August 25 and 27, 1944: Anna writes two letters to her brothers. The troubles with the upstairs tenants continue, Anna marks little Terry’s 22nd month, and Eddie goes fishing…again.
It seems that the O.P.A. denied Pop’s request for eviction of the tenants in ninety days. Nonetheless, he had his lawyer send a thirty day notice by registered mail. Anna comments, “I don’t know how things will work out but the lawyer told daddy that he would get rid of them in thirty days and for daddy not to worry about it because he had plenty of customers like that before and everything was okay. He also said that he was in business for forty years and he knew what he was doing. The lawyer told daddy that the O.P.A. was not the boss in the house and all they were for was to keep the landlords from raising the rents…he said that daddy was the boss in his house and he would see that they would get out. …if he don’t get out in thirty days there will be court action…Daddy however doesn’t seem to be worried about that.”
In response to Dad’s comment in his last letter that the upstairs tenant should join the Army if he wants to fight, Anna notes, “He is the kind of guy who will make trouble on the home front but he won’t go into the Army…he is 4F…so far he is still home. However, Eddie doesn’t think much of him now…”
Anna writes, “Well, today is twenty-two months anniversary of baby Terry. Two more months and she will be two years old. How time flies. Already she is a little lady.” While that may be the case, Terry manages to get into trouble as Anna continues, “Yesterday, Terry did one of the worst things in her whole life. She pulled down Saint Anthony from his pedestal in the parlor and broke him. Now she knows that he isn’t there… Instead she plays with the artificial flowers which were standing on the table beside him. If she didn’t do one thing she does another, and always finds a way to get into trouble.”
Despite her occasional misbehavior, Terry manages to get the basics right and is still the light of her grandparents’ life. ”She is starting to learn how to control her water system and nowadays she hardly wets her bed overnight. When she wakes up and calls mommie and…tells me what she wants. At present the baby is the only comfort and joy of our parents. Daddy loves her so much. No matter how nervous or angry he is, when it comes to the baby everything is forgotten.”
With all the hubbub around the house (or maybe because of it), Eddie still manages to get out and go fishing. This time it was to Warner’s Lake where he “caught a few fish namely two perch, one pickerel, one bullhead and one small mouth bass. Eddie left about five o’clock in the morning and didn’t come home until about eleven at night. That’s what you call a fisherman.”
Along with the letter, Anna includes a newspaper clipping which features residents of Albany who are stationed together in the Marshall Islands. The clipping is below.
Undated Newspaper clipping c. August 1944