Send us a text

December 18th, 1952 — Joyce writes late at night from Kankakee, Illinois, balancing exhaustion, work, and homesickness as Christmas approaches. She’s working long shifts at the post office, sorting letters by state, city, street, and block — monotonous, finger-numbing labor she calls “a great big pain in the neck.” The money is helpful, but she misses practicing piano, visiting friends, and simply enjoying being home.

Her mother is ill with a bad cold, her stepfather as difficult as ever, and her sister Ina still finding trouble with men. Amid the chaos, Joyce finds solace in small things — trimming the tree, choosing slippers for her mother, knitting Earl’s socks, and writing to him by lamplight. She muses about family history, discovering her late father had once been a Mason, and reflects on how strange home feels after time away.

Even while she grumbles about sorting mail and her aching back, her humor shines through: she jokes about “bare shoulders” in the engagement announcement and laments running out of the yellow-and-navy yarn for Earl’s socks. It’s a portrait of mid-century womanhood at its most tender and resilient — juggling work, family duty, and love across hundreds of miles.

Topics Include:

• Working temporary holiday shifts at the Kankakee post office
• Sorting mail and the monotony of repetitive labor
• Mother’s illness and family responsibilities
• Planning Christmas shopping and gifts
• Learning her late father was a Mason
• Family tension with stepfather and sister’s relationships
• Missing Earl and Denver during Christmas
• Knitting progress on Earl’s socks
• Worry about yarn colors running out
• Reflecting on engagement announcement and modesty norms
• Practicing piano and preparing music pieces

Support the show

Send us a text

This episode was one of the harder letters to read and place into the world. There is an example of Hate ( Blue Square) in this episode, due to that fact the publish date was pushed past the holiday season and into the New Year. We're not hiding from the hate we expose, but I'm sure not publishing it during the holy season. December 15th, 1952 — Joyce writes from Kankakee, Illinois, still home for Christmas break and sending her airmail letters back west to Denver. She’s surrounded by family, gossip, and domestic dramas — her sister Ina’s birthday slipped her mind, her sister Cleone is clashing with her future mother-in-law, and her stepfather is offering “gifts” that come with strings attached.

Joyce fills Earl in on every detail: the new apartment Cleone and Ray are furnishing, the meddling mother-in-law who lost her house and blames “everyone different,” and her own mother’s declining health — the letter shifts from biting humor to quiet worry as she describes her mother’s serious condition and the strain of caring for her.

Even amid family tension, Joyce’s warmth and wit shine through. She talks of knitting Earl’s second sock, wanting to play organ for Christmas Eve services, and dreaming of Denver — her true home now. She closes the letter missing him fiercely, trying not to feel lonely, and signing off with the tender familiarity of a woman who’s already halfway between her old life and the new one she’s building with him.

Topics Include:

• Writing from Kankakee during Christmas break
• Family drama: Cleone’s meddling mother-in-law and home tension
• Sister Ina’s forgotten birthday
• Stepfather’s manipulative “money with conditions” offers
• Mother’s serious health concerns and medical details
• Knitting Earl’s second sock
• Plans to play organ for Christmas Eve services
• Thoughts on heaven, faith, and family hardship
• Discussing wedding plans for Cleone and Ray
• Reflections on loneliness and longing for Earl
• Reading and favorite authors (Lloyd C. Douglas, The Great Fisherman)

Support the show

Send us a text

December 13–14, 1952 — Joyce’s letter home spans two days and two states, written partly from a jerky train bound for Illinois and partly from her family home in Kankakee. Traveling by airmail for the first time — double the postage at six cents — she’s headed home to her mother, stepfather, and sister Cleone, knitting a sock for Earl as the train rocks along. She jokes about taking off her stockings to be comfortable, washing off her makeup, and trying to nap between stations.

By the next day, she’s home and writing in green ink with her new pen — one of the gifts Earl sent her, along with perfume and sachet. The household is lively: Cleone and Ray are “necking on the Davenport,” Uncle Marcus is frail and irritable, and Joyce finds herself once again navigating her family’s moods. She compares engagement rings (hers, she notes proudly, is prettier), talks about wedding plans, and muses that perhaps Denver — not Kankakee — should be where she and Earl marry.

The letter closes tenderly but with a hint of exhaustion. Between family tension, travel fatigue, and reflections on how distant she already feels from home, Joyce dreams of returning to Denver — to her own life, her work, and the man she loves.

Topics Include:

• Traveling home to Illinois by train
• Writing with her new pen and green ink
• Knitting Earl’s socks on the train
• Family dynamics at home in Kankakee
• Uncle Marcus’s declining health
• Cleone and Ray’s engagement and apartment
• Comparing engagement rings
• Talking weddings and choosing Denver over Illinois
• Remembering family challenges and loyalty to her mother
• Planning future marriage and family life
• Recovering from cramps and travel fatigue

Support the show

Send us a text

December 8th, 1952 — Joyce writes from her Education and Sociology class, balancing her notebook on her lap while Dr. Shiri looms nearby, close enough to notice she’s writing. She sketches the seating chart in her letter, amused and cautious — everyone around her seems to read over her shoulder. She’s wearing her new skirt and belt, feeling “very grad looking,” and musing about how unpredictable Shiri’s tests are — too general in class, too specific on exams.

She apologizes for the short, penciled note, but even this hurried letter feels rich with her humor and detail: a ridiculous class comment about “solving” the southern race problem by “moving everyone north,” her Christmas card list of 31 names, and plans to buy her friend a delicate demi-tasse cup as a gift. Between notes about grades, oral exams, and her trip to Boulder to see Earl, Joyce’s warmth cuts through the academic chatter.

By the end, she’s eating cake and apples for breakfast — a small comfort amid the finals rush — and promises to tell Earl what Piernaut said in her next letter. It’s another glimpse into her everyday world: exams, errands, and the steady rhythm of missing the man she loves.

Topics Include:

• Writing secretly in class with Dr. Shiri watching
• Education/Sociology test worries
• Dramatic Activities oral exam
• Planning a Christmas card list and gifts
• Classmate’s shocking racist remark
• Hopes for final grades in each subject
• Meeting with Piernaut and loan discussion
• Planning a trip to Boulder
• Eating cake and apples for breakfast
• Apologizing for messy, hurried handwriting

Support the show

Send us a text

Show Notes:
December 2nd, 1952 — Joyce is relieved to find a letter from Earl waiting for her at home and dives into another busy day of rewrites and responsibilities. She’s nearly finished redoing her composition, booked an appointment with Piernaut for Monday, and cleaned the apartment herself (minus one room Sandy swept). This week is stacked: finish her composition, complete a dramatics project, see a play at Phipps Auditorium, and play for a Pops course program on Sunday.

Despite the workload, there are bright spots: her Ed Soche report has impressed Dr. Shiri, she’s memorizing more piano pages, and she’s looking forward to the first two hockey games against the University of Toronto. There’s also humor — she jokes about taking her “roll” of film (not “role”) to the drug store, Johnny’s blunders at work, and her own coffee-urn mishap.

She weighs holiday travel plans, train tickets versus rides, and the thought of returning early to the dorm after Christmas. Financial worries loom, but she ends the letter with warmth and anticipation, asking Earl to check the Dean of Women’s office hours and promising hugs and kisses on Friday.

Topics Include:

• Rewriting her composition project
• Cleaning the apartment and juggling responsibilities
• Upcoming dramatics project and play at Phipps Auditorium
• Pops course program performance
• Ed Soche report praise from Dr. Shiri
• Memorizing more piano pages
• First hockey games vs. University of Toronto
• Taking her roll of film to the drug store
• Johnny’s mistakes and coffee urn mishap
• Weighing train tickets vs. rides for Christmas
• Dorm vs. off-campus living plans
• Checking Dean of Women’s office hours for Earl

Support the show

Send us a text

Show Notes:
December 1st, 1952 — On Earl’s birthday, Joyce opens with “I love you very much” and a cheery wish, but the letter soon turns into a portrait of an exhausted young woman juggling school, work, and life’s uncertainties. The apartment is hungover and cranky from the weekend, she’s lost her composition notes and manuscript paper, and she faces redoing her final project from scratch.

Dr. Hulk gives the class an easy morning; the first day of Ed Soche reports goes smoothly; but Joyce must start off tomorrow’s session discussing democratic values. She recounts a missed opportunity at Wells (they want a boy for the stockroom), a fruitless visit to Piernau’s office, and information about DU’s accounting program and CPA credit that sparks thoughts about CU’s setup.

Joyce also looks ahead — a concert Friday night at 8, possible rides home for Christmas, the $45 she’s saved for the bank, and a transfer of $300 (her “crowning glory” of savings). She worries about scholarships, Winnie’s engagement turmoil, Connie’s illness, and mumps rumors. Despite it all, she sends two birthday cards to Earl and ends the night tearfully, confessing how much she longs to sleep next to him and how she didn’t think it possible to love someone so much.

Topics Include:

• Earl’s birthday wishes
• Lost composition notes and manuscript paper
• Easy morning with Dr. Hulk
• Starting Ed Soche report on democratic values
• Wells job disappointment (wanted a boy)
• DU accounting/CPA program credit info
• Friday night concert plans
• Saving $45 and transferring $300
• Scholarship worries and graduation doubts
• Winnie’s engagement trouble and vodka episode
• Connie’s mysterious illness and mumps rumors
• Daydreaming of visiting Earl and taking his picture to bed

Support the show

Send us a text

Show Notes:
November 25th, 1952 — Joyce is once again writing from Dr. Shiri’s class, distracted by a student’s clumsy report on sex education, Puritan beliefs, and the meaning of love. Her pencil scrawls between reflections on the racy discussion and her daily life: slow hours at work, May threatening to sell her business and leave Denver, Johnny still waiting for his wife, and Joyce herself preparing for the Thanksgiving rush.

She dreams about a farm with Earl, gets lost in the sparkle of her cleaned ring between paragraphs, and debates whether she’ll continue piano at CU or go back to Oregon. She also grumbles about dorm mates unplugging her desk lamp for hair dryers and irons, and about not being able to come over Wednesday night due to project meetings and laundry.

Underneath the humor and complaints is a steady devotion — even as she writes from class, Joyce is thinking about seeing Earl, planning her moves, and framing her day-to-day frustrations with affection and anticipation.

Topics Include:

• Writing from Dr. Shiri’s class
• Awkward student reports on sex education and love
• Dreaming of life on a farm with Earl
• Cleaning and admiring her ring
• Considering CU piano vs. Oregon
• May’s talk of selling business and leaving Denver
• Slow workdays and Thanksgiving plans
• Project meetings disrupting travel
• Dorm mates unplugging her desk lamp
• Looking forward to seeing Earl Thursday

Support the show

Send us a text

Show Notes:
November 24th, 1952 — Joyce beams with pride over an A+ on her genetics exam and looks ahead to Thanksgiving week as a welcome break from the grind. She compares spring vacation dates with Boulder, notes Easter falling on April 5th, and jokes about nearly freezing despite scarves and mittens.

She’s juggling the values project, piano lessons, work shifts, and a roll of film that’s been sitting undeveloped for almost a year. There’s talk of a Thanksgiving night dance at the Union and of returning Pop and Sutt’s books, plus yet another dorm caper — Winnie “getting even” with Peg by holding onto the ringing phone while Peg screamed for Dan.

Joyce debates whether to move to a third-floor room next quarter, knowing it might cause hard feelings. She closes the letter with warm anticipation for the weekend with Earl, describing how she loves to rub his back and kiss him as he naps, and promising to “make up” the letter’s length with kisses.

Topics Include:

• Earning an A+ on the genetics exam
• Comparing spring vacation dates (Denver vs. Boulder)
• Thanksgiving week plans and a Union dance
• Scheduling the values project
• Returning Pop and Sutt’s books
• Finishing a year-old roll of film
• Winnie’s prank on Peg and the phone
• Debating a third-floor move next quarter
• Balancing piano lessons, work, and rest
• Daydreaming about Earl and the weekend

Support the show