Letter #7-from Oscar!

This letter is obviously a little different.

The transcript:

Feb. 13, 1931

Station O.E.N. on the air

Operating on a frequency of 10 qts. 5 pts.

Dear Al,

I am having a tough time for kisses for two, for honey stuff don’t work with girls anyway baby.

Sunday Elma and Marie and all were wondering where you were and the tears were plentiful, but they have dried up, but still thinking of you. When I came in the house Sunday night they said I looked lonesome without you. Evansville is the same as usual, dead as a door nail. I worked three days this week. Tonight I am going to sit up at Mesers. I guess you know of the death of Mrs. Meser Thursday morning. I stayed in bed this morning til ten o’clock and am all set for this morning.

Boy that heimgemacht sure am good. Every time I take one I take another one for you, but don’t it taste good so don’t get drunk reading this Al, for it is not intoxicating. So this will be all of my literature for this time, but Elma says vinegar is sour, sugar is sweet Homebrew is good but Al has them all beat.

Signing off with one more quart

Yours truly

Oscar E. Nunning

P.S. Don’t forget to send Elma a bushel of kisses

My comments:

1. So who were Oscar and Marie? As I said before Marie was my grandma’s younger and only sister. In 1932 she would marry Oscar. I am not sure how they met, but Oscar was clearly “one of the family”. While they were dating, Oscar would come over to the Bassmier house every night at 7:00 pm.
2. Oscar’s family was also of German heritage–his grandparent’s were born in Germany. He referred to heimgemacht which directly translated from German means “homemade”. I’m sure that he used that word to refer to some kind of familiar food, but I’m not sure what that was. It is probably similar to my grandma making a yeasted coffee cake and calling it “kuchen”. At one point it was German, but present day Germans would not recognize it.
3. I asked my mother to share what she remembers about Oscar and Marie. She said that Marie was her godmother, but she doesn’t remember a lot. She did remember that Oscar belonged to St. Vincent de Paul Society and he was at church with a hat on. St. Vincent de Paul Society has the Top Hat Ball, but I’m not sure if this was the same thing.
4. My mom shared some pictures of Marie and guess what? My mom looks like Marie!! Go figure. See the pics below. I think that one of them might have been taken on her wedding day. I love these pics because they were taken at my grandma and grandpa’s house–where my mom lives now–and the trees are small.
5. Finally, he mentions Mrs. Meser’s death. The Mesers lived across from the backside of St. Joe Cemetary .