Monday, November 6, 2023

Milliron Monday: Letters Home Apr 18 1960

Abbott "Pete" Smith D.V.M.:  June 16, 1938 - February 22, 2010
Virginia Joyann "Jody" Haley Smith: April 2, 1938 - May 9, 2021
Welcome to Milliron Monday where every Monday we celebrate the legacy of Milliron Farm and Clinic, Dr. Pete and Jody Smith. 

"It is nice to have pretty clothes at this time especially as I am beginning to feel that I look like a traveling barn."
― Jody Smith

Jody's letter home to Mansfield, Ohio. Backstory: At 21, Jody is pregnant, continues to ride Starboy, attends college, and keeps house. Anticipating the new baby, packages arrive weekly to the Smith household from Jody's parents.

917 Remington
Fort Collins, Colorado
Monday, April 18, 1960

Dear Mom, Dad, and Jessie,
    Today is certainly going to be the beginning of a busy study week. Our papers for poetry class are due Friday morning and I've somehow go to transform my jumbled stacks of notecards into a relatively spectacular paper between now and then - certainly glad I have such a good typewriter, Jess.
    I certainly don't understand how you got those hats out here so quickly, but thank you very much. They arrived Thursday afternoon. I wore the blue one with my light blue suit. It looked awfully nice. I really do like the suit and felt quite proud to wear it Easter Sunday. It is nice to have pretty clothes at this time especially as I am beginning to feel that I look like a traveling barn. Fortunately, though, I've still managed to keep my weight down to 130 or 132 and didn't gain any at all last month. The baby certainly is growing. He or she, whichever the case may be, is certainly getting to be an active little creature. I went to Dr. Rumley again last Saturday and all seems to be well as per usual. She listened to the baby's heart and said it had a nice heart tone, whatever that means.
    Jess, we certainly appreciated (and are appreciating) the ham and bacon. We've been really living it up with bacon and eggs and pancakes for breakfast. We had a nice Easter dinner yesterday afternoon. The ham really looked pretty all studded with cloves and pineapple rings. We had Les and Hope Rivers, and Tom Shaw here for dinner and it was nice to be able to serve such a delicious main course. They all seemed to enjoy it very much. We also had a relish plate, a bottle of Mogen David wine which Tom contributed, two kinds of rolls, sweet potatoes with crushed pineapple and marshmallows, lime and cottage cheese Jell-O and banana cream pie.
    The worst part of the whole preparation was polishing all the silver. I decided to do it all while I was at it and I didn't realize we had so much. I had polished just a few at a time before. It looked pretty on the table though. Hope helped me with all the last minute things and with the dishes afterward so I even got a bit of studying in Sunday evening. Oh yes, we also had some delicious Smucker's apple butter and some of the newly arrived strawberry preserves with our rolls. They tasted good. The preserves arrived Saturday. Two of the jars were broken but the rest were fine. Thank you very much for sending them.
    Enclosed are the papers for the slacks, shirts, etc. It would be wonderful for Pete to get those for his birthday, particularly the charcoal slacks since next year they have to wear slacks, shirts, and ties every day to classes. I guess you must know his birthday is June 16. We really don't need the summer blankets nearly so much as he needs the clothes, but thanks anyhow.
Bye for now,
Love, 
Jody
     
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Through captivating, powerful, and emotional anecdotes, we celebrate the life of Dr. Abbott P. Smith. His biography takes the reader from smiles to laughter to empathy and tears. Dr. Smith gave us compelling lessons learned from animals; the role animals play in the human condition, the joy of loving an animal, and the awe of their spirituality. A tender and profound look into the life of a skilled veterinarian.

  

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