. I wrote and told L.T., when everybody gets home I’ll buy a keg of booze and have a party. How’s that sound with ya, cold beer? Ok! Ok.
All I’m doing right now is eating a hamburger and watching the football game. I’ve been playing football every Sunday at Anderson College. Bet you sure would like to be here wouldn’t ya? We’d have a ball, you, Thomas, and myself. What a trio. Remember all the great times we’ve had in ol’ A-town? Still working at Guide [Lamp] and I hate it. Work and sleep, thats all I do because you guys aren’t home.
Hey, A.H.S. beat Madison Heights 27-6 and they’re first in the NCC and Marion tied. They play Marion next Friday and if they win they have the Conference. What ya think about that? Are ya still writing to Thomas? How about sending me some [?] of ya and some of those good ones. Ok? Ok!
Well I have to close for now so write back like ya say ya will and do it after reading this letter. Ok!
Your Buddy,
JJ
September 22, 1968
Sunday Nite
2100
9-22-68
Dear Larry,
Just got [through] taking a bath. Saved the water for you. (ha) Wish I could. Gave Karl a haircut earlier with the family kibitzing about me cutting his hair too short. Karl finally started crying. I finished him up with a nice job.
Woke up this morning at 0900. Picked Carol up at Kathy P—–’s house where they had a slumber party. Went to the 11:30 mass and Karl was a “cape” instead of a “sticky.” Dropped mother off at the Pay-Less after mass and then picked her up. Had breakfast at 1300, bacon, sausage and eggs. Had some of your favorite “green tomatoes” or Chow Chow as it is called. I didn’t think it was hot enough so I put in a couple hot peppers in it a couple days ago, and boy was it ever good. We’ve got plenty of red tomatoes nowadays.
September 14, 1968
Sept. 14, ’68
Larry,
Hi, how are ya? I’m sorry I haven’t written in years, but now that school has started, I haven’t had time to do anything but study. Haha. Every night when I get home from school, all I can do is do my homework, talk on the phone, wash my hair and roll it up and take a bath. By this time it’s 11:30 and I have to go to bed.
Our reserve football team at MHHS [Madison Heights High School] is pretty great this year, although we did get beat by AHS [Anderson High School] reserves. 7-0 was the score. At this game, one of our star players got a broken collar bone. They were really out to kill us.
We played Marion, the varsity, and I must admit, they creamed us. The score was 33-7. Marion has a rough team, but Anderson probably won’t beat them either. We play highland the 21st of Sept. and Anderson the 11th of Oct. We’ll beat ‘em though, you just wait.
August 29, 1968
August 29, 1968
Time – 8:30 AM Thurs.
Dear Larry:
We have WHUT on and he said that it is 58° degrees outside. It is ideal sleeping weather. Everyone is still asleep but Tresa and me. We are both sitting here in the kitchen writing to you. I didn’t get a chance to write yesterday because I was busy all day washing all my windows. I thought that I had better do it while I still have some help around the house because next week the kids will be going back to school.
When Dad got home from work he brought with him a big tub like the ones you kids used to fill up with water and take baths in outside when you were little. [an example of these tubs is pictured below] He also bought some onions and cabbage with the mangos and hot green peppers in the garden, we all got to work last night and cut them up in the tub. It’s been down in the basement all night, so tonight we will put them in jars. So when you get home next year you will have some green relish to eat with your sandwiches.
August 27, 1968
Monday Aug 26, 1968
5:30 P.M.
Dear Larry:
I was going to write to you yesterday but since Carol wrote to you, I thought I would take a rest. As you probably know and Carol wrote you, yesterday was her 15th birthday. Since it happened to come out on a Sunday, we had a pretty nice day. We started it off by going to the 10 o’clock mass which Karl had to serve. Then, after church I stopped at Pay Less and got a few groceries and when we got home we hurried and went to the Little League picnic which was at the Meadowbrook Park and Karl’s team got a trophy. I baked Carol a German chocolate cake. We had her birthday party when we got home from the picnic. Dad and I gave her $20.00 to buy her some school clothes. I suppose she probably told you that I got her a gift from you. The cake was good and there was only one big piece left over when we started to cut it. I said that if you were home the whole cake would be gone. Carol J—– and Barbara H—- helped eat it.
July 23, 1968
July 23, 1968
Tuesday
Larry,
Joanna and I got your letter today. Have you written to Thomas, Johnson, Aunt Mary or anyone like that? They’ll probably be expecting letters from you.
Yes, I’ve been working on my art. If I don’t, mother has a fit. I thought I’d send you a sample of what I’m doing. [see above]
Dad just left to pickup a bookcase we ordered at Sears. It’s another steel one and it looks like this: [see above] I guess about 5 or 6 ft. tall with adjustable shelves.
April 10, 1968
April 10, 1968
Wed. evening
Larry,
Hi! How are ya? Just got through painting 4 pictures of mother. I think it insulted her. Well, I better go.
Carol
Dear Larry:
I didn’t want to waste this space so I thought I would finish Carol’s long letter, I just can’t get those big cobelas Joanna and Carol to write to you. (Big cobela mother sure writes to you. – Carol)
Joanna is too damn busy running around and Carol is too busy enjoying her spring break and Dad is too busy going to the Polish Club or his church (as you would say) and Karl is too busy going to track practice at Madison Heights field, so I guess it is up to Mom to do the writing…and Tresa also, but sometimes she is too busy playing with Debbie. So now I am going to say what keeps you too busy?
