Love Letters to Mina

By Kim Cleveland-Burns

The eyes of love are deep green with pupils that travel to the end of eternity. These smiling eyes are the emeralds that sojourn through life befriending anyone and everyone that needs a loving compatriot. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I say beauty runs deep inside the soul of Mina Thornes Cleveland and her beloved Richard right from the start.

He promised to love her for an eternity. Together, they shaped a life that had meaning, and it all began with the love letters from his military base, each one sealed with a kiss. Life in the 1950s in America gave a balance to simple dreams. Faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). The love that Richard held for Mina lasted an eternity and was preserved in his letters to Mina during the 1950s. Years after his death, as Mina lost her eyesight, Richard's eternal love, sealed with an everlasting kiss, gave her strength and faith to carry on. If only we could all see the power of love. On the back of every letter, this power was evident in these four simple letters:

SWAK

(Sealed with a Kiss)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638447481

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Love Letters to Mina

Kim Cleveland-Burns

ISBN 978-1-63844-747-4 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63844-748-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2021 by Kim Cleveland-Burns

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Courtship

San Antonio, Texas, in the Early 1950s

Wedding Bells Rang

Life, Love, and Laughter

Polar Opposites

Parenting in the ’Burbs

The Color Wheel of Life

Handiness of the Heart and Hand

Chicken Stuff on Wednesdays

Only on Sundays

Pie, Politics, and Pitch

Daddy Days

This Rugged Life Will Make a Man Out of Me

Christmastime in the ’50s

Linking Letters of Love

Mina

The Eyes of Love

Simple Times

The Heart Goes On

The Power of Grand Gestures

A Grandparent’s Love

Threads That Weave Us

Immortal Denouement (from a Grandchild)

Pathway to Heaven Eternity Becomes a Reality

Life During Corona Afterward

Love you to pieces.

—Mina Cleveland

Mina

Mina, I loved you so when I was small

You made my world safe after all

When I grew up, I needed you so

Because you made my whole world glow

Of course we had our moments, you and I

Returning always in the blink of an eye

Now I too see the world you saw

The one you had with your Ma and Pa

Their first born daughter born across the sea

Believing in hope for you and me

Mom, I loved you as you grew old

Never forgetting the stories you told

I made a promise that September day

To always see you in every way

I see you in the daylight

I see you in the night

But most of all, I will always hold you tight

Tight within my arms I’ll hold

The many, many lessons you have told

So, until we meet again one day

I will think of you always in every way

I love you Mina

Kimmer

Prologue

Discovering Love

In the early 1950s in America, love was in the air. It was not uncommon for two people to meet in random places and fall madly in love. Unlike society in the year 2020, the 1950s provided many opportunities for chance meetings. Young people joined groups in churches, clubs, and neighborhoods and actually enjoyed talking to both friends and strangers. There were no cell phones, computers, internet dating, or social media sites. People actually had to leave their homes and venture out into the world. Telephones were landlines with party lines, and neighbors and friends would share the same phone number. There were no answering machines, and the only message anyone left another human being was through one to one interaction or through letter writing and the US Postal Service.

Richard Cleveland was a handsome young twenty-year-old who had recently joined a young singles group at his church, St. John’s Lutheran in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. In the heart of the Midwest, Richard spent his time singing and learning the construction trade. At St. John’s, his singles group would go to the local skating rink, cook together, play parlor games, sing, and get to know new friends. It was at one of these get-togethers that Richard was introduced to three spunky, adorable Norwegian sisters: Mina, Ruth, and Betty Thornes. All three had the gift to gab, loved life, and were—at the present time—single.

One evening, when St. John’s was hosting a couples evening, Richard met Mina, and they instantly began to truly enjoy one another’s company. About a week later, Richard called on Mina at her family home on Thirty-Third Street. Mina’s father, whom Mina affectionately referred to as Pa, answered the door and asked Richard which daughter he was calling on. When Richard said Mina, Pa replied, Are you sure you didn’t want to call on either Ruth or Betty, my two younger daughters? Richard replied, I am here to call on the prettiest of your daughters sir, and that would be Mina!

Richard and Mina began to date, which in the 1950s meant your date would walk you to the car, open doors for you, bring you flowers, kiss you at your doorstep, and actually call you on the telephone in a day or two to arrange another date. Mina enjoyed her time with Richard. As did he, possibly a bit more so than Mina! In fact, it was