314 N. Fremont St. River Falls, Wis. December 19, 1958
Dear Ones All: Among the less happy events of this year was the death of Will’s father in February and a series of hospital visits. Bruce had a leg operation (recovery excellent) and Doug had an emergency appendectomy with three doctors presiding (recovery excellent). Bruce again for routine checks (result, diet restrictions). You may have also noted that one tornado struck within eight miles of us and another wiped out a little town about 60 miles away after passing us by about 12 miles. We spent one Sunday afternoon helping pick up pieces of three buildings on one farm which was leveled except for the house. Our town has never been struck, but just north of us is the end of a tornado belt which appears to extend from Kansas and pass between us and the Twin Cities along the Mississippi and the St. Croix and then on toward Eau Claire.
Betty taught art in our local High School in April and May as a substitute and enjoyed it. She renewed her teaching license and applied for half time work. This year she is the art teacher in Prescott, twelve miles away. Her schedule is all day Tuesday and Thursday and Wednesday afternoon. This makes her a half-time teacher. She rides with five other teachers from here who teach at Prescott. She is building an art department from the very beginning and likes the work and especially the teachers and administration. She has also taken three more courses in oil painting at the college. Now the house looks like an art gallery.
Merry had the summer of a lifetime. One week in summer music camp at Vermillion, S.D., three weeks at the U. of Wisconsin music clinic and two weeks at Odanah, Wis., a Chippewah mission church of the Methodist church. The latter was a work camp project sponsored by our conference. Last spring she became a finalist in the National Merit Award scholarship exams, but since she has entered college this fall a year early, she is not eligible. She may be able to use the results to obtain a foreign scholarship, however. She wants to study in France or Switzerland one year. At present she is studying clarinet, voice, piano, oboe, and violin in order of her proficiency. Her academics are French, English, Social Science and Music Theory. She sings in choir, plays in symphonic band, will be in orchestra shortly, and has done solo and quartet work. She loves all the musical activities which a small college can give.
The jump from Junior in High School to Freshman in college was a big one but her grades have not suffered (we have the quarter system) and she is extremely happy. She will graduate from H.S. with her class, June 1959 since she has enough units of work.
Bruce has almost perfect attendance in eighth grade and has become more like his sister in the matter of school work. He has a deep baritone voice and has been taking lessons for about six months at the U. of South Dakota and here. Will and Bruce and Merry sing in the church choir. For the Christmas music Bruce preferred the Bass and Will sang the Baritone parts which made our practice more interesting. He still thinks that driving a semi-trailer truck is the most glamorous of all occupations and when he goes to college he will major in , “How to Keep Awake While Driving All Night”. He is five feet eight inches and is the same weight as his sister (a family secret).
Doug has a new trombone and is in the Junior Band. He started on the clarinet but that just wasn’t the instrument for him. He liked the brasses and began last spring to work seriously on the trombone. This summer he studied at the U. of S. D. also, and got a new instrument at the beginning of school. He arranges extra lessons and is the only sixth grader on trombone, the others being ninth grade. The other day we were discussing from which side of the family he got his good looks and he said, “It doesn’t matter just as long as I got them!”
Will taught graduate work this summer at the U. of South Dakota. He also played more tennis than at any time since college days. Graduate work was a welcome variation in teaching. Fortunately the summer was cool since we had nine weeks of trailer living. Merry was away five weeks so most of the time the boys had Gabriel and we had a 30 foot trailer. This gave us two lots and plenty of room. We had made no arrangements ahead so we were lucky. The people at Wheeler Inn were congenial and Vermillion was an interesting place to spend the summer. We were especially impressed with the music school. Will is active in the affairs of the organization of state college faculties and is still church lay leader. In his spare time he is still an amature carpenter.
During the summer we camped one weekend at Gavin’s Point dam, spent another at Mitchell Lake, saw five minor league pro baseball games, had our first Fourth of July with firecrackers and skyrockets, etc. We water skied and had target practice with a rifle, new experiences for the boys. After summer school we camped in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Mother Harris visited us and we saw the North Shore Drive and visited Will’s brother Bill. Our trailer at present has been used about 150 days and has traveled about 12,000 miles. We want to thank all our friends who visited us this year, especially while we were away from home, and best wishes to the new friends we made camping and while living at Vermillion. God bless You, Every One, The Harris Family Will, Betty, Merry, Bruce, Doug