The 4000 letters in this collection center on Gordon T. Kinder (1919-2009) and Ann Cary Stuckey Kinder (1922-88). Both had Ohio roots dating to the 1790s: Gordon in Belmont County along the Ohio River and in Warren and Putnam Counties along the Indiana border, and Cary in Summit and Cuyahoga Counties around Cleveland.
The letters begin in 1941 with Gordon’s graduation from university and his commissioning as an Army artillery officer and with Cary’s second year of college. They take the reader through their meeting in 1942; courtship against the backdrop of war; marriage in 1943; training for the invasion; six months in England; ten months of combat in France, Germany and Austria; and seven months in an Army of occupation.
Both were prodigious letter-writers, as were their families who wrote them regularly. Most letters run more than 600 words.
On the homefront, the Ohio River floods; travel and communication suffer the war’s burdens; childhood diseases come in waves; difficult pregnancies don’t end well; the businesses of law, light manufacturing and coal continue; family gatherings continue but with less and less meat and butter; the casualties mount; and, suddenly, the dreams of peace meet harsh realities.
For the compiler, Gordon & Cary’s oldest son, Peter, reading these letters was like renewing conversations with people long dead. For the most part, the letters read as their writers spoke. Their sensibilities bring back to life family dynamics experienced in the 1950s.
Filters
DATE: 09/06/1942
SENDER: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) SEND LOCATION: Ft. Sill, Lawton, OK
RECIPIENT: Ann Cary Stuckey Kinder (CSK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: Gilman House, Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA), Exeter, NH
SUMMARY:
Buying furniture and victrola for his new quarters. Books and pictures on way from Ohio. Thomas E. Taplin Sr. (Tap) dinner with Anne Kinder Jones Eaton (AKJE) & Barbara Cole Kinder, 2 Cleveland Pinkertons wanting info on relationship. Indulging taste for Gilbert & Sullivan. Making plans for leave in 17 weeks to see CSK. Going to ‘The Hop’, though he’s lost his taste for dancing with anyone but CSK. Love letter. #12
DATE: 09/07/1942
SENDER: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) SEND LOCATION: Ft. Sill, Lawton, OK
RECIPIENT: Ann Cary Stuckey Kinder (CSK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: Gilman House, Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA), Exeter, NH
SUMMARY:
Danced twice at ‘the hop’. Not much fun. Princeton ROTC ’42 just arrived, promising a lot of fun. Riding in the rain from 9 to 11. Soaked, refreshed, happy. Served as pall bearer for wife of former battery commander. Very sad story. Married in July, knowing she had little time to live. GTK horrified at funeral, a spectacle. Ft. Sill enjoying best rain in years. Got a phone in his new room.
DATE: 09/08/1942
SENDER: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) SEND LOCATION: Ft. Sill, Lawton, OK
RECIPIENT: Ann Cary Stuckey Kinder (CSK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: Gilman House, Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA), Exeter, NH
SUMMARY:
#14. George D. Kinder (GeoDK) and wife Jane: GTK favorites. He followed GeoDK around as child, worshipped him. But worried about his overworking and his health. GTK claims to be healthiest person there is. Description of Kinder family Christmases in Brookside. Regimental baseball team trounced by Black team. Kinder family cat, Rachel, and their big black rabbit. Plans for dogs, including a Dachshund.
DATE: 09/09/1942
SENDER: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) SEND LOCATION: Ft. Sill, Lawton, OK
RECIPIENT: Ann Cary Stuckey Kinder (CSK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: Gilman House, Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA), Exeter, NH
SUMMARY:
Quiet evening; every day chores. Reading Stephen Vincent Benét on Gettysburg; very moved. As moving as Freeman on Robert E. Lee after Appomattox. Training getting more intense, longer. Letters to CSK interfering with his twice weekly letter schedule with parents. Hadn’t written to George D. Kinder (GeoDK) to thank him for ‘the most perfect weekend of my life’. then talked with GeoDK. Planning Sunday call to CSK. Shares his passion for polished brass. Bedeviled by bug bites. New roommate, a Captain, fanatic for neatness. GTK hopes it rubs off on him. #15
DATE: 02/16/1943
SENDER: Ann Cary Stuckey Kinder (CSK) SEND LOCATION: Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
RECIPIENT: Gordon Thomas Kinder, Jr. (GTK) RECIPIENT LOCATION: Ft. Sill, Lawton, OK
SUMMARY:
Concerned Charlotte Duncan Kinder (CDK) doesn’t know about engagement but rest of Ohio family does. Libby Oakleaf’s fiancee at Ft. Sill. Difficulty talking by phone. Love letter.