Ray Simpson - April 22 1984

April 22, 1985

Dear Mable,

Got your letter to day & will fill you in on Wilda’s condition she candress herself but can’t get into the bath tub.

She cooks her own breakfast but she can’t remember where things are at &I have to show her.

She walks 6 to 10 blocks each day weather permitting is able to make own bed.

I have to cook noon & evening meal she can’t give her self her insulin shots I have to also she has to take other pills but doesn’t know how many & when to take them.

She carrys on a simple conversation pretty good but some times it takes 10 to 20 minutes to tell what she wants.

She knows but can’t get the right wards to come out she calls each of the boys bob she can write only a few words & some sentences make sense & some don’t

She can not read only a few words & if she reads aloud she makes mistakes

I have to weigh & measure all her food

When company comes if they stay an hour she gets awfuly tired

I do all the washing & cleaning she will not be able to go to the Matheson reunion

We have a RN comes twice a month & a speech therapist each week.

She said she would love to see you but is not able to have company

I am 75 & ot very good shape don’t know how long I will last or how long the money will last so far it has cost $50,000 & is still osting.

She was in the hospital 62 days & onconcious 6 days & didn’t know very much for 3 months

It affected her eye sight & they can’t do anything until she is able to read the yey chart

The doctors had to cut a hole in her head just above & behind her left ear as large as a coffee cup & remove a large blood clot it caused some brain damage she may never make a complete recovery.

She has been to Natoma also to the bank & 3 or 4 times to the Grocery store  but doesnot know anything about buying grocerys

She has good use of hands & legs

Has trouble with blader infection every 2 or 3 months blood pressure is normall blood sugar up a little taken 30 units of v100 pills a day to prevent convulsions

I had two skin cancers removed from back of my left hand last week. Get one on my right hand to remove in a few weeks when the left one heals

Well I guess I better close as ever

Ray & Wilda

Wild said tell you maby next year you could come & stay a few weeks

Hope you can read my writing

Dec '84 - Dan & Nora

(Grandmother’s handwriting – Dec ’84)

DEAR Mable,

Mom sure enjoyed hearing from you. She really looks forward to the mail each day and has quie a stack of cards and letters to answer.

Mom is getting along pretty good down here but she misses Dad & her own home. She is getting a lot stronger now & when the weather permits we try to walk a mile or two every day. She enjoys her therapy and likes to practice at home. Her eyes still bother her a lot but the doctor thinks ta bigger glasses might help so we going to try that. Her speech is getting better but it is a long slow process.

I have told both her and Dad that when mom is able to go back home they will probably have to hire someone to live there with them to help cook and clean. Dad doesn’t like that but sometimes you have accept things that you can’t change. I told him that at least they would get to be together and in their own home.

Better stop now & get this mailed.

Love,

Dan & Nora

A B Cochrun
Russell, KS 67665

Dec 17th - Unknown Year - Unknown Author

Irvin Wineland - unknown date - last page of letter.

If they should happen to write you asking for my address – just say the last you heard from me that I was in Chicago or Boston. Thanks for writing on a separate sheet Archie as Pear always wants to read your letter – and don’t forget any special thing you want to write to me personally about do the same as you did.

I know that if I don’t get something by March that I’ll probably be up there to find something – I’d like to lease some good prospect to mine as good a price as gold is one could make a few dollars a day and possibly could clean up a nice sum as one is apt to hit some streaks of good pay dirt.

You wrote about drilling for oil – say it costs 50 to a hundred thousand to put up a good oil well – it’s very expensive the bits are diamond bitted and the tools all are expensive. No, I’d rather Trap in winter and mine in the summer or something.

Then one should get locate tere in late summer or early fall to get the most out of trapping you think?

Now don’t wait so long in answering

Love to all, Your Brother Irvin and all. 

I TRUST YOU’LL TREAT HER WELL

I TRUST YOU’LL TREAT HER WELL

WORLD: I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crispy dress…with two blue eyes….

And a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light blonde hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I trust you’ll treat her well.

She’s slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to her first day at school.

And never again will h be completely mine….

Prim and proud, she’ll wave a young and independent hand this morning, and say goodby and walk with little-lady steps to the nearby schoolhouse….

Gone will be the chattering little hoyden who lived onl for play, and gone will be the delightful little gamin who roamed the yard like a proud princess with nary a care in her little world.

Now she will learn to stand in lines..and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called…

She will learn to tune her little-girl ears for the sound of school bells, and for dead-lines…      She will learn to giggle and gossip…. And to look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue.

Now she will to be jealous…and now she will learn how it is to feel hurt inside..and now she will learn how not to cry….   No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch while an ant scurries across a creek in the sidewalk…Or will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew.

Now she will worry about important things…like grades…and what dresses to wear…and whose best friend is whose…Now she will worry about the little boy who pulls her hair at recess time…and staying after school..and which little girls like which little boys….And the magic of books and knowledge will soon take the place of the magic of her blocks and dolls.   And she will find new heroes……

For five full years I’ve been her sage and Santa Claus…her pla and playmate…her father and friend…Now, alsas, she’ll learn to share her worship and adoration with her teachers (which is only right)… And no longer will I be the smartest, greatest man in the world….   Today when the first school bell rings, she’ll learn how it is to be a member of the group….with all its privileges, and, of course, its disadvantages, too. 

(No author to this note. I believe it was written by my father - Myron Taylor)

Letter From Bonnie & Del - March 8, 1974

March 8, 1974

My dear Mable,

So glad as always to hear from you & all the news. You mentioned you didn’t recognize people names in the Waldo news of the paper, well Martin Winder is our next door neighbor & his wife died last night. Her name is Gwen & she had a lump in her breast & had it removed 7 months ago but it spread all thru her rapidly. He (Martin Winder) says he is a relative of Archie’s & Albert’s. Seems like everyone around here are relatives of some kind or another. Del, I believe is getting a little better  since the doctor took him off of some much medication.  We got over income tax figured & are waiting for results & also waiting for prescriptions to come back with pharmacist signature so we ca send them in for refund.

March 9

We have our horse boarded out for a month to give our pasture a chancet come back & to give us a chance to get the fence rebuilt where she had it all crippled up & broken down this winter trying to get to the alfalfa. We are building it like this out of one of fours & then yesterday Del & Lyle painted it white. Sure looks nice.

(Drawing of fence was drawn here in the letter)

I just can’t wait until you come down to see our place & spend some time with us. Del has to lose some more weight so he has me on a diet too. I’ve enjoyed the country cream so much since I’ve been here but have given it up to please him because if its here he wants it, too. There are over 100 relatives expected at the funeral for Gwen Monday so already they have called everyone in Waldo 7 told them what food to bring. They called me last night & told me to bring a pie & Mrs. Hubbard to bring a potato salad – Well Mrs. Hubbard was visiting here with us & she would rather make a pie so we switched. I can make a delicious pie sometimes but once in a while they aren’t if I especially want it to be good but my potato salads are always good. I fixed hot bread yesterday & cinnamon rolls & took them over & today I’m fixing a lemon pie but won’t take it over unless the meringue stands up. Sometimes they sand 2” high & other times they just go flat & I don’t know what I do wrong.  I sure learned a lot about cooking down in Arkansas and helped cook for 600 screaming kids at the school house.

Last year when we first moved Gwen Winder told me she had just discovered a lump in her breat & it was extremely sore. Of course I immediately asked her if she could move it around and she felt & said “No.” I had several but I could move them & they just cut them out but the doctor said when you can’t move them they are more dangerous. Anyway, I insisted she go in & see about it. So she did the next day & had breast removed & then they started cobolt every day for 6 weeks & told her she was O.K. but she kept going down hill & I feel so badly because I told her to havei taken care of. It seems to me that once a cancer is cut on it goes twice as fast. Maybe if she would of just let it go she’ be alive today. Anyway I feel badly about it & can’t help it. How is Shirley & family. She was always so cute & I used to tease her so & am so sorry now but it was such fun to do at h time. Wilda’s Bahs wife is going back to Viet Nam for a couple of months to visit er people while he is in some kind of training. Well I better get that lemon pie made & see if it is going to be pretty & see if it is going to be pretty & if not I’ll have to think of something else to take over today. Love & write when you feel like it.

Bonnie & Del

My Son - DEAR WORLD

DEAR WORLD

My Young Son starts to school today…It’s all going to be sort of strange and new to him for awhile, and I wish you would sort of treat him gently.

You see, up to now he’s been king of the roost..He’s been boss of the back-yard.. His mother has always been near to soothe his wounds and repair his feelings.

But now things are going to be different.

This morning, he’s going to walk down the front steps, wave his hand, and start out on the great adventure…It is an adventure ta might take him across continents, across oceans, ..It’s an adventure that will probably include wars and tragedy and sorrow…To live his life in the world he will have to live in will require faith and love and courage.

So, World, I wish you would wort of look after him….Take him by the hand and teach him things he will have to know.

But do it gently, if you can.

He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, that all men are not true.

But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero…that for every crooked politician there is a great and dedicated leader…Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend.

It will take him, World, I know. But teach him, if you can, that a nickel earned is of far more value that a dollar found….Teach him to learn to lose so he’ll enjoy winning that much more.

Steer him away from envy if you can…and teach him the secret of quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that bullies are the easiest people to ship in the schoolyard…Teach him, if you can, the wonders of books. But also let him ponder the eternal mystery of birds on the wind, and bees in the sun, and flowers on the green hill.

In school, World, teach him it is far more honorable to fail then to cheat. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone says they are wrong…Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with tough people.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the bandwagon…Teach him to listen to all men-but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and take just the good that siphons through.

Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he’s sad…Teach him there is no shame in tears..Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success.

Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness…Teach him to sell his brains and brawn to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him how to close his ears to a howling mob…But to stand and fight if he thinks he’s right.

Teach him there are times when a man must gamble…And there are times when a man must pass the dice.

Treat him gently, World, if you can. But don’t coddle him…Because only the test of fire makes fine steel…Let him have the courage to be impatient…Let him have the patience to be brave.

Let him be no man’s man…Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself.

Because the, he will always have sublime faith in mankind.

This is quite an order, World, but see what you can do…He’s such a nice little follow, my son!

(Author unknown by believe it could be my father – Myron Taylor)