"She completely amazes me" . . .

June 20, 1963

Dear Dad and Mom, Tom and Grandma,

Well, I've done it again.  Father's Day has come and gone and I still have the card I bought.  Wonder if I'll ever change?  Probably not and I'm sure it would be too much of a shock for you folks if I ever got a card sent on time.  I think I may have got either Jim's birthday card or their anniversary card sent on time.  Don't know for sure how long it takes for a letter to get there.

Goodness I didn't know I had written three letters to you in a week.  Guess I'll have to quit that.  Ha!  Ha!  I just answered the letters you wrote me.

Your courses at summer school sound hard, but the teacher's sound interesting so that helps.  (Sorry about that apostrophe in the teachers.  I'll have to be real careful how I write to you with you in a comp course.) [This was a typed letter, so not so easy to just cross out the errant apostrophe.  MJS]

Is this advanced comp of some kind?  And how come another speech course?  Wasn't the other one enough or have they changed everything around?  Say, while I'm thinking about college courses -- does it cost a dollar to have a transcript sent?

We all had colds over the weekend.  Sure is a heck of a time of the year to have colds.  We're all pretty much done with sneezing and blowing noses.  You never heard so many sneezes as there were around here on Saturday and Sunday.  And to make matters even worse it was so hot over the weekend.  Yesterday it cooled off quite a bit and today seems to be starting out fairly cool.

I got a beautiful birthday card from Bill the same day we got your letter.  I was so mad because he owed us a letter and didn't write a word with the card.  But today I got a letter from him.  He said he had been working at the NCO Club at night as a waiter, so I suppose that keeps him pretty busy.  I guess I'll send Aunt Helen's letter on to him.  I'm sure he'll enjoy reading it.  I sure like it when you send letters from relatives on to me.

By Beverly Davis Hansen do you mean my old teacher?  It certainly is sad.  Carol Topp wrote to me and said that they thought Mrs. Lloyd Schneider might be all right, now.  She had been to Rochester for several operations and they thought they had all of the cancer out.

Did Betty Ann have the baby at home or did she at least make it to the hospital?  Needless to say I like the name Gary Richard.  You hadn't even told me that they were expecting.  Shame on you.

It really amazes me the way Mary likes to be read to.  I keep going on about it in all of the letters I write, but like I say, she completely amazes me.  Her favorite book is one about Woody Woodpecker.  Sometimes she sits on the davenport and "reads" to herself.  She sits there and jabbers and giggles and shakes her head.  The other day she as looking at a magazine.  She saw a picture of some cereal with bananas in it and she was trying to pick up the bananas.  She got so mad and squealed.  What a nut!

I think our bathtub is lower than yours.  Anyway Mary just hops in and out like it were nothing.

Yes, Gary wears a white shirt every day.  A clean white shirt every day.  Except Saturday and Sunday when he doesn't work.

Who are the Dedrickson's that you are going to share the garden with next year?

Say do you suppose you could call Daisy Janke some day?  I recently got a new copy of the towns that have Family Record Plan Studios.  There is a studio in Norfolk that takes pictures for them now.  Maybe Daisy knows it already, I don't know. The name of the studio is Christian Photo, 117 S. 4th.

Dale really likes Sunday School.  He goes around all week singing the songs they sing in Sunday School.  Sometimes the tunes are a little weird, but at least he is trying.  They sing a lot of the same songs that we sang in Winside.  Dale's favorite are Jesus Loves Me and Fishers of Men.

Well, it is real nice and windy and fairly cool so I think I will get some blankets and other bedding washed up.

Hope you had a happy Father's Day, Dad.

Gary got a new necktie and a minnow dipper.

Love, Gary, Greta, Dale and Mary

The photo is from earlier than June of 1963, but I think I look completely amazing here, so I'm using it.