Courtship Letters

By Xlibris US

Janet Brucato, 22 years old, lived in Niagara Falls, NY with her parents. Her older brother, Angelo, was a teacher in Hobart, Indiana. Coming home for Easter, he brought two male teacher friends to show them the beautiful Falls. On Good Friday evening Janet and two girl friends went out bowling and then dancing with the three men. While dancing, Janet said to Ed she couldnt believe she was dancing on Good Friday, that it was unheard of to dance on Good Friday. On Saturday the men went out sight-seeing. That evening they went out dancing again. On Easter Sunday morning Janet and Ed went to Mass together. That evening they went to a movie and then walked the few blocks from the theater to the Falls. There they kissed. Ed said he would write to her. When school ended the end of May, Ed visited again. In early June Janet went to Muncie, Indiana with Angelo. He went to
attend summer school at Ball State Teachers College. She went to meet Eds parents who lived there and rented rooms to students. Ed visited once more before beginning his job of being program director at a summer camp for children of Gary, Indiana steel mills workers. These are most of his letters. Many were in bad shape and were thrown out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503517677

Book preview

Courtship Letters

April14, 1952 to August 21,1952

Janet Weisse

Copyright © 2014 by Janet Weisse.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 11/18/2014

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

697695

Contents

Introduction

Monday, April14, 1952

April 16, 1952

April 15 -Tues. nite

April17, 1952

April 20 - Sunday

April 23, 1952

April 28 -Monday night

Thursday Eve -May 1, 1952

April30- Wed. nite

May 3, 1952

May 6 -Tues. nite

May 7, 1952

May 11 - Sunday nite

May 17, 1952

May 19, 1952

May 20, 1952

May 23, - Friday nite

May 24 - Sat. nite

June 4- Wed. nite

June 15, 1952

June 16- Mon. nite

June 17- Tues. nite

June 17, 1952

June 18- Wed. nite

Thursday -June 26, 1952

June 27, 1952

June 28, 1952

June 29, 1952

June 30, 1952

July 1, 1952

July 2, 1952

July 3, 1952

Friday -July 4, 1952

July 5, 1952

July 6, 1952

July 7, 1952

July 8, 1952

July 9, 1952

July 10, 1952

July 11, 1952

July 12, 1952

July 17, 1952

July 28, 1952

July 29, 1952

July 30, 1952

July 31, 1952

August 1, 1952

August 3, 1952

August 6, 1952

August 7, 1952

August 8, 1952

August 9, 1952

August 10, 1952

August 11, 1952

Tuesday, August 12

August 13, 1952

August 14, 1952

August 15, 1952

August 16, 1952

Sunday, August 17, 1952

August 18, 1952

August 19, 1952

August 20, 1952

August 21, 1952

Epilogue

INTRODUCTION

Janet lived in Niagara Falls, NY with her parents. Her brother, Bruce, lived in northwestern Indiana where he was a teacher. He had met and became friends with two male teachers from eating their meals at the same restaurant every day. He had visited their home towns in Indiana and on the long Easter weekend he would now show off his.

They arrived on Good Friday, April 11, 1952. That evening Bruce and his friends, Ed and Wayne, went out dancing with Janet and two of her girl friends. While Janet and Ed were dancing she said she couldn’t believe she was dancing on Good Friday because it was unheard of to be dancing on Good Friday. Ed repeated what she had said.

On Saturday the men went sight-seeing during the day. In the evening Ed and Janet, Wayne and one of the other girls went out dancing again.

Sunday was Easter. Ed and Janet went to Mass together. Her married siblings came over for dinner. In the evening she and Ed went to a movie. From the theater they walked over to the Falls. There they kissed. Janet said she felt guilty because she was writing to a soldier, Johnny, in Korea. When Johnny left, it was a given that they would eventually marry. Since then she realized she could not marry him because she would be doing it only to be married, but did not want to tell him while he was in Korea. Ed said he felt guilty because he was discerning if he should be a priest.

Early Monday morning the men left to return to Indiana to teach on Tuesday.

When school was out the end of May, Ed went back to the Falls. This visit was when they face-to-face declared their love for each other. Ed proposed marriage and Janet accepted. Ed bought a round-trip train ticket to go home.

On Saturday, June 7, Janet went to Muncie, Indiana with her brother, Bruce. He was driving there to attend summer school at Ball State Teachers College and would be staying with Ed’s parents who rented rooms to students. Janet went to meet Ed’s parents and brother. She used the other half of Ed’s train ticket to return home a week later.

During that visit Ed and Janet drove to Michigan City to find a home beginning September 1. They rented a furnished duplex on Lake Michigan. Ed asked Janet if she would prefer an engagement ring or his coming to Niagara Falls one last time before June 26 when his nine week summer job at Camp Goodfellow, a camp for children, would begin. Of course, she wanted him to visit.

Ed’s new teaching job would begin on Labor Day, September 1. They had hoped to marry on Wednesday, August 27, so they could take a honeymoon trip to upper Michigan, but changed it to Saturday, August 30, to please her family.

The original plan was to print only Ed’s letters, but some of Janet’s letters were found and included to clarify some comments.

There had been many other letters, but some were in really bad shape, could not be read at all, so they were destroyed. Even a few of these letters have… where it could not be read.

You are wondering why they didn’t talk on the phone. This was the early 1950’s, long before cell phones, and long-distance calls were costly and rare. Ed called her twice; on her birthday and when he received a letter from Janet saying she had not gotten a letter in three days - had he changed his mind?

Monday, April14, 1952

My dear Janet,

Already I must write you because I’ll have no peace until I hear from you. Last night I thought my feeling might be purely emotion. If I were to talk to you tonight I would tell you many things. All the way home I could think of nothing but you. It seemed that my heart would… with every mile that… between us. I feel cheap… against Johnny, but my heart tells me I should write to you… that both of us may be… a bit from temporary shock.

Janet, I’ve never felt like this in my life. I can’t possibly put into words the things that my heart are saying, but I hope that you know what they are and I’m sure you do if you feel as I do.

If I’m on the right track, I’m very happy, but Janet if you know the track leads to Johnny, please let me know. I don’t want to ride a train that hasn’t got a chance of reaching its destination. Before you make up your mind I should tell you a little about myself- huh?

I want more than anything in the world to do God’s will. I want as many children as God sees fit to give and I want to serve God by giving myself to my wife and children. I want a home where the Rosary is said daily and where all members of the home receive God in Holy Communion very often, even daily if possible. I want a home where love is the password.

These things, Janet, are ideas, but they are what I want. I don’t understand how in three days I can come to feel as… as I do. I don’t think we should rush into anything, but… believe that God’s… a while will show in which direction we should go. The way I feel now I know the way it’ll go, but I know God wants for us to talk things over with Him first. He’ll let us know through our emotions. I already wrote to my mother about you. Thanks for listening and please give me an idea. Thinking of you.

God love you.

Ed

April 16, 1952

My dear Janet,

Again I write to you. Please bear with me and hear what I have to say. Remember that in the park I said that no one had thrilled me like you had in several years. That was a vast understatement. I have been able to think of nothing but you since I got back. I have told Bruce how I feel. I have never felt like this before in my life and believe me, it’s a complex feeling. My only prayer to God is that His Holy Will be done, and I hope you pray the same. If God keeps this emotion with me I’ll be in Niagara Falls this June if you will agree.

Janet- forgive me for being so bold- but it is just my heart speaking to you. I’m putting things straight on the line and I want you to do the same thing. If you feel the same way towards me I want to know it, and if you feel any other way, I