Gertrude Sluyter
304 25th Avenue North
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Hi everyone, and hope you are doing well.
I just turned 52 and yet I still have much of the family here
in our little house. Woody is back home again, and he's still working
from time to time. Of course, it'd help if he drank a bit less,
although he's still better than his father who we lost in '45! Ricky
of course is just 17 and still has to finish his senior year at North
High, I do wish he would pay more attention to his studies so he
graduates. He keeps running off to this place called the "Dugout" and
some little hole in the wall like it in St.Paul. I took away his fake
ID, but any kid with access to the school shop classroom's printing
press and a typewriter can make him another. He wants to be an actor
and work in a travelling show like the Jewel Box Revue, but first he
needs to graduate from high school. He's quite artistic and musical
so some of the boys pick on him a lot. Fortunately the jewish kids
have been friendlier, although many of their families are moving out
to St.Louis Park. The kids from the families that came up from
Chicago and the south and moved to the projects have been nice to
Ricky too. Some of them work as Pullman Porters and have moved into
the new homes up by the Sanitarium at the north end of the city. The
kids of course transfer to Patrick High then, but our Polars are
still the city's best basketball team! Billy and his new wife Phyliss
have an apartment now a few blocks away, you can write them at 2918
Aldrich Avenue North. It's a tiny place, and their 5 month old son
has to sleep in his bassinet in the kitchen it's so tight. There
taking about using Billy's G.I. Loan to buy a new house out in
Crystal or New Hope. Doesn't make sense to me- Billy's got father in
law Patrick's old Willys truck but it keeps breaking down, and the
streetcars only run as far out as Robbinsdale. Billy is still working
at the V.A. Hospital and studying at the University- he wants to be a
doctor or a pharmacist. Phyliss is Edna Shaub's daughter- Edna and I
are both ILGWU shop stewards at Liemandt's. By the way, we still
attend services at Zion Lutheran and the pastor that does the
services in Norwegian is still there. A few old folks still attend,
but I swear they'll have to drag that Norwegian pastor out of there,
he just doesn't know when it's time to give it up. They of course set
up their usual marvelous manger display, with people coming from all
over the city. The water tower in Farview Park is still there and the
kids love climbing it, but there is talk of tearing it down.
The house is holding up well, and in two more years it'll be
paid for. The Minneapolis Gas Company just came and took out all our
coal stoves and gave us a space heater, stove, and water heater on
the installment plan. It's a lot cleaner than that messy coal and we
don't have the coal truck going through the backyard anymore. But I
still wish wood was as cheap as it was when all the sawmills were
going along the river. We really need a second heater in the kitchen
too- the one they put in the living room just doesn't get the heat
back there- I've already had to thaw out pipes and it's only
december! This 9 years we've been here are the longest I've ever
spent in one place. I've lived in Michigan, Montana, North Dakota,
and now Minnesota. Fortunately my children have grown up in
Minneapolis, except for Billy who was born in Williston just before
the influenza epidemic that drove us to Minneapolis. Everyone is
hinting that I should learn how to drive, but I see no reason too.
The streetcar barn is a block away so there is always a car running
down Washington Avenue to downtown. And once I'm there I can transfer
over to my job at Liemandt's on the Nicollet Avenue line. On the way
home I walk over to the Great Northern Market, get some groceries,
then ride the Hennipen Avenue and Washington Avenue lines home. If I
don't want to go downtown I just ride down to Bix Grocery on Broadway
and for clothes I can go to Friedman's a few blocks away. If I want
to go out of town I just ride the streetcar down to the Milwaukee
Station. Their are 11 trains a day to Chicago, and the Hiawatha is
the best, although the 400 is fastest. If I'm going west to visit you
folks up North or in North Dakota it's a two block walk or transfer
to Union Station. The Empire Builder will get me to Minot overnight,
but I usually take the cheaper "mail trains" like the Main Streeter
if I have time. There is talk of replacing the streetcars with buses,
but that'll never work as well. I'll bet if they do they'll end up
spending darn near a billion dollars bringing the streetcars back.
I'm honestly worried about next year- this war in Korea is
not a good idea and they'd better not draft my Ricky- he's just to
delicate a child for the military. Billy was lucky and didn't end up
in combat in the recent World War. His father darn near ended up
getting drafted for the Great War, but by the time the draft board
found him in North Dakota the war was over. Billy's great grandpa
wasn't so lucky- he enlisted in the Wisconsin 28th Infantry, Company
F. He helped repulse the Confederates and free many slaves at the
battle of Helena, Arkansas on July 4, 1863 only to die a few days
later of typhoid fever. Otherwise, there's all this talk of progress-
freeways (hopefully our Senator Humphrey will at least keep them out
of the city!), television (why waste all day watching a little
picture when you can go to the theatre and see it on the big screen.
We've got all the stuff a creature would need- phones, radio, city
water and sewer- so who needs this "modern" junk?
Well, that's all for this year. I had copies made of some
pictures and included them with this letter. The first one is Ricky-
you may not recognize him- dressed up as a girl for Halloween. He's a
little too good at this disguise, and went to a couple neighborhood
party's and no one recognized him. Saturday night he went out again
to something called a "drag ball" put on by the "Holiday Club" and
came home with an award for 1st prize! The next picture is the house,
sorry that the front porch is looking kind of rough and I may have it
torn off and just have steps put in. The last picture is the new
grandson Billy and Phyliss gave me- he's such a beautiful boy!
Happy Holidays and best wishes for the new year,
Gertrude
(the above is historical recreation by Dyna Sluyter of Hawthorne)
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