Arnold's Story: May 15, 1949

Arnold's plans for the summer have been firmed up:

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Arnold's Story: May 12, 1949

Sunday, May 8, was Mother's Day in 1949. Hazel received some gifts from her children.

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Arnold's Story: May 2, 1949

I wonder about the Andrews family. It might have been them that I heard about second hand from Arnold's time in Boston: some distant cousins were keen to get their son admitted to Harvard University (it might have been Harvard Medical School) and were looking for contacts to boost his chances of gaining admission. Arnold explained that as a student he had no sway with the faculty committee that oversees admission, but not believing him or understanding how it works, they would always press their case, to the point that Arnold would turn off the lights and pretend to not be at home. It might instead have been other distant relatives in Massachusetts than the Andrews.

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Arnold's Story: April 26, 1949

Bright's Disease is now called acute or chronic nephritis.

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Arnold's Story: April 19, 1949

For the first time Arnold sends a typed letter to his family. Among other things, he plans to take his National Board exams in September and needs to review quite a bit ahead of time so he will stay and work in Boston over the summer instead of going to McCloud for seasonal employment. 

Mrs. Underwood was Ethel van Wagoner Underwood, wife of missionary and educator Horace Horton Underwood, who was assassinated by communist terrorists while hosting a Faculty Women's Club meeting in her home. She had an enormous correspondence, among whom was Arnold. He never met her in person but did correspond with her, and she in turn encouraged his desire to become a medical missionary.

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Arnold's Story: April 1, 1949

The Cottage Hospital is a not-for-profit care center in Santa Barbara.

The snow storm they got into between Hanford and Glendale was very likely in the Transverse Ranges, what Californians now call "the Grape Vine" for a stretch of Interstate 5 cutting through the Tejon Pass between the Tehachapi Mountains and the San Emigdio Mountains. In 1949 that would have been State Route 99 (also known at one point as US 99).

This was an empty envelope. Perhaps Hazel had sent other mail inside it, though normally she just forwarded any mail since it would already have been stamped. Or maybe she sent a check.

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Arnold's Story: March 28, 1949

Bill describes his sister Mary's funeral in Hanford, and expects to see another sister shortly at his home in Glendale. 

He has paid off the loan from 1947 that he and Leonard used to open the New York City branch office of his Ideal System Company. 

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Arnold's Story: March 27, 1949

The Caltech Alumni Association invites Arnold to a reception for Caltech President Dr. Lee A. DuBridge to be held at MIT.

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Arnold's Story: March 21, 1949

We learn that Bill's oldest sister Mary Nevis Madruga passed away on March 21, 1949, in Santa Cruz, California, at age 72. An obituary from the Santa Cruz Sentinel is here. 

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Arnold's Story: March 18, 1949 Pat

Pat's spelling is bad in a few places. For example, I think illuminate in the second paragraph is eliminate. Pat spent time in Winnipeg, Canada, and sometimes it shows up in the language, such as with "eh?" at the end of one sentence.

Leonard is having doubts about getting into medical school, so he might try engineering. At the same time he and a friend are inventing a new diving unit. 

I do not see a movie from the 1940s for Man and Superman. In the mid 1940s the George Bernard Shaw's 1947 comedy "Man and Superman" was playing on Broadway and may have made it west to California. Or Pat is talking about the 1946 BBC broadcast of the play by radio.

I am uncertain which Flavell Pat is talking about: Arnold and Leonard knew both Ed Flavell and Kenny Flavell.

The return address for Pat is 3056 Shasta Circle North, Los Angeles.

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