December 13, 1980
Little Rock, Ark.

Dearest Ron, Ann, Susanna & Jessie, Rick, Jean, Ricky & Barbara Jean and Roy,

This has been a fun "mail" week - we loved your letters Annie and Jeannie and we have also been receiving some Christmas cards from friends we only hear from at this time of year.

Jeannie and Rick - we just absolutely love those pictures - the one of little Ricky all dressed up for Halloween is priceless and we were so thrilled to receive one of you Jeannie (you are really too thin, though) and I'll bet you made the little dress Barbara Jean is wearing. It was so ironical - I put them in an envelope and in my purse so I could show them to the ladies I am teaching with along with the ones of you Annie and Susanna and Jessie. Well - that very day when I was leaving school Mr. Blasingame came up to me and said, "Are you Jean Mellor's mother" and before I could say "yes", I had the pictures out to show him. He said he used to teach you algebra and later I remembered that you used to mention him - he is Vice-Principal at Horace Mann - he said, when he looked at your picture, "she's just as beautiful as ever". We're so relieved that you will be flying home and we can hardly wait - we're not the least bit worried that little Ricky will destroy our home.

Annie and Ron - we loved your letter Annie and I appreciate so much all the suggestions for books for the kids in my class - I told the other teacher what you had sent and she said I could read to them if I wanted to but it would really "wear you out". I went to the bookstore to get some of the books and they have all of the S.E. Hinton ones and if I am still there after the holidays I will get some but of course, I couldn't get enough for each of them to have one and that would be a real drawback. I'm going to take "Where the Red Fern Grows" next weeks and see if I can keep their attention even if they don't have books - I have five classes a day for an hour each so it would get tiresome to do it everyday. I gave them some vocabulary words last week and we studies them in different exercises for two days and for their quiz I had the beginning of a story written out and they had to finish it using all the vocabulary words - I couldn't believe it - there were only about a half who could and would do it. I gave Meredith a list of the books you suggested and she appreciate it. We can't believe that little Susanna and how she can talk - it just tears us up to have her growing up without us seeing her more. We hope Ron enjoyed North Carolina.

Roy - it was so good to talk to you last Sunday - you sounded kinda' worried about tests and everything. We were at a party on Thursday night with Vivian and George Warner - he always asks how our "Med. students" are because he's Administrator of the Med Center here - I told him that you and Bob were both so thin and were really working hard to pass the tests and everything - he said, "Barbara, give them one more year - in the middle of their Junior year, they all of a sudden start to gain weight, their spirits are uplifted and they have sorta' a halo on and assume the 5role of a Doctor" - he said, he had watched students for a long time and they all fall in that pattern. So-o-o I'm not going worry about you. We hope so much that your skills get here in time - they have had plenty of time unless they should just be out of the kind you went. We're excited that you will be going to Utah the end of the week - we hope so much that Ty will like it and that there will be enough snow and you will have a wonderful time. We hope you will take time to go to Temple Square in Salt Lake and show Ty around - that is decorated so beautifully at this time of year. It would be wonderful if you could get to Brigham City to see the folks too if you have time - they would so love to see you. Some of the best skiing when I was young was beyond Logan about twenty or thirty miles - they had ski lifts then and I'm sure they have really improved since that time. I still haven't written to Dolores and Henry Cleggs to tell them you might need their help in getting the furnace and things going - they can be a real nuisance because they never know when to go home. Aunt Marvel has some Christmas lights if you can find them - they are in one of those rooms upstairs packed away. You will notice a million dead flies in those rooms too - we don't know why but they get in and can't get out, I guess. The vacuum really works good if you want to clean them up. There are some electric blankets in the closet in her bedroom, I think - you'll just have to look around for things because I can't remember where we have put things.

We had a letter from Mr. Hinton today telling us how much money to send and we have written out the check so he should have it early next week and they should be able to have the estate settled - we can't believe it has taken almost a full year. We sold some stock so we didn't have to borrow the money at 20% interest - we were lucky - we sold just a day or so before the bottom dropped out of the stock market. We are very grateful for the things Aunt Marvel left for us and it will be so much more meaningful now that we will take care of things instead of the Lehi Bank and Mr. Hinton even though they have been very nice. Don is trying to see 40 acres of his canyon land to come up with some of the money he owes and Mr. Hinton said in his letter today that it hasn't sold yet and he's worried that the high interest rate may cause if to not sell. We're happy we didn't have to sell any more property - we love that canyon land and it would be a wonderful place to build a cabin some day. It's way West of Lehi and it's so well protected with the cattleman's association. We have promised John's horse next Summer so he and Daddy can ride all over the canyon.

We just had the "young adults" come to sing Christmas carols to us - I was embarrassed because I didn't have one thing for them to eat - I usually have (usually) cookies or something but I haven't started backing yet - I just eat it if it's proud and I have gained so much weight. They are on their way to the airport to meet Billy Haygood who is coming home from his mission tonight - Marilyn Yant has been waiting for him and we are all crossing our fingers that it will work out.

Do any of you remember Martha Bott? She and Florence Kruger lived right across from the Basses on Lyric Lane - they were two old maids - Florence owned a Travel Agency and Martha worked for her - we were with them about a month ago at a party over at Dan and Dorothy's when Roy and Maxine were here. Well - Martha had gone to work Thursday and she hung up her coat and turned around and fell dead. The neighborhood has been in a state of shock - she was in her 60's but in apparently good health. Ralph Hipp will be the next one to go - he has tubes in his nose all the time now with oxygen and he is really bedfast - Pete is going to sell one of her cars because she says they will never need two again. Martine Funk was over the other day and he doesn't look very good - they put a heart pacer in so her should be doing better.

John has been at "Super Saturday" all day today - they went to the Children's Colony in Conway and he really loved it. We always remember the friend you had there Roy and how you used to go visit him and take him things. John was sustained as Teacher's Quorum President and he is doing such a good job. He really enjoys that. He had one of his school friends over the other night to watch "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" - did you get to see that. It is the church production starring Jimmy Stewart and it is so good - it was on television here Friday night just at the time Marie Osmond was on - we watched some of her show and think it has too much slapstick in it.

Daddy has taught at Hall this week in Chemistry for a teacher who went someplace to be recognized for outstanding work in the teaching profession - he has really enjoyed it - he said he would pay them to teach those classes after teaching some of the dumb ones. I'm still at Mann and it is really hard to believe the way some of those dumb kids act - one boy who is black and weights about 300 lbs. Leaned on a bookcase in my room and of course it fell over and broke - he was almost like an animal, not realizing what he had done or how he could have prevented doing it. I feel sorry of them but they don't respond to normal teaching methods - the teacher I'm teaching with works so hard and she says they don't show any improvement on the evaluation tests. The student body president there is a black girl she is pregnant of course, unmarried. It is almost entirely black!!!

Daddy went duck hunting this morning with Sam Stiles - they had a good time and got four beautiful ducks. We are having just gorgeous weather - really cool and dry - they predicted snow flurries one day last week but we didn't ever get it.

We surely do love each one of you - don't get bogged down with the holiday preparations he careful in everything you do and let us know if we can help you in any way.

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