The 4000 letters in this collection center on Gordon T. Kinder (1919-2009) and Ann Cary Stuckey Kinder (1922-88). Both had Ohio roots dating to the 1790s: Gordon in Belmont County along the Ohio River and in Warren and Putnam Counties along the Indiana border, and Cary in Summit and Cuyahoga Counties around Cleveland.
The letters begin in 1941 with Gordon’s graduation from university and his commissioning as an Army artillery officer and with Cary’s second year of college. They take the reader through their meeting in 1942; courtship against the backdrop of war; marriage in 1943; training for the invasion; six months in England; ten months of combat in France, Germany and Austria; and seven months in an Army of occupation.
Both were prodigious letter-writers, as were their families who wrote them regularly. Most letters run more than 600 words.
On the homefront, the Ohio River floods; travel and communication suffer the war’s burdens; childhood diseases come in waves; difficult pregnancies don’t end well; the businesses of law, light manufacturing and coal continue; family gatherings continue but with less and less meat and butter; the casualties mount; and, suddenly, the dreams of peace meet harsh realities.
For the compiler, Gordon & Cary’s oldest son, Peter, reading these letters was like renewing conversations with people long dead. For the most part, the letters read as their writers spoke. Their sensibilities bring back to life family dynamics experienced in the 1950s.
Filters
DATE: 02/01/1944
SENDER: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) SEND LOCATION: Kington, Herefordshire, England
RECIPIENT: Family RECIPIENT LOCATION: Brookside, Bridgeport, OH
SUMMARY:
Transcription: n.d., no location, no envelope. Rich detail. Loves Kington, people, countryside. Wonderful welcome. Working very hard. Walks with John Morris to and visits Hergest Court. Borrows horse and kit from tobacconist and rides with Mayor’s wife. Horses of all types/uses everywhere. Listens to BBC, misses commercials. Visits RAF mess with Carl Dittman. Glad we’re not fighting them.
DATE: 03/20/1944
SENDER: Helen Potter Stuckey (HPS) SEND LOCATION: Gilman House, Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA), Exeter, NH
RECIPIENT: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: Kington, Herefordshire, England
SUMMARY:
She & Howard S. Stuckey (Ty) (HSS) clipping and sending crossword puzzles to GTK and to Phil Giddings, her nephew, a doctor at the Anzio hospital that was bombed. He was lightly wounded. He had not yet seen his son, born in 1943. William G. Saltonstall back from the Pacific where he’d been on a carrier. [Bunker Hill. ‘W.G. Saltonstall Chosen Exeter Principal, Faculty Navy Veteran Succeeding Perry’, NYTimes, June 3, 1946, p. 23.] She & HSS working on Red Cross fund and blood drives. Short on funds for vacation due to education expenses and war bonds. Ann Cary Stuckey Kinder (CSK) looking for teaching job. Questions about GTK’s time in Kington, especially hunting. Has a really good idea on US soldiers’ pay while in UK. Grateful to CSK and Madeline Cushman Stuckey (Cush) for sending them food ration points. Phillips Exeter Academy keeps their ration books to cover dining hall meals.
DATE: 04/03/1944
SENDER: Gordon Dyche Kinder (GDK) SEND LOCATION: 908 National Road, Brookside, Bridgeport, OH
RECIPIENT: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: Kington, Herefordshire, England
SUMMARY:
Typical GDK Sunday: in bed til 1 p.m. At 4, picks up NY Times & Columbus Citizen at S.B. Hickey’s in Bridgeport. Very busy at office. Technical matters got on his nerves, so left office at noon, Saturday. Handicapped by lack of good stenographer. Mattie now too old. Very excited about the new Peggy Kinder. Many calls from GeoDK. Looking for new dining room furniture.
DATE: 04/05/1944
SENDER: Margaret Kinder Paull (Peggy) (MKP) SEND LOCATION: Woodsdale, Wheeling, WV
RECIPIENT: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: Kington, Herefordshire, England
SUMMARY:
Supplies for cigarette lighter on their way. GTK must write Ohio family more often. Family news. John C. Kinder to be commissioned 5/13 and will get home leave. Thinks he’ll be assigned to the pack artillery. News of local soldiers.
DATE: 04/15/1944
SENDER: George D. Kinder (GeoDK) SEND LOCATION: Cleveland, OH
RECIPIENT: Charlotte Duncan Kinder (CDK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: 908 National Road, Brookside, Bridgeport, OH
SUMMARY:
Date approx. learning and loving trial work. Family chatter.