February 15,1981
Little Rock, Ark. 72205

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

I hope I'll be able to finish this before Daddy and Bro. Eskridge come home - he came in this morning and we don't know how long he's going to stay - we fixed a tray of sandwich food for them to have at church and I sorta' hope I don't have to fix a "sit down" dinner for tonight - I am getting so lazy and Daddy has been doing most of the cooking lately and it's hard so get back in the swing of things.

I thought Daddy was going to crawl through the telephones wires when little Susanna called Friday and said, "Happy Valentines Pa Pa" - what a little doll!!! We can hardly wait until Ricky will be doing that and Ann says it won't be long - she said that he can say "Susanna" now and that's a hard name for little ones to say. We loved our phone visit with you Ann - we hope you Elder's Quorum party was fun - Ron's skiing trip sounded fun.

It was neat for you to call too Jean - I was upstairs getting ready to go to a baby shower and there was so much confusion that I didn't even get to say hello. We surely hope you get your business dealings taken care of without any hurt feelings. Chris Jordin was telling me that Laura had confided in her that Dave was really hurt because there have been five families move from our ward this past year and not one has had him sell their home - it is really hard to deal with church members sometime and I don't know why - it should be the other way.

Roy - Robert came by to see us on Friday - he is thinking he should have stayed in New Orleans but he wouldn't elaborate - his nieces and nephew have been here and he said they have driven him crazy - when we told him how good you were with your nieces and they have driven him crazy - when we told him how good you were with nephew at Christmas time he couldn't believe it. Do you think Robert will ever "find himself"??? He seems to be quite disgusted with all the racing and things his folks are interested in and that's really good sign but he seems so unhappy right now - maybe you should call him sometime.

We have had a busy week-end - the Gold and Green Ball was really nice - it was for the young and old adults and it was different from any other Gold and Green Ball we have ever been to - the theme was "Alice in Wonderland" and they had a disc jockey and those strobe lights and it was "way out" for us. They played a "couple "tunes we cold dance to - every one had a wonderful time though and it was fun to visit even if you couldn't dance. They had a little skit a intermission time and Kim Aday was "Alice" - George Wing was the "Scarecrow", Veda Lewis was the "Witch" and Bruce Doan was the "Tin Man" - it was so well done and I couldn't help thinking how sweet the young adults are to "mesh" with all the older people and they seemed to enjoy it. Daddy and I danced until about ten then came home because I had Primary Leadership Meeting on Saturday morning and I had to make cookies and iron my red table cloths - well, when I got up Saturday morning I could hardly move I was so tired - I "dragged" through the leadership meeting, then went to Connie Bisbee wadding reception, came home and went grocery shopping and then worked on my Primary lesson for this morning. I have too many callings and have asked to be released from Relief Society and that will hell.

Johnny went to Super Saturday yesterday and then stayed for part of the Youth's Gold and Green Ball and then we went to Jacksonville to pick him up and take him to Cotillion. He has the best of "all worlds" - he is becoming quite social - he has been asked to a "Y" dance in two weeks and it conflicts with the Cotillion Easter Ball and he is in a dilemma because that will be his last Cotillion - that has been so good for him. It is such a joy to come home from teaching at Mann and be with John - he is so well adjusted and has such a happy positive attitude and he is so "normal" - when I work with the remedial reading students all day I sorta' become confused with what "normal" is - they have such deep rooted problems and I really feel bad for them - all of you kids have Daddy and I so much because you are so "normal" and think and act positively.

A lady from the IRC (Instructional Reading Center) has been working with me this past week and I can't believe how good she is - she has helped me deal with the kids so much more effectively - this has been the most productive thing I have ever done except for rearing our family - it's like getting another degree and getting paid for it. Her theory for working with the slow readers is to reward, reward, reward and then some - she came up to me one day and said to mark down in my book that a boy had given her two book reports orally - I did as she said but after class I explained to her that that boy couldn't read, and she said, "Well - he has to have succeeding some things in this class" - he had reported on "Star Wars" and had the book from the library and could tell her the story. She gives them stickers and things like they do in kindergarten but it works so I'm all for it. I would like to work through February and then quit altogether - they told me they would get another teacher and I'm surprised they haven't done it yet. I know I have been teaching over their heads and that has been a big part of my discipline problems.

We sent the clipping to Roy but I'll tell you what happened at Hall High last week - two black boys had an argument on the school bus and when they got off the bus one of the boys pulled a gun and shot the other one in the back. It was terrible - the boy who did the shooting went and called his parents while the ambulance came to get the other boy. Well - by the time the police had arrived the parents of the boy had come the school and they had a fight with the police trying to prevent them from taking their son not custody. The boy who was shot is still in the hospital but he's going to survive - he was in critical conditions for several days. It is so upsetting to know that kids have guns with them - I have seen plenty of fighting at Mann and they get so violent that it's not surprising that they would shoot if they had the chance. In the write-ups about it in the paper it has said that kids have been suspended for having guns from Parkview and Central also so it might come to having to search every student before allowing them to get on the buses. Some of the finest students in the schools are black but when black student has problems they are very serious problems. Daddy has had a hard biology class at Parkview all last week and he says he refuses to go back there anymore and he's an excellent teacher.

Daddy and I went over to see Bob and Claire yesterday - they were having their piano tuned - I didn't get to talk to them this morning and I'm anxious to know it turned out. Claire and Linda Gerrett gave a baby shower for Cindy Jones last Thursday - Cindy is Steve Jones' wife and she has a new little baby girl. The shower was really nice - Linda and Ken have a beautiful home and it's so nicely furnished - isn't that something? It's so much nicer than anything Chris and Wayne have ever had - I hope they appreciate it. Claire has some darling maternity clothes and she looks so pretty all the time. Bob only has another month of classes and then he'll have about four weeks vacation before he starts his "rotation" schedule - they're going to go to Utah with us and that will be fun. We're going to have our Lincoln fixed so we'll be able to pull the trailer out and not have any problems - I'd like to leave it out there and just have one car here - we'll have to wait and see how things work out.

Daddy just came home and he had already taken Bro. Eskridge to the airport - he said that when he picked him up this morning he told him there was a plane out at 1:30 and Daddy said, "We'll make it". It is quite hard to have so much company on Sundays.

I have talked to Pete on the phone several times but I haven't been over to spend any time with her and I must do that soon - she is doing quite well but she said she was having a hard time concentrating on things on she had to do. It doesn't seem possible that Ralph is gone - we think she should sell that big home.

Daddy and John want me to go to boat show with them so I'll quit writing - Johnny wants a new boat so-o-o bad - he wants one that he can ski on and also one that is good for a fishing boat - he is really a sportsman and is anxious to go fishing.

We surely do love each one of you - let us know if we can do anything to help you - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!
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