Dear Louzine
Hope you are feeling well. Guess I am o.k. This fine wether is just about to give me spring fever. Seems every one gets a little lazy this time of year.
Louzine they put me on the second shift at work. I knew it was comming but I thought it would be another week or so. I have to go to work at 3 oclock and off at 11 oclock. I have to work sat. night. Looks like Sunday night is the only chance I will have to see you. If it is o.k. with you, and unless you send me word different I will be there about 4:30 Sunday evening. Then maybe we won’t be out so late.
Darling I miss you lots. Sending this by Wayne, hope he gets it to you. Hope you can read this I am not much at spelling and writing. Don’t eat supper before I come Sunday. We will eat out somewhere.
Love Jerry
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Pap sent the letter above to Granny when they were first courting. Pap lived in the southern portion of Cherokee County and Granny lived in the western portion. With today’s modern cars and roads that only equals about 20-25 minutes driving time, but in Pap and Granny’s courting days the distance was farther in more ways than one.
A few months back I asked Granny when her family first got a telephone. She couldn’t remember the exact year, but she did remember having to walk across the road to use the neighbor’s phone to call Pap’s mother and tell her to let Pap know she was sick and and that he shouldn’t come out to see her one evening. Pap and Granny only dated a short 3 months before marrying so I’m guessing it was about 1963 when she borrowed the phone.
Only one or two houses in the neighborhood having a telephone is a huge difference from today where everyone you know is walking around with one in their pocket. The difference almost boggles the mind.
Pap’s Uncle Wayne and his wife Violet lived across the way from Granny’s family. As often happens in large families, Pap and Wayne were closer in age than most uncles and nephews and since they grew up near each other they were more like cousins.
Back in the day Pap and Wayne drove wagons from the Harshaw Farm to Murphy, worked in the fields, swam and fished in the Hiwassee River and slipped off to play when they both knew better.
After they were grown and Wayne married Violet he introduced Pap to Granny.
Happy Valentines Day!!
Tipper
I was reading old blogs and found this. It is the sweetest letter ever. I have a few notes from my hubby when he was my boyfriend and also after we were married. I treasure them. He worked swing shifts a lot during our marriage. During the time before retirement, I worked days at school, while he worked afternoon shift in the mines for 9 years. The little notes he left me were like a lifeline because I missed him so. It makes me treasure him and our time together all the more now that we are both retired.
thank you Tipper for sharing that letter, tears in my eyes, God bless you with peace and comfort about Pap in Jesus name
Wonderful post for Valentine Day. But my heart is very heavy because my dear, dear brother Donald Roger Mull passed away after much suffering because of his service in Viet Nam. This is three MILITARY funeral services I have attended recently. But they will suffer no more!
With much devotion,
Eva Nell Mull Wike
Awww, letters from your sweetheart sure are special.
What a wonderful story!!!
If kids today only knew what they were missing out on – and I truly mean that. Growing up the way we did grew strength of character, that so few nowadays even know is available to them if they stopped always taking the easy way of doing things.
God bless.
RB
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Rev RB….So sadly true….I’m 74 and know what you mean!….I am praying for the children of today’s world here in 2021…..Thank you for your message!
Wow, that was neat.. and She must be like my Wife, she don’t throw anything away.. And she can remember what we wore on our first date. I barely can remember my on phone number much less what I wore over 35yrs ago..
Tipper,
That Love letter from Pap to Louzine reminds me of the Penland guy who fought in the Civil War days. You could tell that Pap really cared for Louzine, and from all the pictures I’ve seen, he really did well.
I was in the back room shaving this morning when I heard a man’s voice, talking to Donna Lynn. It was Paul and he had brought another CD of him and Pap for her to play. Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! …Ken
Tipper,
Happy Valentine’s Day…
Pap’s letter is a perfect post for today. This letter just says it all….
Does your Mother remember where they went out to eat that night? Did they end up getting home early enough for Pap to drive or catch a ride back for work on Monday?
(One letter I have from my Dad to Mother…..Dad tells Mom he will have to catch the Greyhound from Knoxville, TN to Marshall, NC and leave their date/visit early enough so as not to miss the bus, to get back for Monday workday!)
I just love this letter. The way the letter is worded it just shows that he was a sweet and thoughtful man. Both were very fortunate to have each other!
Thanks Tipper for the post!
Thank you for sharing this sweet morsel!
Your dad had a very neat handwrite. There was no need for you to translate in my case but I am in the minority these days, I can read cursive.
I can also understand Pap’s apprehension about changing to second shift. That often throws the skids on a relationship. Having to work on Saturday night too really compounds things. I am sure your mother was happy to have a man with a job. Changing shifts changes lives! Not just the worker but everybody in his life is affected. In any case Jerry and Louzene handled it well, had three fine children and stayed together forever and ever!
When my Dad was a teenager in the early 40’s he and a friend walked some girls home from a church that was up in the northern part of the county a ways away from where they lived in the central part. Some of the more local boys told them not to come around walking out with ‘their’ girls.
Dad and Mom met on a blind date while Dad was in the Marines before he shipped out to China. They wrote while he was gone and got engaged the night he got back home on the bus.
This is sooooo sweet! Perfect post for Valentines Day.
Pam
scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot.com
Oh, that’s so sweet! You sure can tell that Pap was crazy about Granny!