December 15, 1962 314 N. Fremont St. River Falls, Wis.
Dear Ones All:
Christmas preparations remind us that another year has gone by and it is time to bring you up to date on our family happenings. We might start by saying that this was the year of new schools. Notice the list:
- Merry graduated with highest honors (gold star) and moved on to the U. of Wisconsin, School of Music.
- Bruce is in the first Senior Class of a brand new Senior HIgh School that opened this year. He will be in the first graduating class.
- Douglas is in the Sophomore Class of the same Senior High School and we will be in the first graduating class to have spent all three years there.
- Betty will expand her art teaching sometime this spring to include a new Elementary School in Prescott.
- Will moved into a new building not yet completed. It was a psychology laboratory, six private test rooms with observation facilities, also wired for T.V. and offices, storage, etc.
This past spring we sold our house trailer but retained our boat. We were able to get away for only two weeks so we returned to tent camping on Spirit Lake. Our main activity was the boat and water skiing. Since Merry was the life-guard at Whispering Pines Camp, on the same lake, we saw her almost every day. This return to tent camping made us miss our trailer ever more. We expect to buy a Trailblazer in June 1963 since we will have at least a month free next summer. Those of you who are campers, look this trailer up if you get a chance. It is a honey. We will get the 17 foot model, self-contained.
For the children music seems to be the main interest this year. Merry, of course, is steeped in it since her graduate work is in Music Education. Bruce sings in the school chorus and a Male Quartet. Doug sings in the chorus and in a Mixed Octet. Doug says “mixed” means four baritones and four girls. They also sing faithfully in the church which has come to life under a new director.
Our projects on the house this year included a re-wiring job. We went from 3 heavily overloaded circuits at 20 at present with four more to go. We have new cabinets in the kitchen, dishwasher, disposal, sink and new floor and a new stove. The only “old” thing in the kitchen is the refrigerator. We had a complete remodeling of the upstairs bath and in Bruce’s closet we put in a pink cabinet, sink, and other cabinets. We have started on a basement playroom. The fluorescent lights are in but most of the work is ahead. We have an eight-foot pool table still crated in the basement. This is a family Christmas present this year. We plan on getting a folding top 5x9 to play table tennis on it. Also we had extensive work done on the roof. All the flashings were replaced at the gables and some non shooting and shingles. Last winter did much damage at these points. So far our winter hasn’t been joy.
Bruce will be going to college next year. He expects to major in teaching, probably working with retarded children. He wants to go away to school, so we are talking colleges now. Doug, who has reached the 6-2 mark at 15, played baseball with a local team this year and enjoyed his favorite game. We saw the Twins major league team several times. In one double header we saw 11 home-runs. Starts to get ridiculous.
For years we have wanted to use a quotation to conclude this letter, but never had it handy. Here it is:
“And I said to the man, who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown:
and he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The Harrises, Will, Betty, Merry, Bruce, Doug, Jinger (the cat)