October 21, 1964

Oct. 21, 1964


Dear Mom and Dad,

Today was a very good day! We received letters from Jim’s mom, Virginia, Mary Ann O’Connell, Rosemarie B. and Barbara received your letter with the $1.00. Thank you for the addresses. I think I have all the ones I need now except Rita’s and Josephine Orcutt’s.

This afternoon my two neighbors came over for coffee Mrs. Guenther brought the children a bag of candies and Mrs. B. brought me a rose from her garden and a box of cookies for the children. The box was all wrapped up with fancy wrapping paper and ribbon. They are very sweet people. Later Mr. G’s daughter brought over some dolls and stuffed animals for the children. And a little later Mrs. B had her daughter bring us a doll and some knitted clothes. These are all toys their children have outgrown but it is still very nice of them to part with them. I told Mrs. G. that Jim was going to buy Kenny a scooter for his birthday. Then she said they had one that needed a new tire and we could have it for MB to ride. After the ladies left the daughter returned with the scooter. They are very prompt with anything they promise.

Tomorrow B and Jimmy start ice skating. All the children from school go on Thurs mornings. They were quite thrilled today as Jim took them to buy ice skates. Jimmy’s look like a hockey player’s and B has the white Sonja Henie kind. We told them that is what they would get with the money that the people from St. Louis gave to them.

Then to top off the day when Jim came home from work he had the Sun Post Dispatch that Daddy sent us. That was really like seeing an old friend. It didn’t take long to get here either. Of course I had to sit right down and read it from cover to cover and of such joys are one’s life when one is away. A home town paper looks like a familiar face in the blur.

I certainly cannot complain as we were so fortunate to find such a lovely home. They told us it cost 200,000 Francs to build it – that’s about $50,000 in the States. Mr. G. said the owners wife hated to leave it again but her husband wrote from Africa that they should come. So she had to leave her lovely home and her plants. I counted them and there are 35 of them either climbing up the wall or trailing down a shelf or bookcase. Mrs. B. saw our ad quite by accident. She never gets that newspaper and happened to ask her son to bring one home as she wanted to ready the death notices. That is how it happened. It shows that someone certainly is looking after us. The Bell family have been here since Sept. 4th and they still haven’t found anything.

Well I must close as I want to answer Mil and Julius’s letter tonight. Thanks again for the newspaper and write soon again.

Love to all,
Jim and Dina