Arnold's Story: July 23, 1948

Hazel Nevis writes her son Arnold from Santa Barbara, where her husband is being treated at the Sansum Clinic for diabetes. 

Arnold is working in Whitehorse, California, in a lumber camp to earn some extra money for his studies at Harvard Medical School. He has long expressed a desire to become a medical missionary (presumably in the Presbyterian Church, the family religion on Hazel's side), but in this letter there is a hint that he might be rethinking his plans. Hazel and Arnold shared a strong religious bent (along with Arnold's sisters/Hazel's daughters Dolly and Laura). Older brother Leonard was far less religious, perhaps even an atheist or at best an agnostic. Hazel's husband Bill grew up Roman Catholic but married outside that church when he wed Protestant Hazel, so he was denied mass at Catholic services through much of his life. Near the end of his life, Hazel converted to Catholicism so that Bill could have mass said at his funeral. She did not mind the conversion, and in fact enjoyed the religious conversations with the priests during that process; and as a grandmother she no longer minded signing the document in which she promises to raise her children in the Catholic faith.

(Hazel's pagination is off for the last three pages.)

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Arnold's Story: July 22, 1948

A postcard from Hazel Nevis sent to her son Arnold upon their arrival in Santa Barbara on July 20 has a later postmark (July 22):

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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.

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Leonard's Story: July 20, 1948

Leonard and Pat Nevis write to Leonard's brother Arnold from Montreal: 

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Leonard's Story: July 19, 1948

The two brothers Leonard and Arnold have their rustic East Canada experiences about a year apart: Leonard and Pat in 1948 and Arnold in 1949.

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Leonard's Story: July 17, 1948

Bras d'Or Lake is an inland sea in the interior of Cape Breton Island. 

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Arnold's Story: July 16, 1948

Bill Nevis was a keen user of gadgets and eager to acquire new technology such as his new dictaphone. One anecdote from the 1960s: We grandkids were impressed with their new color television when we visited Bill and Hazel Nevis in Whittier (where they moved after they sold the house in Glendale, to be closer to Leonard and his family). A few years later we proudly revealed that we, too, had bought a color TV, and our grandparents just smiled; they now had a remote control, years before remotes became common in American households. It was primitive device, going only in one direction, so to get to a lower channel one had to scroll through nearly all of them; luckily there were only thirteen channels plus UHF at that time.

Bill speaks in the plural about his daughter Dolly, so perhaps she is still married to Lee at that time. Dolly and Lee has a house in Glendale, too, so I wonder if his last name was McCue. I can find a Herbert Lee McCue with appropriate dates and also from Ohio, later living on the West Coast, but I can find no info linking hi to Dolly nor a marriage license or an annulment order from a court.

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Arnold's Story: July 15, 1948

A letter from Hazel with family news:

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Leonard's Story: July 11, 1948

The Eastern Corporation has operated under a number of names over the decades, but may be the same as "Eastern Paper Corp" because it is located in Brewer, Maine, across the Penobscot River from Bangor. "The fire" may refer to the Great Fires of 1947, burning the fancy mansions of Bar Harbor in October of that year.  

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Arnold's Story: July 9, 1948

A postcard from Leonard and his then wife Pat in Bar Harbor, Maine, to his brother Arnold asking for his address at the McCloud River Lumber Company. 

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Arnold's Story: July 8, 1948

Hazel's enclosed letter from Leonard may be the one I posted from June 30. Whitehorse, California is not far from McCloud, so I assume Arnold is still working for the McCloud River Lumber Company, but at a remote lumber camp in Whitehorse.

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Arnold's Story: July 6, 1948

Northwest Mutual Life Insurance Company is enticing Arnold to purchase a pension plan by sending him a leather pocket memorandum book:

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