Letter from Kay to Alma: 12/8/1941
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Will's younger daughter, Kay, in New York, New York, writes on the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to her Aunt Alma, in South Hadley, Massachusetts,
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82 Washington Place, Apt. 3 A
New York City
December 8, 1941
Dear Aunt Alma,
I'm sure you must have placed me among the missing long ago. As a matter of fact, I've been hoping for some time to be able to come and see you. I appreciated your invitation for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I only had Thursday off. I planned to come that weekend and was waiting to write until I was sure I could make it. Then at the last minute, I had to stay here. It's been that way for several weeks since then. I should have written and told you what I was planning to do, but it was another case of lack of time. I hope you'll forgive my silence. I did appreciate your letter and am so sorry I couldn't make it.
Now I'm hoping to visit you after Christmas. Would it be convenient for me to come the week-end after the first one in January. That would be about January 11th. If that time sounds all right for you, I think I'll plan to come then. I am anxious to see you all again.
Much has happened since I last wrote. In fact that is the main reason why there hasn't been much time for correspondence. Yes, as you read by the Herald-Tribune, Emily and Bob were married. Betsy and I moved the same day and that night after the wedding we entertained the wedding party of about twelve at a small reception here at our new apartment. We had quite a time of it, because we couldn't move until the last minute due to some confusion about the lease. Anyway it all turned out all right.
Emily now is a full-time member of the Herald-Tribune staff. That was the wedding present the city editor presented her with when she got back from her honeymoon.
Betty is still free-lancing. For the next two weeks she is going to work at Altman's during the Christmas rush. I think she'll enjoy the experience. She's ALMOST gotten several jobs, but so far nothing is certain, along the journalistic line. I think that something will turn up soon, however.
We like our new apartment. It is smaller than the old one in that there is no bedroom. However there is a small dressing room with a good closet in it so actually we have more closet space than before. Actually it's more convenient than the other place. Our bathroom is gigantic in comparison. We even have a tub once more! Our "kitchen" is also slightly bigger. I hope you will come and visit us sometime soon. We're just off Washington Square where the art exhibit (the outdoor show) was held.
Of course, all the talk here is of the war. I'm anxious to hear from Bill. I hope he can come over on Sunday, because I can probably find out more by seeing him than through letters.
I learned of the attack through Emily. I met her in town yesterday afternoon for a talk in between assignments for her. (We seldom get to see each other, due to the hours we keep. She works when I'm free and vice versa.) Anyway, Emily told me the news. She had just come from the Trib office, which she said was in an uproar. They were having an early deadline. Ogden Reid and all the big editors who usually don't show their faces inside the office on Sunday were there.
This morning when I went to work I saw a block of men three abreast stretched out all along the side of the Post Office where there is a recruiting station. According to the paper, there were six hundred men present when the offices opened. Some had been there all night. When I came by there this evening, I saw the same long line. It was bitterly cold and some people were giving the men hot coffee, as they waited. It was a very impressive sight.
Miss Worden covered Chinatown last night to get their reaction to the news. She said most of them received it with less excitement than one would expect. While they were glad for the sake of their mother country, they were sorry because they knew what it would mean to this country.
I stopped at a radio station during my lunch hour and heard the President's speech. We just heard a recording of it over the radio this evening. They're going to play the recording of Churchill's speech in a few minutes. I haven't heard it yet.
Margaret hopes to get home for Christmas. I think that Roger will stop by here for a day or two on his way home. He will be playing in the chess tournament. Unfortunately Bill and I will only have the day off so I hope he'll come over here for the day.
Will you be in South Hadley? I do hope you have a happy holiday. I'll be looking forward to seeing you sometime after New Year's.
Thank you once again for your nice letter and please excuse my delay in answering. I'll try and reform!
Much love to you and Alma and Uncle Fred,
Kathleen
New York City
December 8, 1941
Dear Aunt Alma,
I'm sure you must have placed me among the missing long ago. As a matter of fact, I've been hoping for some time to be able to come and see you. I appreciated your invitation for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I only had Thursday off. I planned to come that weekend and was waiting to write until I was sure I could make it. Then at the last minute, I had to stay here. It's been that way for several weeks since then. I should have written and told you what I was planning to do, but it was another case of lack of time. I hope you'll forgive my silence. I did appreciate your letter and am so sorry I couldn't make it.
Now I'm hoping to visit you after Christmas. Would it be convenient for me to come the week-end after the first one in January. That would be about January 11th. If that time sounds all right for you, I think I'll plan to come then. I am anxious to see you all again.
Much has happened since I last wrote. In fact that is the main reason why there hasn't been much time for correspondence. Yes, as you read by the Herald-Tribune, Emily and Bob were married. Betsy and I moved the same day and that night after the wedding we entertained the wedding party of about twelve at a small reception here at our new apartment. We had quite a time of it, because we couldn't move until the last minute due to some confusion about the lease. Anyway it all turned out all right.
Emily now is a full-time member of the Herald-Tribune staff. That was the wedding present the city editor presented her with when she got back from her honeymoon.
Betty is still free-lancing. For the next two weeks she is going to work at Altman's during the Christmas rush. I think she'll enjoy the experience. She's ALMOST gotten several jobs, but so far nothing is certain, along the journalistic line. I think that something will turn up soon, however.
We like our new apartment. It is smaller than the old one in that there is no bedroom. However there is a small dressing room with a good closet in it so actually we have more closet space than before. Actually it's more convenient than the other place. Our bathroom is gigantic in comparison. We even have a tub once more! Our "kitchen" is also slightly bigger. I hope you will come and visit us sometime soon. We're just off Washington Square where the art exhibit (the outdoor show) was held.
Of course, all the talk here is of the war. I'm anxious to hear from Bill. I hope he can come over on Sunday, because I can probably find out more by seeing him than through letters.
I learned of the attack through Emily. I met her in town yesterday afternoon for a talk in between assignments for her. (We seldom get to see each other, due to the hours we keep. She works when I'm free and vice versa.) Anyway, Emily told me the news. She had just come from the Trib office, which she said was in an uproar. They were having an early deadline. Ogden Reid and all the big editors who usually don't show their faces inside the office on Sunday were there.
This morning when I went to work I saw a block of men three abreast stretched out all along the side of the Post Office where there is a recruiting station. According to the paper, there were six hundred men present when the offices opened. Some had been there all night. When I came by there this evening, I saw the same long line. It was bitterly cold and some people were giving the men hot coffee, as they waited. It was a very impressive sight.
Miss Worden covered Chinatown last night to get their reaction to the news. She said most of them received it with less excitement than one would expect. While they were glad for the sake of their mother country, they were sorry because they knew what it would mean to this country.
I stopped at a radio station during my lunch hour and heard the President's speech. We just heard a recording of it over the radio this evening. They're going to play the recording of Churchill's speech in a few minutes. I haven't heard it yet.
Margaret hopes to get home for Christmas. I think that Roger will stop by here for a day or two on his way home. He will be playing in the chess tournament. Unfortunately Bill and I will only have the day off so I hope he'll come over here for the day.
Will you be in South Hadley? I do hope you have a happy holiday. I'll be looking forward to seeing you sometime after New Year's.
Thank you once again for your nice letter and please excuse my delay in answering. I'll try and reform!
Much love to you and Alma and Uncle Fred,
Kathleen
1941-12-08: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Now I'm hoping to visit you after Christmas. Would it be convenient for me to come the week-end after the first one in January. That would be about January 11th.
January 11, 1942 was a Sunday.
2.
Yes, as you read by the Herald-Tribune, Emily and Bob were married. Betsy and I moved the same day and that night after the wedding we entertained the wedding party of about twelve at a small reception here at our new apartment.
At the moment I don't know the last names of Emily, Bob, and Betsy.
3.
I'm anxious to hear from Bill.
This was Kay's older brother, Will's older son.
4.
Ogden Reid and all the big editors who usually don't show their faces inside the office on Sunday were there.
Wikipedia says:
Ogden Mills Reid (May 16, 1882 – January 3, 1947) was an American newspaper publisher who was president of the New York Herald Tribune.
5.
This morning when I went to work I saw a block of men three abreast stretched out all along the side of the Post Office where there is a recruiting station. According to the paper, there were six hundred men present when the offices opened. Some had been there all night. When I came by there this evening, I saw the same long line. It was bitterly cold and some people were giving the men hot coffee, as they waited. It was a very impressive sight.
Aunt Kay always preferred the happier stories. And here she is, concentrating on the men enlisting to fight rather than on all the dead people and sunken ships in Hawaii.
6.
Miss Worden covered Chinatown last night to get their reaction to the news. She said most of them received it with less excitement than one would expect. While they were glad for the sake of their mother country, they were sorry because they knew what it would mean to this country.
Here's what I found about Miss Worden:Helen Worden Erskine Cranmer (1896-1984), was a journalist, advice columnist, biographer, and ghostwriter. She worked as a reporter and columnist for The World (later New York World-Telegram) from 1926 to 1944, contributed freelance work to magazines from 1944 until 1956, worked as associate editor for Collier's from 1952 until 1956, and wrote the Dorothy Dix syndicated advice column from 1959 until 1964.
When Kay became Women's Editor the the Register-Guard in Eugene in 1955, the article ...said of her:
She began her news career as an assistant to Helen Worden Erskine, columnist for the Scripps-Howard newspapers.
So apparently at the moment Kay is an assistant, not a reporter.
As for the Chinatown coverage, Japan had invaded China four years earlier, so the Chinese Americans had no reason to love the Japanese.
7.
I stopped at a radio station during my lunch hour and heard the President's speech. We just heard a recording of it over the radio this evening. They're going to play the recording of Churchill's speech in a few minutes. I haven't heard it yet.
The President's speech was the Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Day of Infamy speech to Congress on December 8, 1941, requesting a declaration of war. When I googled for Winston Churchill's speech, it was overshadowed by other speeches of his.
8.
Much love to you and Alma and Uncle Fred
It seems strange to see AG (age 4 at the time) referred to as Alma; I thought that at that age she was always Alma Grace to distinguish her from Aunt Alma. It wouldn't have been until a couple of years later that the family started calling her AG.
Now I'm hoping to visit you after Christmas. Would it be convenient for me to come the week-end after the first one in January. That would be about January 11th.
January 11, 1942 was a Sunday.
2.
Yes, as you read by the Herald-Tribune, Emily and Bob were married. Betsy and I moved the same day and that night after the wedding we entertained the wedding party of about twelve at a small reception here at our new apartment.
At the moment I don't know the last names of Emily, Bob, and Betsy.
3.
I'm anxious to hear from Bill.
This was Kay's older brother, Will's older son.
4.
Ogden Reid and all the big editors who usually don't show their faces inside the office on Sunday were there.
Wikipedia says:
Ogden Mills Reid (May 16, 1882 – January 3, 1947) was an American newspaper publisher who was president of the New York Herald Tribune.
5.
This morning when I went to work I saw a block of men three abreast stretched out all along the side of the Post Office where there is a recruiting station. According to the paper, there were six hundred men present when the offices opened. Some had been there all night. When I came by there this evening, I saw the same long line. It was bitterly cold and some people were giving the men hot coffee, as they waited. It was a very impressive sight.
Aunt Kay always preferred the happier stories. And here she is, concentrating on the men enlisting to fight rather than on all the dead people and sunken ships in Hawaii.
6.
Miss Worden covered Chinatown last night to get their reaction to the news. She said most of them received it with less excitement than one would expect. While they were glad for the sake of their mother country, they were sorry because they knew what it would mean to this country.
Here's what I found about Miss Worden:Helen Worden Erskine Cranmer (1896-1984), was a journalist, advice columnist, biographer, and ghostwriter. She worked as a reporter and columnist for The World (later New York World-Telegram) from 1926 to 1944, contributed freelance work to magazines from 1944 until 1956, worked as associate editor for Collier's from 1952 until 1956, and wrote the Dorothy Dix syndicated advice column from 1959 until 1964.
When Kay became Women's Editor the the Register-Guard in Eugene in 1955, the article ...said of her:
She began her news career as an assistant to Helen Worden Erskine, columnist for the Scripps-Howard newspapers.
So apparently at the moment Kay is an assistant, not a reporter.
As for the Chinatown coverage, Japan had invaded China four years earlier, so the Chinese Americans had no reason to love the Japanese.
7.
I stopped at a radio station during my lunch hour and heard the President's speech. We just heard a recording of it over the radio this evening. They're going to play the recording of Churchill's speech in a few minutes. I haven't heard it yet.
The President's speech was the Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Day of Infamy speech to Congress on December 8, 1941, requesting a declaration of war. When I googled for Winston Churchill's speech, it was overshadowed by other speeches of his.
8.
Much love to you and Alma and Uncle Fred
It seems strange to see AG (age 4 at the time) referred to as Alma; I thought that at that age she was always Alma Grace to distinguish her from Aunt Alma. It wouldn't have been until a couple of years later that the family started calling her AG.
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