Dear John Letters…. I subscribe to the Barron News-Shield, my old home town newspaper…mainly to read the obituaries and see which of my friends of old and acquaintances have been called to their heavenly home… Today I read an obituary of a gentleman…a man I had never met but who figured rather importantly in how my life progressed and how I would meet June… Most have heard of “Dear John” letters received by many wartime service men from their back home girl friends who found some one else in the serviceman’s absence… This gentleman was responsible for my getting a “Dear John” letter in the year before I met June… I guess one might have called me a loser…this was my second “Dear John” letter received during my army service…the first one was from a lady named “Shirley” and the last one was from a second lady named “Lucy”… Servicemen are away from home for months at a time and while they are away, the local hometown guys are hard at work convincing the serviceman’s girl friends that they are a much better bet…and of course they are around most all of the time…when they are successful, a “Dear John” letter is soon on the way to the guy in the service… This local gentleman who caused me to get a “Dear John” letter apparently convinced Lucy that he was a better risk then I was and had better plans for the future…I was told that he had plans to get a job with Northwest Airlines as a mechanic and I had no plans except to finish my education… It was my first leave to come home in the spring of 1951 after getting Lucy’s “Dear John: letter during the previous winter months while I was out in Baltimore…since this was my 2nd such letter in 3 years, my Dad Tom apparently thought I needed help on selecting my girlfriends…As many know, my Dad Tom introduced me to June the very next day after I arrived home on leave…June was the lady that I am now convinced was a gift from God and like no other in this world… But then things seemed to have worked out well all around…a month after June and I were engaged, Lucy married her first choice who was the reason for my “Dear John” letter…according to the obituary he did in fact get a job with Northwest Airlines in Minneapolis but became a Steward instead of a mechanic…they had no children…Lucy had a stroke shortly after June died and Lucy and husband returned to Barron where Lucy went into a Nursing home…he became a caregiver for Lucy much like I did for June….Lucy is still in such a home…the gentleman’s cause of death was not given…He was a year younger than I am… When June heard that Lucy and husband were living in the Twin Cities, she was all set to invite them out to visit us…when I was less then enthusiastic about the idea June forgot about it…But June is different…June found an undeveloped roll of 35mmfilm from my army days that I had shot of Lucy when we were going together…she wanted to develop the film and place the pictures in an album for old time’s sake…I suggested throwing them… but June is June and she did develop them and placed them in a small album…I checked and it is still on the shelf in a closet…Perhaps this obituary will be a good ending note for the album… I remember well the country western song called “Dear John”…the link is here if anyone is interested…Every time I hear it I think that I am exhibit “A”… https://youtube/watch?v=LMueKWzG0WE
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 01:41:07 +0000