Ask Amy: Readers respond to saving old letters
Dear Readers: “Upset Daughter” wrote to me, saying that her 90-year-old mother had old letters from her father that she was considering shredding.
Upset and her sister wanted their mother to let them read the letters, and they asked my opinion. I made a case for sharing and preserving these letters, written while their father was in the Navy.
Some readers interpreted my enthusiasm over preserving old letters as an exhortation that Upset should pressure her mother. Absolutely not. These letters belong to the recipient and their disposition should be completely up to her.
I received many responses, and today’s column is devoted to them.
Dear Amy: My father served in the Navy in WWII. He passed away in 1985, my mother in 1999. When she knew her time was nearing, she handed me a box of airmail letters, written by both during that time.
There were cutouts in the letters, as they were censored for security purposes, and they also contained references to the musical artists and movies of the time, and just how “swell” things were back then!
What a treasure to have, and to know of the love they once had for each other, (but never seemed to display when my brothers and I were growing up).
It gave me peace to know that they really did love each other at one time.
— Grateful
Dear Amy: I came across my parents’ love letters while cleaning out their home. My dad served during World War II, then often traveled the country looking for work, all this time corresponding with Mom.
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