2-1-1940 Evelyn to Mr Orville J Pace

2-1-1940 Evelyn to Mr Orville J Pace

Envelope:

Mr. Orville J. Pace

Cedartown, Ga.

Postmark: 2-1-1940 West Palm Beach, FLA.

Box 145

Pahokee Fla.

Dear Orville,

We arrived here about 3 p.m. yesterday. The weather may be described as just “chilly.” My cousin does not have a chimney and the only available heat is a small kerosene heater. The sunshine is beautiful and is warmer on the outside than in the house.

Much of the vegetation has been killed. Papa has been enjoying seeing them replant the crops. Of course it is hard to understand that they can have a new crop in 6 wks.

I am feeling just like I did at home absolutely no pep nor energy. Of course it is nice not to have any responsibility – about cooking or anything sometimes I feel as if the odor is going to ruin me. But so far I am sure they do suspect anything. On the way down I would get so sleepy that I would have to ask Papa to drive. I think the trip has helped me rather than hurt me. However I’ll tell you now it isn’t any fun to do things without you anymore. It takes you to make things complete for me now. Already I am looking forward to getting home.

Cousin Maxine has a son just one year younger than I have here. They have a little girl 4 yrs. old and she is pregnant now – about the same length of time as me. They are always telling her not to do this and that – she is sick also and also sluggish – just as I am. I am glad all the sympathy goes to her – for I certainly don’t want a crowd calling attention to my condition all the time. I am sure I feel just as bad as she does. They took me to the show last night Papa insisted that I go said I had sat around all day with no pep – Mama defended me and said that there wasn’t anything to do to get any pep – Papa said he was still tired.

Cousine Maxine does not suspect either for she has been telling me she thinks I should go ahead soon & have a baby etc. She has three grand-children & is just as proud of them as your mother is hers. I can tell from the way Mama looks when this conversation goes on that just as we thought she isn’t going to be pleased at first.

We are going to West Palm Beach today. Papa said all the way down he couldn’t have managed without me and that they would come back when I ddi – so guess we will leave here about next Tuesday. I will try to get them to stay with us some when we get back. If they do you will have to entertain them on Friday since I have pretended I have to go to this meeting in Rome. You can take them around over the countryside or else I will leave them in Atlanta with Ruth to come on to C’town on Fri aft.

I don’t know how many more times I will get to write – other than cards – for we are going to Miami and Key West and then returning on West Coast via Silver Spring –

I do hope you are well and you are making it fine. Remember I love you so much and am thinking of you so often and wishing you were with me –

Love

Evelyn

Thursday a.m.

1-30-1940 Evelyn to Mr Orville J Pace

1-30-1940 Evelyn to Mr Orville J Pace

Postcard:

Mr. Orville J. Pace

Cedartown, Ga.

Postmark: 1-3-1940 New Smyrna Beach, FLA.

Wed a.m.

We stayed at Ocean Park Hotel in Daytona last night. We will get to Pahokee this afternoon. It is still cool about 40 degrees. We are all well and making it fine –

Evelyn.

1-29-1940 Evelyn to Mr Orville J Pace

1-29-1940 Evelyn to Mr Orville J Pace

Envelope:

Hotel Dempsey

Herbert M. Block, Mgr.

Macon, Georgia

Mr. Orville J. Pace

Cedartown, Ga.

Postmark: 1-29-1940 Macon, GA.

Letterhead:

N.M. Block President

H.M. Block V. Prest. Managing Director

E.H. Block Vice-President

Hotel Dempsey

The South’s Deluxe Hotel

Central Location

325 Rooms 325 Baths

Ownership Managment

Macon, Georgia

Sunday night

Dear Orville,

We decided to come by Macon – as you see. We thougth we would be sure of a good hotel and that the road had been scraped a little way out of Atlanta – The road to Atlanta was almost as bad as it was Thursday it took us until 3:30 to get there. And I drove all the way here (6:30). If you thought I nagged you Thursday you should have heard Papa on me and I drove as carefully as I did the other night.

We have two nice rooms with adjoining baths and twin bed. (10.00 and ate in hotel. I am afraid we’ll have to sell a cow or two at this rate). I have just finished talking with Jessie Mae & Myrtle. They have been having a time in the cold too.

If you have had any fears about my making the trip without McGehee’s advice you can rest easy. Myrtle said ti was the best thing in the world for me. I sure wish you could be with us – that is all it would take to make it complete.

Hope it will soon be warm there and that you will be well.

Lots of love

Evelyn

Reflections on 1939 2-14-2010

Reflections on 1939

Evelyn and Orville married in October of 1939. In fact, in Evelyn’s 1939 datebook, a single entry for Sunday, October 1 reads “marry Orville Pace.” I always thought this was testament to Evelyn’s organizational skills. After having read and typed many of hers and Orville’s letter, I now know that that entry was in his handwriting. And, according to my mother, is the wrong date anyway. Apparently they were married on October 15^th. Despite the fears of her family, and the war that her father warned her about, Evelyn and Orville remained married until his death in March of 1974. I was four years old when he died. I was taken to the funeral after expressing a lot of confusion. When my mother told me that his body would be buried, but his soul would be in heaven, I asked what where his head was going. In an effort to keep me from going through life with the vision of of headless grandfather in the ground, my parents took me to the funeral. I have a vague memory of seeing him in his open casket, and of my grandmother being presented with a beautifully-folded American flag.

Enough about that! I just put the 1940 letters in chronological order. They are all from Evelyn to Orville, with the exception of a couple of letters to the both of them. I’m not sure if Orville just quit writing after they married, or what. But we don’t have any letters from him in 1940.

9-28-1939 Adrian to Miss Evelyn Carter

9-28-1939 Adrian to Miss Evelyn Carter

Envelope:

Miss Evelyn Carter,

Box #326,

Marietta, Georgia.

Postmark: 9-28-1939 Huntington, TENN.

Letterhead:

Ruth H. Sloan, Secretary to County Judge and Highway Commission

J. Wesley Williams, Clerk

M.J. McLemore, Sheriff

J. ADRIAN BRAMLEY

COUNTY JUDGE: CARROLL COUNTY

Huntingdon, Tenn.

9-28-39.

Dear Evelyn:

Enclosed find check for $50.00. I appreciate your calling me on my birthday, I was feeling real bad last nite, but am back on job this morn. geeling some better this morn. I am very sorry that you could not see your way clear to put your wedding off until after the first of year so mother & I could attend it. Evelyn here is something I have been thinking about your marriage. Suppose this country gets into a war and all the yound men have to go. Think what it may mean to you. I am not saying this to make you feel bad, but to give you something to think about. It seems to me that it would have been so much better for you to have postponed the marriage But maybe you have you to for [sic]. Evelyn: your mother & dad think more of you than you realize. Moma is worrying so much.

With as much love as any father could have for a child,

Dady

8-30-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Bramley

8-30-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Bramley

Envelope:

Miss Evelyn Bramley

McLemoresville, Tenn.

Postmark: 8-31-1939 Cedartown, GA

Letterhead:

Inter-office Communication

Cedartown, Ga.

Aug. 30, 1939

My Dearest Evelyn,

I’m hoping that by this time you are safe at home and not too tired from the long drive. I know I’m not supposed to write you tonight and as far as having something to write about I should not, but it will let you know that I’m thinking of you and am just a little worried about you. I’m afraid if Ruth had not gone with you I would be frantic about your safety.

I’m glad to report that the trip from Marietta last night in Willie was successful and for once uneventful. It was definately my last trip in that mechanical jitterbug. Today I had tried to print some big “for sale” signs on his graceful stream-lined body and I’ll see if Barnum was right when he said there’s a sucker born every minute. Maybe someone will have a lapse of consciousness and buy the little fellow. We already have several good prospects and I believe that by the first of next week we will be at a parting of the ways. It grieves me beyond words to think of sucha seperation.

Back to more serious lines I do hope so much that when you come back you will be happier and in a little better frame of mind about the attitude your dad and mother have about our getting married. I hope that we won’t have to be so vague about the time, the place, and the kind of wedding when folks ask us about it. We have already sacrificied about three months for them and by now they should feel like we are sure of ourselves and that we really love each other and can make a success of marriage. You have and must know that I have been fair with them and everyone else concerned and if we have to marry against their wishes I’ll never worry one minute about it.

We start our classes tomorrow night, Paul being the instructor. They should be very interesting and beneficial to all of us. We will continue to have them all winter so I’m asking now for a short while here at the office about two nights a week. I’ll do my studying at home while you are ironing or reading a book. It’s like starting to school all over again, hope they have a football team and maybe I’ll pass my work.

There is no local news of any particular interest; Sam is really looking for a house, he promises to be out by the 15^th of Sept.; a whiskey store was robbed of several cases last night, someone probably envious of the Fire Dep’t on Monday night.

It’s going to be lonesome for me and will probably worry a little after all but this is your vacation and have a good time. When my vacation time comes around I do mean to enjoy it.

Give my regards to your dad & mother and tell them that whether they like it or not I still want to be their son-in-law. They have a more lovely daughter than anyone else in the world and I do love her so very much.

Always

Orville

8-30-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Bramley

8-30-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Bramley

Envelope:

Miss Evelyn Bramley

McLemoresville, Tenn.

Postmark: 8-31-1939 Cedartown, GA

Letterhead:

Inter-office Communication

Cedartown, Ga.

Aug. 30, 1939

My Dearest Evelyn,

I’m hoping that by this time you are safe at home and not too tired from the long drive. I know I’m not supposed to write you tonight and as far as having something to write about I should not, but it will let you know that I’m thinking of you and am just a little worried about you. I’m afraid if Ruth had not gone with you I would be frantic about your safety.

I’m glad to report that the trip from Marietta last night in Willie was successful and for once uneventful. It was definately my last trip in that mechanical jitterbug. Today I had tried to print some big “for sale” signs on his graceful stream-lined body and I’ll see if Barnum was right when he said there’s a sucker born every minute. Maybe someone will have a lapse of consciousness and buy the little fellow. We already have several good prospects and I believe that by the first of next week we will be at a parting of the ways. It grieves me beyond words to think of sucha seperation.

Back to more serious lines I do hope so much that when you come back you will be happier and in a little better frame of mind about the attitude your dad and mother have about our getting married. I hope that we won’t have to be so vague about the time, the place, and the kind of wedding when folks ask us about it. We have already sacrificied about three months for them and by now they should feel like we are sure of ourselves and that we really love each other and can make a success of marriage. You have and must know that I have been fair with them and everyone else concerned and if we have to marry against their wishes I’ll never worry one minute about it.

We start our classes tomorrow night, Paul being the instructor. They should be very interesting and beneficial to all of us. We will continue to have them all winter so I’m asking now for a short while here at the office about two nights a week. I’ll do my studying at home while you are ironing or reading a book. It’s like starting to school all over again, hope they have a football team and maybe I’ll pass my work.

There is no local news of any particular interest; Sam is really looking for a house, he promises to be out by the 15^th of Sept.; a whiskey store was robbed of several cases last night, someone probably envious of the Fire Dep’t on Monday night.

It’s going to be lonesome for me and will probably worry a little after all but this is your vacation and have a good time. When my vacation time comes around I do mean to enjoy it.

Give my regards to your dad & mother and tell them that whether they like it or not I still want to be their son-in-law. They have a more lovely daughter than anyone else in the world and I do love her so very much.

Always

Orville

8-8-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Carter

8-8-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Carter

Envelope:

Pace

Return to

Georgia Power Company

Cedartown, Georgia

After five days

Miss Evelyn Carter,

Box 326,

Marietta, Ga.

Postmark: 8-9-1939 Cedartown GA

Letterhead:

Inter-office Communication

Cedartown, Ga

Aug 8, 1939

Dearest Evelyn,

Many thanks for calling tonight, it was a pleasant surprise. Sorry I talked so long or wouldn’t give you a chance to say good-bye but you’ll be able to pay the bill now I know. My health has improved 100% since talking with you, the trouble must have been mostly mentally, just worried over not being able to see you tomorrow. I’m sure that the cold will all be gone by Thursday.

I’m just back from the fireman’s meeting, we elected a new member, Albert Moore. He should be a good member especially for night fires. Hoyt was voted on but he had two votes against him which threw him out.

I know you’ll be embarassed if the check bounces back and if it does I’ll give you another one (a good one tooO when I see you.

The business of telling people that we are to be married has been good these past two days, got to see lots of people when reading meters. When they start griping about their bill I get around to telling them about gonna get married and they stop fussing and start giving advice.

Take good care of yourself, don’t work too hard and turn in lots of watts, stay smart as you are and keep on loving me. Those are orders.

Thanks again for calling, I’ll see you Thursday, and another thing –

I love you

Orville

8-2-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Carter

8-2-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Carter

Envelope:

P.P.

Return to

Georgia Power Company

Rockmart Georgia

After five days

Miss Evelyn Carter,

P.O. Box 326,

Marietta, Ga.

Letterhead:

Inter-office Communication

Rockmart, Ga.

Aug. 1, 1939

My dearest Evelyn,

So you really do intend to marry me after all do you, anyway your letter to Mrs. Matthews indicates that you are going to marry someone and my name led all the rest. You must be relieved and yet have a feint feeling of regret by officially notifying Uncle George that your connections with himare soon to be severed. Next to a list of ex-boyfriends George is the big loser. It is a great feeling to be leading in the most important campaign that I will ever participate in and which surely has the most wonderful first prize. I will try to make up a very small part of the company’s loss by making them the best lineman on their payroll. My greatest efforts will be in trying to make you such a good husband that you will never have any regrets.

I also received congratulations today, from Helen Bullard, had lunch with her (bet you’re jealous) and believe it or not she said she didn’t know until yesterday that we are to be married. I didn’t believe it for she seems to know more company gossip and spreads it more freely than anyone I’ve had a conversation with. She is a nice person tho – liked her very much. She said Mrs. Matthews told her you were the best Home Economist in the division. Don’t let that make you ask for your job back.

Don’t you ever remark again about my absent mindedness, you and your ability to keep up with keys, glasses, etc. You blame it on me, well I’ll be awfully sorry that it was my fault when they send you to Millidgeville. If you make me wait much longer for you it will be hard for either of us to pull ourselves together and start leading a quiet sane life again.

I will only be in Rockmart for this week, have to read meters for Warren in Cedartown next week and also catch trouble here. (I’m handy around the house too) Things have been so quiet here that a lightening storm would be amusement. Nita and Hank have been very nice and co-operative.

I’m planning on returning in your car, providing you do not have other plans, tomorrow night and returning it to you later, maybe coming after you Saturday morning and riding back with Charles Sunday. Saw him tonight as he passed through and he agreed to meet me in Marietta Sunday.

I’ll see you in an hour or so, be ready for a peaceful evening at home, and until I can tell you in person, I love you.

Always

Orville

7-11-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Carter

7-11-1939 Orville to Miss Evelyn Carter

Envelope:

Miss Evelyn Carter,

Box 326,

Marietta, Ga.

Postmark: 7-11-1939 Cedartown, GA.

Cedartown, Ga

Monday

My dear Evelyn,

Don’t let this letter from me shock you. I just wanted to put in writing again how much I love you and that I’m thinking of you every minute of the day, thinking of the happiness you have brought me and dreaming of the happiness that is to come.

I do hope that Mrs. Dunn did not think anything about the time you came in. I’m terribly sorry about being so stubborn last night and promise not to be next time. You probably don’t think much of my promises by now, but really honey, I do try.

Charles woke me up this morning about last night, said he waited until after twelve for us and apologized very profusely about not waiting for us in Dallas. It was my fault that I missed him in Marietta.

This past week-end with you was wonderful, I’ve never enjoyed any two days more in my life. You’ll never know how much I appreciate your willingness to come over here as much as you do.

I’m going to carry our car down tomorrow and have the fender fixed and also have the body tightened and a new distributor box put on. It needs all of it and the cost will be very little.

Please go to Atlanta at the first opportunity and get the picture ordered. I’d give another $5.00 if I had it right now just to gaze at. This photo craze must be getting me, I’ve about decided to go to Atlanta myself and have one made.

I’ll see you Wednesday night and please don’t have dinner until I get there, which will be about 7:30 your time.

I must close and go to the office and do some stock clerking. Evelyn always keep in mind that no matter what happens or how stubborn that I may be at times, I love you.

Always

Orville