Letters

Wonder of wonders! I have been cleaning out the garage trying to decide what might be eligible for a garage sale, and what could be thrown in the trash. In the process I have come across a small overnight case which is full of letters from the past. I found one set that I wrote to Betty from Cincinnati right after we were engaged. I had gone to do some grad study at the University to support my teaching at Marshall. That was 58 years ago this July. I also came across an invitation to my ordination to the Christian Ministry on June 27, 1958 That is tomorrow - 48 years ago. I remember saying once to Betty that she should not be surprised if she woke up some day and found that she was married to a preacher and not a teacher. It took 3 years as an Instructor in Psychology at Marshall, 1 1/2 years of graduate study at Penn State and 4 years as a Clinical Psychologist in Iowa before I answered that call and enrolled at Andover-Newton Theological School. A quick look at the letters show that she was a regular correspondent while I was at Cincy, and when she was staying with her parents while I was at Penn State. Later when she was able to visit family and I had to stay on the job we wrote our love to each other often and with passion. I’ve been able to read some of the letters today, and will look them over from time to time. I suspect that my sense of organization will find me organizing them into some sort of “time frame”. It didn’t help my composure this afternoon when I read Tim Russert’s paragraphs about his mother’s death just a few months before Betty died. At least he and his siblings had a chance to tell her good-bye.