Dickie was the son young son of Dad’s twin brother Eddie and his wife Marge. Dickie was a bright, handsome kid, who would die of leukemia only a couple of years later, but he was doted on by eveyone who met him, and he loved getting letters from his Uncle Elwood and Aunt Bonnie.
February 26, 1945
Monday morning
Dearest Mom & Dad,
I just received your very welcome letter and I can’t tell you how glad I was to hear from you. Elwood has been gone since Saturday morning, and I miss him terribly. I am going to be here for another two weeks or perhaps less, so you can still write to me here for at least another week.
I was certainly sorry to hear about Carl. I do hope it’s nothing serious.
I have received one letter from Eddie, but I think I told you about that.
I knew you would be happy to hear that Elwood will be able to stay in the States another nine months to a year.
Well, I have been Mrs. Bolinger two months today. I can honestly say I have never been so happy in my life. Elwood is the sweetest man on earth, and he belongs to me (and you). Another couple went with us to a dance at the U.S.O. Thursday evening, and we really had a marvelous time. You have seen U.S.O.’s in the movies, but I think Lincoln’s has most of them beat. It’s just perfect.
How is my little boy, Dickie? I have thought of him a lot. Would you please send me Jess and Bee’s address, so I can write Dickie a few lines?
How are Marge and Ronnie? Not too lonesome I hope. Before I forget, I had better give you the address of Elwood’s new base:
Sgt. Elwood J. Bolinger 15332148
630th Air Material Sqdn.
369th Air Service Group
Pratt, A.A.B.
Pratt, Kansas
You may now call me “Kansas City Kitty.”
Please write often, as I will really need your letters these next weeks. God bless you both. Your loving daughter, Bonnie B
About John
About John
John Bolinger was born and raised in Northwest Indiana, where he attended Ball State University and Purdue University, receiving his BS and MA from those schools. Then he taught English and French for thirty-five years at Morton High School in Hammond, Indiana before moving to Colorado, where he resided for ten years before moving to Florida. Besides COME SEPTEMBER, Journey of a High School Teacher, John's other books are ALL MY LAZY RIVERS, an Indiana Childhood, and COME ON, FLUFFY, THIS AIN'T NO BALLET, a Novel on Coming of Age, all available on Amazon.com as paperbacks and Kindle books. Alternately funny and touching, COME SEPTEMBER, conveys the story of every high school teacher’s struggle to enlighten both himself and his pupils, encountering along the way, battles with colleagues, administrators, and parents through a parade of characters that include a freshman boy for whom the faculty code name is “Spawn of Satan,” to a senior girl whose water breaks during a pop-quiz over THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Through social change and the relentless march of technology, the human element remains constant in the book’s personal, entertaining, and sympathetic portraits of faculty, students, parents, and others. The audience for this book will certainly include school teachers everywhere, teenagers, parents of teens, as well as anyone who appreciates that blend of humor and pathos with which the world of public education is drenched. The drive of the story is the narrator's struggle to become the best teacher he can be. The book is filled with advice for young teachers based upon experience of the writer, advice that will never be found in college methods classes.
Another of John's recent books is Mum's the Word: Secrets of a Family. It is the story of his alcoholic father and the family's efforts to deal with or hide the fact. Though a serious treatment of the horrors of alcoholism, the book also entertains in its descriptions of the father during his best times and the humor of the family's attempts to create a façade for the outside world. All John's books are available as paperbacks and Kindle readers on Amazon, and also as paperbacks at Barnes & Noble. John's sixth book is, Growing Old in America: Notes from a Codger was released on June 15, 2014. John’s most recent book is a novel titled Resisting Gravity, A Ghost Story, published the summer of 2018
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