1973 Catherine's Letter - April 26

Written on stationary left over from the early college years of five years previously here's a letter from the new Maine residents of April 1973.  Transcription follows.

7:45 A.M. Thursday

April 26, 1973

Dear Mom, Dad, Serena, John, and Mary,

Hi!  I think I should make an effort to use up this stationary.  It was good talking to you all on the telephone Monday night.  We were so tired I don't remember too much about that whole day.  Since then things have calmed down somewhat.  We still have a few boxes of clothes and such things which haven't been unpacked but on the whole this place is beginning to look pretty livable.  The telephone is to be installed tomorrow morning so I can't give you the number yet.

We had a wonderful time with Roger and Helen.  Her parents are also very nice and have sort of adopted Bob as well as Roger.  They gave us a grand tour of Laconia and the surrounding area.  Roger was kind of as I had imagined him except that his hair was darker and he is heavier.  Bob came as a complete surpxrise though.  Roger said, "If someone had told me a month ago that one of Aunt Jean's kids would stay here in this house I would have never believed it."  Bob loaned X a bunch of carpentry books.  Mr. Gilbert (Helen's father) is a Contractor and when Bob originally came to Laconia he worked for him.

It is now 11:00.  We took the dog for a run up this hill which is across the road from us (across from the airport).  And I also made a batch of cookies.  We don't have to work until 1:30.

the airport is pretty big but I haven't yet seen or heard an airplane arrive or depart.  It is only for private planes.  If any of you ever fly here you'd best come in a private plane or fly to Portland.

Our muffler fell apart on the way here so the car was pretty noisy.  There is a Mobil station only about 1/4 mile away from here that services import cars so we got it repaired yesterday.  We averaged 27 miles per gallon on the trip.

Glad to hear that Serena has had such good fortune in being accepted by the colleges of her choice.  Keep us informed about Roberta and Grandma.  I assume that Roberta is living with th Horton's.

I just noticed that the mailman hasn't come yet so I guess I'll finish this up quick and get it mailed.

I think our jobs are going to be pretty good.  We got kind of a general introduction yesterday and we have to work our schedules out yet and master the floor plan of the library so we know where everything is.  The collection is really fragmented with part of something in one place and then the rest somewhere else.  The new floor they laid looks really good.

We're waiting anxiously to hear when any one or all of you are coming to Sanford.

Love, Catherine and X