Out of the Blue: My Father's Day

Grammy Lilian, world traveler

It's 23 years ago today that my father died at the too-young age of 69. Here's a glimpse into his past, from a letter written to his mother from New Guinea, where he was stationed during WWII. My Grammy Lilian raised him and his sister Connie valiantly and alone, after being widowed when my father was two. It was not easy, but they were happy and had all the blessings of a rich and full life.

Lilian, free to roam at last

Brother & Sister: Donald and Connie Roberts

From Donald’s letter to his mother Lilian, from New Guinea, March 15, 1945:

Typing report cards, no doubt, at PDS

“I don’t know in which state you sound most happy, traveling through New England with Herman, or just sitting at home with the kittens, listening to the Philharmonic on Sunday. It all seems so distant, in time and mood, from the years not long ago when you were rushing off to the office every morning and rushing home in time for all of us to go to an early show.

I don’t think I’d want to change or sacrifice those days. Everything was fun, and friendly in a way that most families never get, from Great Kills [Staten Island], when Connie would be starting supper and me setting the table and listening to “Little Orphan Annie” or “Buck Rogers,” and both of us peering down the street periodically to see if you were coming yet, to Philadelphia or Washington when we’d meet you at the office and, buying up all the evening papers as we went, hurry to an automat or a drugstore to plan how we’d spend the evening, and finally hop a trolley and another and another until we were finally brought to some little theatre in the suburbs where there was a revival of “Lost Horizon” or “It Happened One Night.”

Siblings as goofballs: Woodstock, VT

There were always petty grievances and emotional disturbances, of course, but by and large, we got on so wonderfully together and drew a very satisfying, if not line-perfect triangle. Let’s not forget how much we owe to you, who provided for our physical well-being and our emotional happiness. It’s impossible to underestimate, I could say it over and over and never find the words of appreciation and thanks, but I am an individual fairly well pleased with what I am, and it’s to you that I owe everything and everything and everything.”