Mommy and Daddy’s Love Letters; A true story from the 1950s

By Cal Harrop

If you could go back in time and experience your parents or grandparents falling in love would you? If you could go back in time and experience how life was before computers, the internet or cell phones would you? If you could go back in time and meet people that you have only heard about would you? “Mommy and Daddy’s Love Letters, A true story from the 1950s”, contains letters written by the author's Mother and Father to each other during their courtship in 1951 and 1952. Marie worked as a housekeeper in Kansas City for the founders of the Winstead's chain of restaurants and Walter was a farm hand near Quincy, Missouri. This is a small community close to where Marie grew up. While the relationship between Marie and Walter along with the people around them is the main theme of the book, many ways of life that existed in the 1950s and no longer exist today are mentioned and explained. The author has also mentioned some historical events of 1951 and 1952 that are not well known that should be of interest to people interested in life in the United States in 1951 and 1952. The book is a nonfiction romance combined with the cultural history of Missouri. It should appeal to older readers, readers in rural areas, readers in Missouri (especially in Kansas City) and readers interested in everyday life in the United States in 1951 and 1952. The book contains several vintage photographs and extensive weather data recorded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1951 and 1952.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cal Harrop
• Release date: Apr 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476062099

Cal Harrop

I was raised on a farm in South Central Missouri. I graduated from college and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. I spent 20 years on active duty as a Field Artillery Officer. I held a number of command and staff jobs with overseas assignments in Turkey and Germany. I retired as a Major and currently work for the Army as a civilian. I currently live in Kansas City, Kansas. I enjoy traveling with my family and we have been on several cruises. Between my military service and these cruises I have seen a great deal of the world.

Book preview

Mommy and Daddy’s Love Letters; A true story from the 1950s.

Published by Cal Harrop at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Cal Harrop

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Introduction

This book is dedicated to my parents, Walter and Marie Harrop. They met in early 1951 and were married June 16, 1952. When they met, Daddy was a farm hand who lived near Quincy, Missouri. Mommy worked as a housekeeper for a family in Kansas City. Her parents lived near Bentonville, Missouri. They met because Daddy occasionally worked for and was a close neighbor to Mommy’s aunt and uncle. On March 20, 1951 Mommy wrote Daddy a letter. Daddy sent her a reply. This started a series of letters between the two that lasted until they were married a little over a year later. One would write a letter and the other would soon send a reply. The only break in these series of letters was when Mommy came home to visit her parents. Mommy came home to see her parents about every other weekend. On those occasions, Daddy would pick her up at the bus station in either Warsaw or Osceola, Missouri on Friday night and Daddy would drop her off at the bus station to go back to Kansas City on Sunday.

All together they wrote 129 letters to each other. Mommy sent the first of 66 letters to Daddy with the first letter postmarked March 21, 1951. Daddy sent the first of 63 letters to Mommy with the first letter postmarked March 26, 1951. The last letter Mommy sent to Daddy was postmarked June 11, 1952. The last letter Daddy sent to Mommy was postmarked June 9, 1952. Most of this book has the exact text of every letter written word for word. When you read these letters, you will be taken back to the early 1950s in the middle of the United States. You won’t find any racy comments or a need to censure any of this material. What I think you will find is a loving relationship between a man and a woman that was typical of the time. This relationship lasted over 48 years until Daddy died on November 28, 1999 at age 79. Mommy died a year later on November 28, 2000 at age 75.

I didn't know about these letters until after Mommy died. I found them while I was going through an old trunk of theirs. Mommy and Daddy were private people and did not discuss their feelings much with others. Both grew up in the Depression and I think because of that experience they rarely threw anything away. After their deaths, I was amazed at how much I learned about their lives by going through their belongings. I learned so much about them after they died that I did not know about them when they were alive. The letters reinforced many things that I knew about my parents and also provided new insights about them. Most of the content of these letters is about everyday routine life. Many people will find them boring. However, the majority of people’s lives are routine with periods of highs and lows. I think the average person will see something familiar these letters. That familiarity will be that life has routines centered on family, friends and work and these routines must be accomplished to meet the challenges of daily life. This familiarity should also show that life has hope and promise for a brighter future with the people you love.

Here is format for the book. In Chapter 1 I discuss some of the events of 1951 and 1952. This will help you understand the environment and issues Mommy and Daddy faced. In Chapters 2 - 5, I provide background information on Mommy and Daddy as well as the people and places mentioned in the letters. This will also help you better understand the letters while I provide information on the characters of Mommy and Daddy. Chapters 6 - 22 will each have a month’s worth of letters per chapter. These letters are in chronological order from the first to the last letter written. At the end of each letter I may comment on parts of the letter and/or clarify anything that may be hard to understand. I may also comment on how recent weather or events might have been significant to something mentioned in the letter. I may also explain things in the letters that were different in the 1950s and would not be easily understood unless you remembered living in the 1950s. Some letters may not have a comment, while some will have a lengthy comment. The last chapter in the book, Chapter 23, has a table of Kansas City weather data from March 1, 1951 through June 25, 1952. This is included as the weather was probably the most important factor in determining the day to day activities of Mommy and Daddy and this should also help you better understand the letters and comments.

On January 1, 1952 Mommy started keeping a daily journal. Starting with the first letter that Mommy wrote after January 1, 1952, each of Mommy’s remaining letters will have a daily summary from her journal on what she did from the time she wrote her last letter. This should help you better understand what Mommy did every day. Chapter 22 will have the remainder of her journal entries she made after she wrote her last letter. These entries are from June 11 through June 25, 1952 and cover what happened from Mommy’s last letter until a couple of weeks after Mommy and Daddy were married. I have expanded the entries from Mommy’s journal so you can understand them. Mommy only had one line on a 3 ½ inch by 4 ½ inch page to record what she did so she used several abbreviations. If I wrote them exactly as she did, you would not be able to understand them.

This photograph is the front cover of Mommy’s journal. She liked to write important information on pictures and other documents. She wrote the date her and Daddy were married on the front cover.

This photograph shows the journal entries for the month of March, 1952. The small letters to the left of the date indicate the days she wrote letters and who they were written to. W stands for Walter. M stands for Mother. R stands for Rena. E stands for Ethel.

I also found a small record book of Daddy’s that listed some of the things he did when the letters were written. Daddy always kept written records of what he did with their associated expense for tax purposes. I will list the events recorded in this record book after the letter Daddy wrote in which the event occurred. These entries started in January 1952 after he moved to the Basil Parson place. There are not many of these entries and most of his letters will not have any entries from this record book.

The letters are written about 90 percent word for word exactly as they were written by Mommy and Daddy to include misspellings and poor grammar. I think this is important in order to give you a better understanding of Mommy and Daddy. I inserted the proper spelling or grammar into a letter only if I think it is essential to help you understand what was meant. When I do this, missing letters and clarifying words will be in parentheses immediately after the part I think is hard to understand. Both of them only had an eighth grade education. However, Daddy continued his education by attending GI school after World War II. I provide more information about GI school in Chapter 1.

Daddy’s letters are easy to follow, while parts of Mommy’s letters can't be understood without clarification. I had problems figuring out what Mommy meant in many cases. Shortly before she died, I discovered that she had suffered a severe head injury when she was born. That injury was probably the reason she had difficulty writing and explains the poor eyesight she had all of her life.

I would like to thank the Quincy History Book committee for allowing me to use some of the pictures from Quincy, Missouri, The History Continues, Volume II in this book. I would also like to thank MapQuest, Inc. and NAVTEQ for allowing me to use the maps displayed in this book. The MapQuest.com logo is a registered trademark of MapQuest, Inc. Map content (c) 2006 by MapQuest, Inc. and is the property of MapQuest, Inc. and the respective copyright holders. The MapQuest trademarks and map content are used with permission. NAVTEQ is a registered trademark of NAVTEQ Corp. Map content ©2006 NAVTEQ Corp. and is the property of NAVTEQ Corp and the respective copyright holders and used in this book with permission.

I also want to give special thanks to my good friend Harry Stoll, my aunt Mildred Bell, my aunt Ethel Kirby, my cousin Sharon Ault and my wife Renee for their help in editing this book. Thank you all very much!

Finally, let me tell you why I choose the title Mommy and Daddy’s Love Letters for this book. I am an only child and I lived on a farm where the nearest neighbor lived a quarter mile away. The next nearest neighbor lived three quarters of a mile away. Until I started school, I didn’t see much of anybody except my parents. I called them Mommy and Daddy and they were the center of my life growing up. After I left home, married and started my own family, I called them Mom and Dad. However, my best memories of them are from the time I called them Mommy and Daddy. From now until I die, Mommy and Daddy is how I want to remember them. As for Love Letters, I never saw my parents kiss or say I Love You to each other. They were married over 47 years, but did not display a great deal of affection in front of others. I don’t know if this was due to the custom of the time they grew up in or other factors. I have no doubt that they loved each other. These letters are the closest thing I have besides memories that show how my parents felt about each other.

Thank you and I hope that you enjoy the book.

Cal Harrop

This photograph is of Daddy, Mommy and me in the summer of 1962. I was 5 years old.

Chapter 1

1951 and 1952

To understand why people do the things they do, it is important to know what is going on in the world around them. It is not my intent to tell you all of the historical events that occurred in 1951 and 1952. I am just going to tell you about some events that influenced Mommy and Daddy and the people mentioned in their letters.

The weather had the most influence on their day to day lives. Daddy lived and worked on a farm, so all of his activities throughout the day depended on the weather. Most of the time Mommy lived and worked as a housekeeper in Kansas City, so the weather did not have a great an impact on her. However, sometimes it affected her bus rides to and from home and Kansas City. It also affected her daily activities when she was home on her parents’ farm.

In July 1951 heavy rains in eastern Kansas and Missouri caused extensive flooding in Kansas City and along the Kansas, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Eastern Kansas received heavy rains throughout the spring and early summer of 1951. On July 13, 1951 the Kansas River topped 33 foot high flood walls at its junction with the Missouri River in Kansas City. Water was 40 feet deep in some places in Kansas City. The industrial sections of Kansas City to include the West Bottoms, the packing plants, and the stockyards were flooded. Runaway barges slammed into the Hannibal Bridge over the Missouri River. A floating Phillips Petroleum Co. oil tank hit a power line and exploded. Flooding continued down the Missouri River and eventually the Mississippi River. On July 14, 1951, the State of Missouri declared a state of emergency as 500,000 people were homeless because of flooding. Flood conditions extended into August with 100,000 acres along the Mississippi River still flooded on August 11. When the flood waters receded, 41 people were dead and damage totaled $1 billion. Kansas City recovered from the flooding and Congress passed legislation authorizing the building of dams and reservoirs in Kansas to prevent similar flooding in the future.

The Korean War was major news in 1951 and 1952. However, it did not have much of an impact on Mommy and Daddy. Daddy and both of his brothers were veterans of World War II and were not required to serve in the military during the Korean War. Mommy had two brother-in-laws that were eligible for military service, but they were not in the military during the time the letters were written. In her letters, she writes about people she knows being affected by the war. One neighbor was wounded. I am not going to tell much about the Korean War. However, here are some of the highlights of the war in 1951 that occurred while Mommy and Daddy were exchanging letters.

On March 14 Seoul was recaptured from the North Koreans by United Nations (UN) forces. UN forces continued north as US tanks crossed the 38th Parallel on March 31. On June 19, with casualties mounting and the need for more manpower, President Truman extends the authority of the government to draft men for service in the Armed Forces until 1955. He also lengthens the time draftees must serve in the military to two years, and lowers the age men can be drafted to 18 ½ years of age. The first Armistice talks began August 10.

In 1951, television was becoming more of a fixture in American homes. Mommy’s employers had a television. She mentions specific shows and watching television in several letters. On October 16, 1949 WDAF-TV went on the air as the first television station in Kansas City. At that time, 78 television stations were operating commercially in 47 cities in the United States and there were 8,000 television sets in the WDAF-TV signal area. On November 24, 1951 a color television was placed in a medical center in Kansas City to use in teaching medical students. On January 3, 1952 the television show Dragnet with Jack Webb premiered on NBC. On January 14, 1952 the Today show premiered on NBC.

Income for most Americans was on the rise. In 1951 the average yearly wage for each man, woman and child in the United States was $1,436.00. This was an increase of 9 percent, or $116.00 from 1949.

This rise in income was probably the result of millions of World War II veterans like Daddy completing their education through the GI Bill. Officially known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, the GI Bill was designed to provide greater opportunities to returning veterans of World War II and help them adjust to civilian life. Signed by President Roosevelt on June 22, 1944 the GI Bill provided veterans with assistance in the areas of hospitalization, the purchase of homes and businesses and getting an education. This act provided subsidized tuition, fees, books, and educational materials for veterans and contributed to the living expenses they incurred while attending college or other approved institutions. From 1945 to 1953 approximately 8 million veterans received benefits.

This was also a time of organized labor unrest. You will see mentions of strikes in some of the letters. You will also see references to President Truman becoming involved in labor matters. Two major labor events in 1952 dealt with the railroads and the steel mills. Under the threat of a nationwide railroad strike, President Truman ordered the Army to take over operation of the railroads on August 26, 1950. After 21 months of Army control, President Truman returned control of the railroads to their owners on May 23, 1952. The steel mill strike of 1952 was another struggle between organized labor and the government. On April 8, 1952 President Truman ordered the government to seize all steel mills in the United States in order to avoid a strike. Shortly after this order, a judge declared that the government seizure was illegal. After this ruling, the strike started again with over 600,000 workers off the job by April 30. Then an appellant judge allowed the government to regain control of the steel mills while the government appealed. Finally, on June 2 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the government seizure was unconstitutional and the strike was allowed to resume.

One change that happened in Missouri after World War II is that many people migrated from the rural areas of southern Missouri to Kansas City in search of work and a better way of life. There are several reasons for this. Opportunities in rural areas were few and the expanding economy the United States had after World War II created a many jobs in urban areas. Veterans attending GI school after World War II acquired the skills needed for these new jobs. Also, veterans that had traveled the United States and had been overseas while they were in the military were not afraid of relocating and doing something new. You will see several instances of this trend mentioned in the letters.

For the most part, world and national events in 1951 and 1952 had little impact on Mommy and Daddy. Most of the events that directly affected them had a positive impact that helped further their relationship. Now, let’s meet Daddy and Mommy and learn something about the people and places around them. Then we’ll get to the letters.

Chapter 2

My Mommy – Mabel Marie Smallwood

My Mommy, Mable Marie Smallwood was born October 2, 1925 on a 160 acre farm close to Bentonville, Missouri. They had cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys and a horse on the farm. She was the oldest of five children born to Johnny and Susie Smallwood. The other four children, in birth order were Glen, Elno, Ethel and Mildred. Everybody called Mommy by her middle name of Marie. Growing up as the oldest in a family of five children meant that Mommy had a lot of responsibility. She told me that when she was a girl, her grandmother had a severe stroke, and that her mother cared for her grandmother at her grandmother’s house for some time after the stroke. That left Mommy in charge of cooking and cleaning for the family along with the responsibility for ensuring her younger siblings did their jobs.

I don’t know much about Mommy’s life growing up. I know she started working for Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery in Kansas City in October, 1949 making $25 a week. She was a hard worker. When she was in good health, she could do more hard labor on the farm than the average man. She was very particular about her clothes and she was also an outstanding cook. No one has ever come close to matching her delicious bread rolls and angel food cake.

In 1967, Mommy was hospitalized with chest pains. During that hospitalization, we learned she had a hole in her heart that she had been born with. Her doctor told her that for the rest of her life she was not to do any more hard work and to get plenty of rest. We were told that failure to do this could result in her having a fatal heart attack. This change in life style was very hard on Mommy. She told me that she couldn’t stand not being able to help Daddy with the work on the farm. I told her that I would rather she follow doctor’s orders and live as opposed to not following them and die. However, as time passed she would start increasing the amount of work she did. Then she would suffer chest pains that required a trip to the hospital. This happened at least twice. In 1990 she suffered a major stroke which initially left her completely paralyzed on her left side. She eventually regained partial use of her left leg so she could walk with assistance, but she was unable to use her left arm the rest of her life.

Mommy suffered a life altering injury when she was born. A couple of months before she died, I noticed a long indented line running the entire length of one side of her skull. When I asked her about it, she said that the injury occurred when she was born. She said that the injury was the reason she had poor eyesight and did not do well in school. Mommy only had an eighth grade education, and it was often difficult to read and understand her handwriting. However, she had an excellent memory. She could often remember small details, like what was served for dinner at her Grandmother’s house on a particular day when she was a girl.

After Mommy had her stroke, she spent the majority of her time sitting in her red chair in the mobile home where she and Daddy lived. Two of her favorite pastimes sitting in this chair were looking at pictures and watching the traffic go by on the country road where they lived. She had a large photograph collection that ranged from pictures of her grandparents, parents, brother and sisters, to pictures of