Arnold's Story: November 1, 1950

Hazel has been busy with church work, Girl Scouts and PTA. She messed up the payments of Arnold's life insurance again. Leonard, with Pat's assistance, is applying to medical schools around the country. 

Hazel's sister-in-law Belle Bettencourt and her daughter JoAnn visited a few weeks earlier. Her niece-in-law Amelia Bettencourt Hyer and Amelia's husband Burnett Hyer stayed overnight on their way back from a convention. 

Hazel's brother Elwood and his wife Rubye visited with their teenage son Walter. Her other brother Leslie and his wife Lenore came after that. 

next post  November 2, 1950

previous post  October 20, 1950

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: May 24, 1950

Laura's joining the church may indicate her confirmation in the church.

next post  May 30, 1950

previous post  May 22, 1950

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: April 5, 1950

Two letters in one envelope. Hazel describes their trip so far: Las Vegas to visit her brother Ellwood and his family, St. George, the Valley of Fire, Lake Mead, Zion, Bryce, Kanab, and the Grand Canyon.

Bill writes about the beautiful scenery, practical money matters and the splendid ride in his new Lincoln Coupe.

next post  April 8, 1950 

previous post  April 2, 1950

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: July 20, 1948 WEN

Here we learned that Arnold has won a scholarship for his studies at Harvard Medical School, and his father Bill Nevis offers additional money to help him out. 

Bill is being evaluated again at Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara for his diabetes, which he typically fails to control well. (His daughter-in-law Newlin Ashmore Nevis, a registered nurse, said that in the 1950s and 1960s he "abused his body" by eating whatever and how much he wanted and then shot up with insulin to compensate. He did not exercise.) Rubye is Hazel's brother's wife.

A note from Bill's wife Hazel indicates she will assist in controlling Bill's diet.

next post  July 22, 1948

previous post  Leonard's Story: July 20, 1948

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: June 2, 1948

Hazel is looking forward to Arnold's return in the summer. She and the family have recently visit her brother Ellwood and his family in Los Vegas. The "Clubs" would be dinner shows in night clubs by famous entertainers, not bars or dance clubs; Laura was still a child of 11 or 12. 

next post  June 8, 1948

previous post  June 1, 1948 WEN

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: June 1, 1948 WEN

Bill Nevis writes to his son Arnold about Arnold's planned visit on July 4. Bill is excited to create some  space in their adjacent orchard for a game area — horseshoes, archery and croquet.

Hazel's health issue may be ongoing cancer treatments. 

We learn that Bill and the family did make it to Boston after all to visit Arnold at Harvard and to see Bill's birth place in North Boston during that East Coast trip to New York City.

Wallace is probably Henry A. Wallace, former Vice President and suspected communist sympathizer (for his conciliatory policies towards the Soviet Union and progressive views of public school desegregation, racial and gender equality, national health insurance, and other leftist ideas). 

He does end up purchasing an Airstream travel trailer and joining a travel club for holiday trips. They still had it in the 1960s when we visited California, but kept it in Hemet, California when they were not using it on the road. They drove it across the country in the very early 1960s when they visit Arnold and his family in Gainesville, Florida. I remember it parked in the back yard for a few weeks.

next post  June 2, 1948 

previous post  June 1948 Veterans Administration

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: May 19, 1948

Hazel's brother Ellwood Wolfe, his wife Rubye, and their children Jane and Walter stop by for a visit on their way home from Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara. Bill and Hazel frequent mention going to this clinic for medical care. (The Sansum Clinic specialized in diabetes, so both Bill and his daughter Dolly were regular patients there.)

next post  May 22, 1948

previous post  May 13, 1948

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: December 23, 1947

Family preparations and plans for Christmas:

next post  December 23, 1947 PM

previous post  December 19, 1947

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: December 28, 1944

This letter describes in great detail the Christmas gifts the family gave one another. Our Army at War, 1944, with an introduction by General George C. Marshall, told the official story of the U.S. war campaigns in the Pacific, the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, as well as aerial bombing in the rest of Europe, through Department of War photographs.

next post  December 31, 1944

previous post  December 21, 1944

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943