The first part of today's letter was written on a piece of stationery Frances was given at a barbecue dinner she attended with Pop and Mother Cile. The venue was a cottage called Coral Gables that the owner rents out, and Frances got the idea that this would be a good place for Maj. Gillham and her to visit after his return. Below, following the letter, are scans of the stationery, front and back. The other part of the letter was written on the back of a humorous piece of advertising handed out by the same man (he also owned a car dealership in town). This, too has been scanned, below.
A note on the scans: The new, "improved" blog editor program now makes it more difficult for the reader to enlarge photos shown on a blog. For Windows users, you will have to right click on the photo and select "Open Link in New Window." Once the picture appears in the new window, you can click on it to have it enlarged.
April 17, 1946
Dearest Lovely,
Tonight Father took Mother and me to a barbecue supper given by a club he is in. One of the members, Mr. Abbott, had the crowd at his weekend place. On the back is a map to show you where it is.
The nicest thing about the cottage is that he rents it to couples who get married, for a honeymoon. He also lets returned veterans go out. My idea is that we take it for a week when you get back. It is in a pine grove in the kind of woods we used to prowl around in.
The road, Heards Ferry Road, leads to the river. We could go down it in a scow again. As it has two bed rooms we could take Monty and Emily and leave Martha with Mother -- or if you prefer we could go out by ourselves.
It would be far less expensive than Bermuda and far more to your liking, I'm sure. As soon as I know when to expect you, I'll go down to see Mr. Abbott and make arrangements.
It's a place where you could rest and recreate, and it wouldn't be much traveling for you -- about sixteen miles from our house.
I can hardly wait to take you out there. I know it's just the kind of place for you, darling. So, tell Uncle Sam and MacArthur to hurry up and let you come home!
This letter and stationery were souvenirs given each guest tonight. I thought I would write on it so that you could enjoy the little jokes.
He has all kinds of little things tacked over the house. The bedroom for Esquire is full of Varga Girls, etc. In the bathroom are jokes that Arnold would appreciate.
I am anxious to see your movies. You always could figure a way to do the seemingly impossible. I bet you all had quite a fine time taking them, too. I hope the day was pretty. The last time I took some with Lucile Taylor was about three weeks ago. I still have half a roll to take. Two rolls have come back developed, and I think they are good.
Your interesting pictures came of you taking your shoes off on the steps. It is darling of you. It is such a natural one and you have on your nicest smile!
Have you seen Marshall again? I couldn't figure whether it was Con A or H from his writing. I guessed wrong, it was H.
All my love,
Frances
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Front
Back
Humorous handout
