To Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Chase
5528 Tahoe Lane, Kansas City 3, Kansas
From Frances C. Courtsal, Box 97, Greenbush, Massachusetts
February 16, 1959
Have a Grand Birthday!
Many happy returns too – with love from
Fras and Don
Present will be along shortly – a jardiniere – couldn’t get out until today because of ice and then snow.
Lost power for 1.5 hours Tuesday – just before I started feeding the baby. So I gave him a biscuit and got out the sterno stove. Wonderful!
You’d think, thought, that along with the hot water, heat, refrigerator, stove, laundry, etc. my heart was powered by electricity; it really stopped!
But after the heat had dropped 5 degrees – power!
F.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Chase
5528 Tahoe Lane, Kansas City 3, Kansas
From Frances C. Courtsal, Box 97, Greenbush, Massachusetts
March 2, 1959
Dear Folks,
Here we go – to tie up a few details about the coming visit.
D. is ordering tickets today for me to go about 2 on Saturday, March 29 and come back about noon on Friday…I’ll send details of flights and such when I get them.
It is very nice of Mrs. Trudeau to offer to have tea or coffee, but who would come?
Karleen works (or is that by chance a school vacation?), I don’t send Christmas cards to Mary Lou Stevens or Pat Sparling anymore, they don’t know the Mitchells, and those are the only people my age I can remember that I’ve had the smallest contact with in 10 years. Since this is such a disparate group and since I haven’t had anything to do with most of them for so long, I think it would be sort of embarrassing. I would like to see Karleen though – and the others too, I suppose. Will Bebe be home ?
Diaper service would be very nice. We still have it so otherwise I would buy some regular diapers…As for a bath, he’s outgrown his bathtub so I use the kitchen sink….I plan to get a so-called Baby Anchor so why don’t I just get it in K.C. and we can wash him in the tub then.
I plan to send a box of things ahead anyway and I can send that back with those things.
After reading Dr. Spock and such, I plan to put off toilet training until he’s a year and a half – so diapers will do.
I’ll bring all the bottles we’ll need. Have to use them on the trip.
First interruption – Lyle is awake and needs a change. Sure will be nice to have 3 people to answer his beck and call! See you tomorrow at nap time.
Thursday, March 5
Some week! Town meeting every night so far which means not only is free time in evenings gone but also nap time for Lyle is nap time for Fras. But Lyle chose today to take no nap!
And D. called Tuesday afternoon to say he had to go on builder’s trial for the big tanker Wednesday (67 thousand ton displacement – Princess Sophia – the largest built so far in the U.S.) – leaving here at 4:30 am and returning at 9 – to compound the confusion. But all is past now, except that he may or may not be going on the final trials next week up near Rockland, Maine. If so, he will leave early Monday morning, return late Thursday and may have to be off right away for a meeting in N.Y.C. on Friday. And next week is the first one of League meetings on water – 3 per week – for which I am responsible for the discussion – Whew!
But on with the list:
I assume the “baby bed” is a crib and a “pen” is a play pen. Both are needed.
The only other big thing I can think of that we will need is something to feed him in – a high chair or feeding table. Oh yes, and a stroller is a big help for keeping him “put” in various places…Isn’t there someone among your acquaintances who is not using such things at the moment? It’s a pity to think you have to rent these things…I don’t know how to get around the feeding arrangement. He wiggles every waking hour.
I plan to bring a car seat for him to sit in on the plane.
And I’ll bring Desitin for his bottom. We use regular “baby” soap - I guess it is castile. I’ll bring some. Could you get some mineral oil? Just a small amount. I found out going to Connecticut that it is important to travel with.
As for food, he will eat rice cereal, pears, applesauce, peaches, sweet potatoes, squash, meat and vegetable soup (as jars of “junior foods” and “baby foods.”) I always buy Gerbers or Beech-nut – they provide a good variety and he likes them. He drinks about a quart of regular whole milk a day (pasteurized with most of the cream poured off).
Also during the day teething biscuits, a piece of carrot or of apple are appreciated…
The only thing that really bothers me now is where he will sleep. At the Courtsals, he was in the next room and that was invaluable because everytime he woke up, he hollered – realized he was in a strange place and needed reassurance, it seemed. We have taken him to various places where he had to nap in the afternoon…but no manner of crib, pacifier, shades pulled etc. could convince him all was well. He just hollered.
We were awfully squeamish when we moved him from the big room to the little room, but no trouble! He was in the same crib, of course, and we arranged the room so the wall was on the same side of him – left. Well, I just don’t know what would be best…Maybe we should be in the same room, but I would expect we would each disturb the other. As I say, this one I can’t figure out.
One more favor to ask – don’t tempt me, please, with great quantities of goodies. I weigh too much (6 lbs) thanks to excessive enjoyment of goodies after that long, long session of dieting.
I don’t expect to go on a diet in K.C. (some goodies are a must!) but it would be awful if I gained any more – and my will power is useless in this matter.
Time’s up.
Love, Fras
P.S.
Flight reservation on March 28
TWA Flight #17 leaves Boston at 2:45 pm and arrives in K.C. at 9:45 pm
Flight home on April 3
TWA Flight #30 leaves K.C. at 12:45 and arrives in Boston at 8:30 pm
Thanks for the comments from Nancy Jane. I met Mrs. Dunlap at previous Wellesley Club meetings – very pleasant and very active in the club. May even be President now. I haven’t been for nearly 2 years. Frances Gray is encouraging in her comments about recent meetings.
Oh yes, D. knows Mr. Dunlap at Bethlehem. He is Chief Planner in Hull construction for the entire shipyard (not in C.T.D.)
Would you ask Dr. Cochrane for a recommendation for a pediatrician? An interesting old lady
here knows one in Prairie Village named Latham, but this is no real recommendation. He and his wife lived in an apartment she owns in Boston when he was in medical school.
F.
______________________________________________
To Mrs. Hamilton Chase
5528 Tahoe Lane, Kansas City 3, Kansas
From Frances C. Courtsal, Quincy, Massachusetts (postcard)
March 20, 1959
L’s schedule:
Up at 7:30, fed by 8, changed, dressed, nap at 10 for about a half hour, fed at 11:30,
Changed, nap at 1:30 or 2 for one or two hours, bath every other day at 4
fed at 4:30, changed and into P.J.s
To bed at 6:30
Love, F.
______________________________________________________
To Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Chase
5528 Tahoe Lane, Kansas City 3, Kansas
From Frances C. Courtsal, Box 97, Greenbush, Massachusetts
April 11, 1959
Dear Folks,
We arrived in Boston safe and sound and only ½ hour late (rain storm in N.Y.C. just when we were supposed to take off) and D. was there ready – came on the plane to help me bundle up Lyle and carry all the things off. And I found a bottle of champagne in the refrig. at home!
All the way to New York, L. and I had to share one seat. Everything went OK but it was a bit hectic and made L. cranky. But he only cried 3 times and then only for a couple of minutes.
To feed him, I put him in the car seat and I sat on the floor. Then I bundled up all the dirty dishes, spoon, car seat, etc. got all settled to hold him for the bottle and the seat belt sign came on and we went bumping through a storm. What if that had been just 10 minutes earlier!!
Another stroke of good fortune (very good fortune) was our seat-mate from Chicago – a girl getting her Master’s degree in City Planning at M.I.T. That is the sister department to Architecture and their secretary, Dulcie, came to our house for Christmas once. It was
wonderful to talk to her and get the news. Also she is very interesting – had a Fulbright to study in Australia for a year, then spent 5 months in Asia, mostly in India, and a month in Europe. When she finishes in June she will marry an Italian, also in City Planning at Tech, and go to Italy permanently. Her home is N.Y.C.
She also got along very well with the baby and was not at all bothered by my changing him, etc.
Thanks to your helping me to the airport and onto the plane, and D. being there to get off, the shoulder was no problem and hasn’t been since. The boxes all arrived. Thanks for sending the second one.
Thanks for the lunches, too. So great was your bounty – and so limited the circumstances on the plane – that some sandwiches and candy supplemented our lunch here the next day.
Lyle is not at all spoiled, at least no more than he ever was. As a matter of fact, he was less trouble than usual the first few days – so glad to see his daddy and familiar surroundings, and his old toys.
He’s had a bad time of it in one way. He had the opposite elimination problem and for awhile the doctor thought he would adjust OK but finally he had to put him on kaopectate.
Five b.ms a day and liquid – awful. And needless to say his bottom is terribly raw, so he is very uncomfortable sitting up. Very sad and very unpleasant. But temporary, I guess, though now it seems it will never end.
He’s different ever since he got home – scrambles all the time, trying to crawl, says da - da to Don sometimes, plays patty cake (haltingly) and drinks from a cup by himself. This last also has reservations; he can pick up the cup, get it to his mouth and drink out of it (water or milk) but when he’s had enough, he tries the opposite side or just drops it.
This afternoon, D is going with me to get a dress for me. I got desperate (!) because tonight there is a bridge gathering, tomorrow symphony and Monday, Vanessa.
Had the League Go-See Tour for water resources Thursday. Very successful and very interesting.
That’s all for now because Lyle is awake, and Don took Spray to the rabies clinic.
Thanks for a nice visit!
Love,
F.
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Hamilton and Lieuween Chase with Frances and Lyle Courtsal
April 1959, Kansas City, MO |
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Frances Chase Courtsal with Lyle Courtsal
April 1959, Tahoe Lane, Kansas City, MO |
__________________________________________________
To Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Chase
5528 Tahoe Lane, Kansas City 3, Kansas
From Frances C. Courtsal, Box 97, Greenbush, Massachusetts
July 21, 1959
Dear Folks,
Details now. First, a report on the baby. A couple of Sundays ago while we were eating
dinner, D. looked over at L. and said with surprise, “He just stood up.” And better yet, when
he got tired, he sat down, thus saving me from a terrible couple of weeks rescuing him.
It seems generally that he is late about doing things, but when he does them, he does them
well. Fine with me!
He has ten teeth either in or showing. And he is getting quite good at feeding himself, that is
if you don’t mind food all over the floor, walls, his hair, hands, face, clothes, etc. He doesn’t.
He gets a big kick out of doing it himself and is improving rapidly (thank goodness) and is fearfully independent about it. One day he scooped up a spoonful of cereal, dipped it in the
applesauce and then put the whole wad in his hair. Inadvertently I gasped and he was so
furious at me that he never ate one bite of his breakfast. He always takes his bottle, though himself, in the playpen. He goes to the doctor in August so we’ll find out then how much he
weighs, etc. Oh yes, the cup. He does very well about picking it up himself, only occasionally
drinks out of the wrong side, but generally sets it back down on its side unfortunately.
As a result he only gets water in it so far. I’ll enclose some of our tries to get his picture.
Also will enclose some camping pictures.
We did go – Sunday June 21 through Wednesday the 24th. Then we ran out of diapers and the leak in the tent got to D’s sleeping bag and sneakers so we went home. Actually we’d only expected to stay one more day anyway. We’ll never go again with a one-year-old because it is too much work. He was an angel the whole time and seemed to enjoy it but having to prepare the separate food, arrange naps, change diapers, etc was too much on top of the usual work of camping. Actually we did have a good time. First thing I met a friend from Wellesley ‘52, now a doctor’s wife, and they were very good company. There with three girls, 2 ½ to 5 ½ , bird-watching, butterfly-catching, etc. Our campsite was gorgeous, right by the lovely lake there, quite private, so we shared it with them when they came down to go swimming. We also visited Chatham with a boy (and wife, etc) who works for D., and one day went up to Provincetown, Highland Light, Race Point, etc.
Did you know there has been a proposal, not yet approved by the Dept. of the Interior but under study, to make the outer beach on the Cape a National Seashore? It is very much opposed in our Congressional district, which includes the Cape, because so many people own land there and because people generally fear a low-class element, but I’m very enthusiastic and know many people who are and when the issue gets hot I hope to start up petitions favoring it to send to our Congressman. Two things made us really strong on this, the out-of-state licenses we saw and a book, The House on Nauset Marsh, by Wyman Richardson, the doctor father of a girl I worked with at M.I.T. It was a best-seller briefly about four years ago. You might enjoy it, Dad,
Knowing Chatham. Really fascinating and a true recreation of the spirit of that part of the Cape (beyond Chatham).
If you can manage to get here within the year we should be able to trip down there. It
only takes a couple of hours with the new highway – well, three to get anywhere. Perhaps
we could stay overnight at a motel. L. travels very well and now that his schedule is more flexible we could try it. I’m still concerned about the schedule of visits, though. I hate to see
him changing so much and you not having a chance to see him. And I can’t see how visits are going to work out for the next two or three years. We plan (and of course this is only plan, but that’s all you can ever do) to move into our own house next summer, and then start on the next baby and that means I’ll be good for nothing for a year or so. And if you come next summer you won’t have seen L. for over a year and then it will be our turn to visit you the year just after the next baby is born (I hope) and traveling with one that age plus another, older, is a big order.
(It’s a wonder I came out to K.C. when I did. L. was so good then and enjoyed it all and a month later he was independent beyond belief and now he crawls constantly – OK on home territory but impossible to travel with on a plane, etc) Well, you let us know when your vacation schedule gets worked out and we’ll see what’s what. You’re still welcome to come in December (though before then is unvarying chaos after September 15). Or if you come alone, Mother, to go to the opera in April, or just see L. and visit before, that’s fine too. I guess we’ll figure out the next years as they come though they may not work out as neatly as in the past. Well, as I said, let us know what the chances are when they show up and we’ll see what we can figure out…
Also our week of vacation included the Annual Meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers at Bethlehem in Quincy…
One couple, Nancy and Peter Kimon …have bought a lot in Hingham and will build before winter, so they’ll be nearby.
Also on our vacation came a beach picnic with the church Couples Club. May was quite a month for us. I was asked to be chairman of this area for the Wellesley Club Personal Call Program which I worked on two years ago and which will be done again this fall. D. and I were asked to be Head Couple for the Couples Club next year and I was asked to be first vice-president of the League of Women Voters. It was very, very satisfying to have such votes of confidence but after much agonizing generally, we decided that being head of the buildings and grounds committee for the church and chairman of the water resources committee for the League respectively plus raising a boy and building a house were all we cared to take on in one year, so we regretfully declined – all but the Wellesley chore which is half done already – lining up callers.
One other job also came along then, which is finished now. The League had a Tour of Houses last week and I was asked, and accepted the job, to write up the program describing each house. A lot more work than I expected…Poor sitter fund! But it was fun and interesting and satisfying and something I especially like to do. So it goes!
We’ve seen the Courtsals a couple of times recently. They came here for a weekend just after the trip to K.C. and two weekends ago, we four went down there. When they were up here, we went to see David Courtsal in Wrentham, about an hour and a half away in their direction.
Quite an experience. Massachusetts spends a lot of tax money on rehabilitation of alcoholics, the mentally disturbed, retarded and dependent children and the like and it was interesting actually to see that in this particular place, the children seem to be well cared for by people who care and are trained. It shook us all though a good bit to see the children.
Jr. Courtsal (Donald’s brother and the father of David), also spent the night here on one of his trips this way in April.
D. travels a good bit these days – once or twice a month to New York or Washington. He almost went to Hawaii to sail back to San Francisco but fortunately they found they couldn’t have sent all the people they originally planned to. Lucky for me because I have always wanted to go to San Francisco. Or lucky for the budget.
Was Mrs. Trudeau’s present to Lyle a place mat? I took a long chance and called it that. It’s awfully cute – leather, I think, white with wiggly stitching in red and blue and his name, an elephant, from Harzfelds.
His yellow overalls are the mainstay of his wardrobe. All his other corduroys are lined and much too hot, but he needs overalls to protect his knees when he crawls, which is practically every waking hour. The striped night shirt also is getting much use as a sort of bunting on chilly nights over his light p.j.s.
The embroidered tablecloth from the Courtsals is not a product of her own hand but she is very proud of it. It was done by the aunt of someone who lives in their vicinity and goes to their church…It was on sale at the church fair and just what she wanted, as she said.
Thank you for all your letters and various enclosures. Very smart, I think, of Smith and Wellesley to join forces. The talk about things Oriental sounded very interesting and the whole affair very pleasant. But the handkerchief – D. can certainly use another but isn’t that one of the three we sent Dad last year ??
The weather for about the last six weeks has been perfectly abominable – but I for one have not been all that unhappy about it. We couldn’t have played any more on our vacation than we did – too much work camping. And there has been too much work in the way of house tour, etc. and L. sleeps and eats and has an infinitely better disposition in cool, rainy weather. But now most of the chores are over and also the sun is showing up almost regularly so we can look forward to making the beach a regular part of our life. He likes it – likes the activity and the little children that always come to play with him and likes to play in the sand with his pail and shovel.
In August (for three weeks starting the 8th) our friends down the road, Patty and Jimmy Wales, are off to California for their vacation and have asked D. if he would be so kind as to watch over their boat – a 16 ft Hereshoff sloop – since it is hurricane season, etc. I assure you that no boat in the Harbor will get more attention in those three weeks. Another sailing friend, with no small children at home now, says we can borrow their small life jacket, approved by the Coast Guard for creatures under 50 lb.
And August 8th we are invited to the Kimon’s in-laws place on Buzzards Bay – for the weekend but we will probably will choose only one day, with the baby etc. And next Saturday, we are going out to Nancy and Em Hovey’s for a cook-out and tomorrow we are off to Boston and the new, new theater and Twelfth Night with Shibohen McKenna, Zachary Scott , Geoffrey Holder and other luminaries. And last Saturday we went out to Wellesley to see Streetcar Named Desire – first time I had seen the play and the details left out of the movie are why it didn’t make much sense, we discovered.
Marianne leaves Sunday with the two children to visit Detroit. We plan to have Ross over for supper some evening while she is gone – eight days there.
And one of my committee members is also a member (past president, I discovered) of the Garden Club and asked me to go as her guest to their big annual thing – because the topic was conservation. It was delightful – at the Scituate Country Club – festooned with unbelievably handsome arrangements of flowers, etc. – and very interesting. The speaker lives in Duxbury now, the wife of a Bostonian Life photographer, originally from Indonesia (Dutch) and a professional conservationist before her marriage five years ago, now head of the conservation activities of the Federation of Mass. Garden Clubs.
Well, that’s not all – but all there is time for. Must mention that the League’s parole committee arranged a visit to the maximum security prison at Walpole – unforgettable and most enlightening.
Best wishes for thirty more anniversaries!
Love, Fras
___________________________________________________
The bottom of a letter (the rest has been torn off)
It was probably sent to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Chase
From Frances C. Courtsal, Box 97, Greenbush, Massachusetts
November 6, 1959
Lyle is just too cute to believe now. He plays Where’s Your Nose, climbs up and sits in the big chairs, says cute things – mostly cookie. A couple of Sundays ago D. finally put it across to him about walking – we said he could walk but he wouldn’t walk. D. had him by the elbows somehow and within a half hour he was walking all around the house and he never stopped for the rest of the day. Unfortunately our last bunch of pictures didn’t turn up with anything good.
Happy Holidays.
Much love, Fras
______________________________________________
To Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Chase
5528 Tahoe Lane, Kansas City 3, Kansas
From Frances C. Courtsal, Box 97, Greenbush, Massachusetts
January 12, 1960
Dear Folks,
Lyle just woke, alas.
Please excuse us for delaying so long in writing. We thought this week the holidays were over and we could catch
up – and they were but more things started to happen. Happy things, tho.
First I went from one end of the South Shore to the other cashing in bonds, getting money out of the savings
account, etc. and then, after much complicated telephoning and arranging, we met with the lawyer and signed the
note after buying the land. Very exciting! And this morning, after more telephoning and arranging of
appointments, baby sitter, etc, we met the builder at the lot and established where the house will stand and what
trees to save, etc. Even more exciting! If the weather warms up for a few days – just to above freezing – the
bulldozing and digging and such can begin before the end of the week. Anything you’d like to know about the
lot or the house? Did I tell you we’ll be living in EGYPT! Like Greenbush, it is a postal zone within Scituate.
And did you know the Healds also will be living in Egypt, less than a mile from us.
Marianne called up around the first of December to say we’ll be neighbors; they had just bought a house.
Actually it is just short of a mansion. Very traditional. They will move when they sell their present house.
They will live on Mann Hill Road and we will live on Mary’s Lane (also part, even more so, of Mann Hill).
Well, back to business (Lyle has a coo-kie; also a ball, a tractor, Teddy Bear, and color pyramid; please stay in bed, Lyle, till I get done, or till your Daddy comes home – from meeting with a carpenter at the parsonage
about more repairs.)(Now Lyle is saying “hi” and “Hi Mama” in the most engaging way) Thank you very much
for all the nice presents – all twelve of them…
Constant Comment is always welcome in our house. We have some ordinary tea and some
exotic jasmine, but that is our favorite. I must have told you about our fine tea pot: have I told you about how
much D. likes tea – Constant Comment, that is. On just such an afternoon as this, he will stop in the course of the
various activities and suggest a pot of tea. As I say, it is very welcome; thank you…
The aprons will be much used. I enjoy very much the touches of hand work you have put on pot grabbers and
such, even more so since they remind me also of the hand work Mama T. used to do. I never have time now for
that kind of thing; only mending. Some knitting too, since it is easy to put down, doesn’t have lots of pins, etc.
that L. can get into and since it doesn’t take much thinking; it is relaxing instead. I knit many warm winter things
for L...The aprons also will be used because my trousseau stock is pretty well depleted.
At the moment, the keyrings really fall in the category of presents to L., though we will appropriate them later.
Very cute. When I first saw the Evergreen steed, I wondered a bit about it but needlessly so. He just loves it and is very careful with it. (Hi Lyle; where’s Lyle? There’s Lyle! – roars of laughter) He handles it so gently
and sets it carefully down on its feet – though once in a while something else catches his eye and it drops. And
for some reason that escapes me, he thinks the lamb is just hilarious. He has some funny looking toys but why
that one particularly tickles him I can’t say; in any case he certainly likes it. Nice that it is washable. And he
likes the little telephone. I am beginning to see this is a stage for small things.
Actually telephones in any form are fine with him. He puts the hand piece around his neck and says “Hi”
endlessly.
I was very glad to see the sleepers…Evidence of their usefulness: They’ve been through the wash twice already
and are branded with tomato juice.
The toy bag came in very handy too…I like the material and design.
The wrappings made a big hit, too, the kitties especially…The snowman and the pine cone bows from last year
also came in for more use and enjoyment.
We tried to call you last Sunday, about 7 your time, but got no answer. Dialled direct which was exciting.
Succeeding evenings we weren’t here or L. was cranky so finally we gave up. Sorry.
Lyle is up and knitting put away and most doors shut; he has already strewn around a few toys, pulled out a few
Kleenexes, dumped out the clothes pins. Ah, yes.
Now that you’ve opened your Christmas packages, let me tell you about the photograph.
Last summer at the Scituate Arts Festival, we admired the work of a local man in the photographic exhibits…
Since he’s also a member of our church we purchased his services.
After he came, I was disappointed to see him set up the usual lights and a place for Lyle to sit and play…But
through his quick action and ability, we got the photo of L. on D’s shoulder.
D. had just started up the top again for L. when he got excited and rolled off the platform.
D. was right there and got a hand under L’s head before it hit the floor, but L. was scared anyway, of course,
so D. picked him up. L. didn’t cry but Mr. Arnold got that special picture – just in a wink.
Please give Mrs. Trudeau our apologies for writing so late. She sent L. a pull toy – very good toy. And maybe
she will tell you the Teddy bear story I put in the note to her.
(Here is the actual note to Mrs. Trudeau:
January 9, 1960
Dear Mrs. Trudeau,
That pull toy was a fine choice for Lyle at this age when walking itself is fascinating for him.
He runs with it and he walks slowly backward to watch it, and thoroughly enjoys it. We know just from our
experience how well designed the Playskool toys are – and well made too – and this I think is one of their best
– the essence of motion and color, and the nice wooden sound.
Thank you very much for sending it to him.
Lyle is such fun these days – able to do lots of things, so busy and so full of surprises. One day
last week, I was running a bath for him and he was getting his bath toys one at a time and throwing them in the
tub. After a bit, he disappeared and I figured something new had distracted him. But instead he’d gone to his
room and gotten his Teddy Bear out of bed.
I intercepted him just in time to save Teddy from a bath!
I hope the 1960’s will be very happy ones for you and all of your family.
Sincerely yours,
Frances Courtsal)
We had a wonderful time over the holidays – Christmas here, which I was thankful for because the excitement
was more than enough for L. We were invited to D’s brother’s but they were having, in addition to their four
children, his parents and her three aunts...we took L. and the two older Heald children to see the Christmas lights.
Christmas Day we went to the Healds about 5 for a chat. New Year’s Eve we spent at the North River Community
Club again with our friends the Kimons; one of the best celebrations I can remember – real fun. The Wales had
us over for D’s birthday (which incidentally is the 30th and not the 27th)...and in November we joined a singing
group (L. just brought me a piece of cork; somehow he got the tile trivet and took all the backing off it) of
members of the North River Community Club and sang some nice old English carols and met some interesting
people and the group was asked to sing at a couple of big parties, which was fun.
We liked your Christmas card this year very much – out of the ordinary and imaginative and yet not striving to be
so, and also appropriate to the season and the message.
It is Monday now, the effort having been abandoned last Saturday afternoon. But things are about as wild so all I
can manage is to finish this up and get it in an envelope.
Much love,
Fras
_________________________________________________
To Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Chase
5528 Tahoe Lane, Kansas City 3, Kansas
From Frances C. Courtsal, Box 97, Greenbush, Massachusetts
March 16,, 1960
Dear Folks,
This will be hasty and incomplete probably – because Lyle is due to wake up any time now and Nancy Kimon is due in an hour to go see our house and theirs, which they will move into, in Hingham, in two weeks – but I will try to get caught up on some of the news so you won’t have to spend your visit with D. doing that. I hope the bad weather here tonight doesn’t foil my attempt and hold up the letter.
The Courtsals wrote that they had a snow of some teen inches and you did but we won – somewhere around 23 to 27 inches. But so far we’ve only had one major snow so you win on that score – lucky you – ho ho.
Flu has dominated our winter. Around February 11 we all three got it on the same day.
Fortunately I was the only one who got it bad so D. took care of himself and Lyle too. That was Tuesday night and he didn’t go to work till Friday. It was the end of the next week before I was back on a normal schedule. Then we no longer got all caught up but two weeks ago – the day it snowed so much – Lyle and I got it again. D. was home for the snow so he did all the work inside and every spare minute went outside to shovel. He has us all shovelled out by Saturday
and that night got a terrible case of it himself (Lyle and I had light cases the second time). He was so sick and faint I called the dr. – but of course he said nothing much helps, but time.
And that night I got it again. Luck held out – I had a light case– or we would have had to get a practical nurse. That stuff is dynamite!
We can’t really complain about the weather tho because it let up in January just when things started and lasted until they got the roof and sides up. By now the roof is all finished (D. doesn’t know that yet), most of the siding is on, the fireplace is all done, the rough plumbing and wiring are done and the plastering starts tomorrow. The windows are in too. Don will draw you a floor plan.
Occasionally you’ve expressed sorrow that I don’t have as many flowers any more, so I was especially interested to notice that we had flowers during both session of sickness…So pretty and such a nice scent.
Here are some more pictures of Lyle, aged 17 months…
You wrote before Christmas, Dad, saying very firmly that you weren’t coming here for Christmas and that was that. I didn’t really think at that point that you were; the thing I was most concerned about was that the schedule I had proposed wasn’t being followed and we can’t see how we can keep up with the yearly trade come next year (1961) and also it puts so much time between your chances to see Lyle. Have you any proposal? Most important, I hope you realize that unless Mother Nature lets us down, we will not be able to travel to K.C. during the summer of 1961. In any case, you are welcome to come see us in August this summer – provided we move in by July 1, which seems most likely.
We got a huge kick out of your raccoon story. I’m sorry the Nasons will be leaving. They are awfully good neighbors.
The Healds haven’t sold their present house and so haven’t moved even tho they own the other house too. They feel this house will look too uninviting empty and so not get sold so soon.
Have a good time with Don.
Much love,
Fras
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Birthday card to Mrs. Hamilton Chase on May 5, 1960 enclosed this program and
newspaper clipping:
Frances C Courtsal as Jennie Parsons
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Down in the Valley, a modern operetta
by Kurt Weill and Arnold Sundgarrd |
