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.
"I was getting a bit anxious about sitting in this apartment watching a baby all the time but I'm sure I'll be much happier out there in the country sitting watching a baby."
― Jody Smith
Jody's letter home to Mansfield, Ohio. Backstory: At 22, Jody is pregnant, attends college, and keeps house. Anticipating the new baby, packages arrive weekly to the Smith household from Jody's parents. Mike is Pete and Jody's Irish Setter living with Jody's parents.
917 Remington
Fort Collins, Colorado
Monday, May 16, 1960
Dear Mom, Dad, and Jessie,
At last my life-long (all 22 years of it) dream of living in the country seems about to come true. Pete has gotten a job for the next two years as all-round handyman for Professor Birky (this is out where I've kept Starboy). In exchange for feeding the horses, doing farm work, odd jobs, etc., we will get the use of that nice little house down to the north of the lane plus our gas bill will be paid. I certainly hope it won't take too much time from his studies but it'll be a big help financially since we'll be able to rent out this apartment, and needless to say, we'll both, particularly me, be so happy out in the country. I've always looked forward to the day I could look out the window and see Starboy grazing nearby. It's certainly wonderful that the opportunity will be coming so soon. We'll be moving out there about June the 3rd. I'll let you know our new address before then. I had hoped this would mean that we'd be able to have Mike, but Professor Birky was quite emphatic about his dislike of dogs when he interviewed Pete for the job so I guess we'll have to wait a while longer until we're on our own place.
This summer Pete will be farming and irrigating during the day (for which he gets some extra pay plus the house rent, etc.) and commuting to Denver with Dr. Frandson at night to work at the track. It sounds awfully busy to me but he seems to think he can handle it and still get in 8 hours sleep a night.
I'm through with my finals May 31, so I'll have a bit of time to get things together for our move to the country. I can hardly wait! The house is unfurnished but we've worked a deal to use the furniture of the couple who worked for Birky this year, until they'll be needing it again at the end of the summer. By then we hope to have a little money to scrounge up some sort of furniture a the second hand stores and such. This will eliminate lots of moving problems for them and for us too.
Thank you again for the baby furniture. That's really going to help out a lot. Also, thanks so much for the very pleasant surprise of the new maternity clothes. I like those blouses very much and started right in wearing them since it's been in the 80's all week. The brown print blouse and brown skirt certainly are nice too, and I got lots of comments on them when I wore them to school last week. Pete has very much appreciated your helping out particularly with my maternity clothes and hasn't seemed to resent any of the packages at all. In fact, I'm sure he's quite grateful since he's said several times that he's glad I'm able to have such nice clothes to wear and he was afraid we could never have bought so many or such nice ones at this time. I was certainly very surprised when he opened his packages which you sent last week. He's never said much about his own clothes so I thought he just didn't particularly care, but he was tickled to death to get those slacks, shirts, and jackets. He opened them at noon and changed right away into one of the new shirts to wear back to classes that afternoon. Thank you again for sending them. He really looks sharp in them.
Jess, we certainly did enjoy that ham. Even the bone tasted good! I made navy bean soup with it and it turned out real well. (I used one of the newspaper clipping recipes which you sent a while ago, Mom).
I'm glad to see that Maribel Hawk is getting to college at long last. She certainly is a beautiful girl.
I've been feeling fine and getting more rest now that most of the papers and tests have let up a little. I finally got back my 40 page paper on the Irish poet, James Stephens, and I got an "A+, excellent" on it so I guess it was worth the trip to the Boulder library and all the time I spent on it. I really did enjoy working on it. I've been walking out to the pasture and back occasionally in order to keep up with my exercise since I couldn't ride Starboy with his cut foot. It's really beautiful and green out there. It'll be wonderful to be out there for the next two years. I was getting a bit anxious about sitting in this apartment watching a baby all the time but I'm sure I'll be much happier out there in the country sitting watching a baby.
Enclosed is one of the usual letters from the college which I thought you might be interested in.
Pooh is certainly going to be happy out in the country. We keep him in the house and on the porch all the time here since there's so much traffic but we'll be able to let him roam around out there since the house is at least an 1/8 of a mile from the road back up a lane as you probably remember from cart riding down the lane when you were out here last spring. It ought to be nice for the baby too, but I suppose it'll be a while before it'll be big enough to appreciate it.
Enclosed is a newspaper clipping of the veterinarian float which Pete worked on. The sophomore vet class is in complete charge of the float building each year. I took a color shot of it with my camera which we can show you if we ever get it developed.
Bye for now.
Love,
Jody
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| Jody's beloved gelding, Starboy |
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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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