Peter, Marcy, Jed, and Jay

One-page handwritten letter from Jay, age 13, to George, who was turning 71. Written on unlined letter-size paper that I think is printer paper—it has little torn bits on the left and right edges that look like torn-off tractor-feed.

There are a couple of sentences in this letter that are missing periods, so I feel like I should mention that those are at the ends of lines in the handwritten text; my presentation here makes them a little harder to read than they were in the original.

This letter marks the beginning of the final period of these old family letters, a period in which Jay became the main letter-writer in the family; there are about 25 more letters to go after this one, and Jay wrote more than half of those.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

HAPPY BIRTDAY, GRANDPA!!!!

I wish you many more healthy and happy years. I also wanted to say thank you for the nice card that you sent me. Some other things that I recieved are: 2 tickets to four different A’s games, lots of baseball cards, two records, and a new backpact (which I greatly needed because my other one is in pieces.)

I am on the honor role of the school I go to. You have to get 17 points to be on it and you get 3 points for an “A” and 1 point for a “B” I got 5 A’s and 2 B’s

I am planning a trip this summer, for which I have set aside the month of August. I hope to be able to come up there to see you and John (and David if it can be worked out) and then to see my other relatives in New Jersey I already have saved about $140 towards my trip.

I am home from school today, with a cold. I just read grandpa’s letter. It is raining outside and I am thinking dismally of the prospect of delivering newspapers.

Love, Joaquin

Notes

trip

I am still impressed that Jay managed to earn and save a substantial amount of money and then used that money to take a trip by himself around the country, at age 13. A bit more on that in the next couple of letters.

“in New Jersey”

Marcy’s great-aunt Betty and great-uncle Iz lived there, fairly near Marcy’s mother in Philadelphia.

“thinking dismally of the prospect of delivering newspapers”

I love that last sentence.