Transcription
Irene: I hope the things I told you about your inspiration to me through all the thought you put into your Christmasses [sic] for me served to show my appreciation, and to give you my thanks.
Willard
#3
Dear Family,-
Seven years ago your Aunt Irene gave me a book on “Possibility Thinking” by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller. Several weeks ago the Goodyear Bank began announcing over the radio that they were bringing to Akron the author of that book to tell us about “Possibility Thinking” on the evening of January 11th at the Goodyear Theater, and that tickets were available at all of the Goodyear Bank’s offices. I remembered Aunt Irene’s gift to me and located it on one of my many bookshelves, thinking I would scan through it in preparation for Dr. Schuller’s talk. But as I came to marked paragraphs and underscored words and sentences, I began to remember how much the book had impressed me when I read it seven years ago, and soon I was reading every page instead of just scanning. I picked up four tickets (2 for Anne & Bill D. and 2 for Aunt Irene and me) and sent my sister’s ticket to her out in California with a letter telling about re-reading her book to me of 7 years ago, and hoping she would be back home before the 11th. She was here, we had dinner together before the lecture, I learned all about Sally’s wedding and the family gathering, and then we spent an inspiring evening listening to a “Possibility Thinker.”
Back in the 30’s and 40’s I was an admirer of Norman Vincent Peale. Your Mother subscribed to his “Guide Posts” which contained much inspirational material, and twice I heard him lecture and was captured by his magnetic personality. Well, now Dr. Schuller is taking Norman Vincent Peale’s place in my life. Annie tells me he has a TV program every Sunday, but unfortunately it is on Channel 43 on which I get very poor reception, so I never watch for programs on 43. If I can get his program clearly enough to be understandable, I’m going to give it a try. Bill, his program must be on nationally, so look it up under the name “Hour of Power” on a U-F channel. And if you and Jeannie do not already have his book on “Possibility Thinking”, be sure to let me know, for I want to send it to you.
Now to give you a chuckle or two on your Dad who is getting absent minded and forgetful in his octogenarigan [sic] years: On January 11th, the day of my date with my sister to hear the man she had known for the past seven years, I decided not to shave in the morning as I usually do, but to wait until after my afternoon nap and then shower, shave and get dressed in my “Sunday-go-to-meeting” clothes for my dinner party and special date. As you know, I am very methodical. Ever since 1950 I have kept my Tuesday Musical tickets in a T.M.C. envelope in the same place in my desk, and I use that same envelope whenever I buy in advance any other tickets. Three weeks ago I had put my Dr. Schuller ticket in that envelope. On the morning of the 11th, knowing I was going to be wearing a different suit that evening, I played safe so as not to forget to pick up my ticket – I removed the ticket from the T.M.C. envelope and put it in the coat pocket of the suit I was going to wear. At 5:45 that afternoon when I was ready to leave to pick up my sister, I went to my desk and the T.M.C. envelope and was shocked to find that the Schuller ticket was not there, when I was absolutely certain I had put it there the same day I had picked it up at the Goodyear Bank. I could not imagine where it might have become mislaid. I phoned Irene, thinking I might have left my ticket with her when I went over to see her on Sunday, but no luck. She had her ticket that I had sent to her out in California, so I said I knew several of the Goodyear Bank tellers and officers and was sure I could get in without a ticket. Fortunately, the employee with whom I have most of my dealings at the bank was the Head Usher, so I had no trouble getting in. Now comes the shock which I turn into a chuckle by laughing at myself: On the way home I felt something in my coat pocket, pulled it out, and there was the ticket I had put there myself that morning. You know, there are three sure signs of old age: “The first is that you start to forget. The second and third – oh-oh! - I forget what they are.”
With much love from your foggy oldTranscriber
Cindi RokeLanguage
English