1973 Catherine's letter - May 16

Interesting to me that my relationship with the town has lasted much longer than the marriage/job that took me there.  The urban renewal is now going through another transformation as the town also deals with the abandoned and dilapidated mills adjoining the downtown area.  The real estate agent we dealt with in 1973 is a good friend of Gerry's youngest aunt.  Transcription follows.

Wednesday, May 16, 1973

Dear Mom, Dad, Serena, John and Mary,

Thanks to Grandma for sending me all those plastic bags.  I was thrilled.  I hope you all keep eating that bread up and saving me the bags.  I've got them all x  sorted out so I can begin another project if I ever finish the curtains.  It seems to be taking me forever.  I have one set almost done which means three more to go.  The day after the bags came we got the shirts -- that was yesterday.  Mine fits fine, with the ruffle it comes down to my fingertips.  I wore it to work today and got several compliments.  Thanks for them too!  (X was afraid when he saw the box that you were sending more plastic bags.)

No, we didn't trade in the Toyota.  We plan to keep it until it falls apart.  It's good for distances since it gets good mileage and we can sleep in it.  And if I ever got a job somewhere else we would probably need both cars.  That's not very likely though, at least for me to get a job in another library around here.  It is still not even 100% positive that I have a full-time job at Goodall Library.  The Board seems to think it is all right for me to work but they don't want me to be paid much, X (for some strange reason) thinks I am worth more $$ and he at least want to pay me as much as he can without going over the salary allotment of the budget.  So X and Mr. Ackroyd (the treasurer of the Board) are supposed to work out some sort of compromise.  Mr. Ackroyd is the President of the Sanford Trust Co. which has recently merged with some sort of association and he doesn't have time to discuss the matter so this is my fourth week on the job and my salary hasn't even been established.

There aren't any stockbrokers in Sanford.  The closest one is in Biddeford.  We got in touch with them when Upjohn started dropping earlier this week.  We put in an order to sell if it got down to 140 but it seems to have recuperated.  It's supposed to split later this month and the dividend will go from 40¢/share to 22¢.

There are several restaurants in Sanford.  So far we've been eating one meal out per week and eating sandwiches on the other days at work.  McDonald's is just like any other McDonald's as far as I can tell.  Have you tried their new breakfast yet?  On ourlast morning In Kalamazoo we tried their Egg McMuffin.  The egg was a little rubbery but otherwise it was pretty good.  Sanford has gone through urban renewal in recent years and has a large down town parking lot with two malls (mini-malls compared to a large shopping center).  There seem to be alot of senior citizens.  There is a center for Senior Citizens where there are all sorts of activities and nursing homes abound.  The only high-rise (it might be 7-10 stories) is Sunset Towers which is entirely apartments for senior citizens.  We're going to check into that for X's mother.

We have an appointment with a real estate agent on Friday.  I heard on the Today show this morning that land is almost as good as gold.  We are in no tremendous rush to buy anything.  The agent, of course, is quite anxious to find the perfect thing (whatever that is) for us as soon as possible.  Do you have any advice or pointers for us?

Hope to hear from all of you again soon.  (I think John and Mary both owe me a letter.)

Love, Catherine and X