May 12, 1976 (Letter from Tina)

I hope that you didn't faint or pass out from shock seeing the return address on the envelope.  Yes, we're still very much alive and thriving here in Cleveland, and we couldn't have been more pleased to have received your letter two weeks ago.  I'm so glad that you wrote and that we have your new address -- from Montana to Massachusetts!  Well, life certainly hasn't been dull for you lately!! You pack more excitement into two years than I have in the last 26...I'm very pleased that you're now "back East", and I hope that your position at Merriam & Co. is going well -- it sounds ideal for your background in addition to offering you editorial opportunities.  I can imagine that finding a job in the field of publication, etc., is extremely difficult, so I'm glad that you were able to secure your current job.  Hope, to, that you're enjoying Springfield and the area and meeting interesting people. I'm not familiar with that area of Mass, although my sister and her husband live in Groton which I have visited (about an hour northwest of Boston).  That doesn't do me much good either as Karin and Bob are moving to South Bend, Indiana, where Bob is joining the South Bend Clinic in June. Back to Montana -- I'm glad that you were able to see Gary and Kathy before leaving and that they're both doing well.  I'm sitting here shaking my head wondering why they haven't come back east, but maybe it's the clean air and the 'wide-open spaces' and perhaps a completely different life that such an area offers which makes them stay.  I never really knew either of that THAT well, although Kathy always struck me as being very independent and extremely self-confident.  Frankly the fact that they even were married surprised me!  I've become accustomed to 'city life' and enjoy the Cleveland area much more -- I doubt that small-town living would ever appeal to me again.

Unfortunately I have no really earth-shaking news or hot gossip, other than the usual strange things going on with my side of the family.  My parents are doing well, although my mother had a corneal transplant in Boston at Harvard Eye & Ear in December.  The surgery was a complete success and, although she is nearly blind in her left eye as a result of the family eye disease, she is enjoying sight in right eye with her new cornea.  She is even now able to read small print without glasses or a magnifier, and she is much more vital than before.  Dad is well and still has a small shop now in North Warren where he is carving (mostly for New York State furniture plants) and where he has his machinery.  Although he'll be 68 and is semi-retired, his work is his life line.  In addition to carving he also is asked to submit designs for various furniture parts, and he takes great pride in his work.  We see my parents often and are still very close to them.  They're in Cleveland once a month for Mom's examinations with the corneal specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, so we don't get to Warren often. . . the last time was Christmas!  Let's see -- I know that Laurie Walters & Mike Curren had a baby girl last month, that John Porter (remember him?? Class of '66 and hung around with Doug Smith, etc.) has recently been appointed an assistant D.A. here in Cleveland (!) and that's about all I know.  Of course I could tell you that out of our five-member wedding party, there have been two divorces (Linda Rickert Pompilio and Rusty's best man, Scott); one marriage has been on the rocks for the last nine years (my sister's); and the other one isn't that hot, either.  Rusty and I are doing just great, and we've worked hard at having a good marriage. We have a wonderful relationship and have yete to experience any kind of dissension or disillusionment.  Rusty is a fantastic husband and person to share life with.

Our only news is that, as you've assumed from the enclosed listing sheet, we bought out first home in Bay Village, a western suburb of Cleveland.  We moved in only last week (I took one week of my vacation); we got your letter about three days before moving -- thank heaven.  Mom spent the week helping us get settled and was a constant incentive to me.  We moved ourselves  so I needed all the help I could get.  Now that we own a home (for which we've been scrimping and saving for the last four years) we'll have to start buying furniture piecemeal.  Everything we own either needs to be reupholstered, refinished or replaced, but  it's been fun and rewarding for both of us.  Rusty, as I think you know, is with a real estate firm in Cleveland selling residential real estate on the west side full-time.  He had an excellent first year ('75) and is still on the seven-day week schedule. He's been one of three in the company chosen for a management training panel (meetings with one of the senior officers of the company during the month) and hopes to eventually go into a suburban office manager's position or begin as an assistant manager.  It's impossible to tell when this will happen, although Rusty is keeping his eyes and ears open for other opportunities.  He's strictly on a commission basis, and the winter months are VERY thin financially.  He's considered an independent agent, and the company offers their employees NO benefits of any kind.   There are no withholding taxes of any kind (federal, state, city) withheld from his commission checks, so we've had to set up our own method of prepayment, savings, etc. for Uncle Sam.  I'm still here in the legal department of the bank and plan to work for another 12 to 18 months and leave to begin our family.  Hopefully, Rusty will be in a more financially stable position and we'll have our feet firmly on the ground.  As for our new house -- we couldn't be more thrilled with it -- it's really lovely and suits us perfectly.  You know that you'll always be welcome in our home.

Are you ready for this one?  Linda & Jim Pompilio were divorced early in July last summer, and Linda remained at the trailer with the two boys working three days a week, part-time, and taking 15 credits at Edinboro off-campus.  Even before the divorce Linda began seeing a twice-divorced 40-ish professor (aren't I being catty!!) from the off-campus, and on a more frequent basis following the divorce.   She'd leave the children with her mother and spend the weekends with him; meanwhile Jim was aware of what was happening and was spending as much time during the week and on the weekends with the children as he could.  Linda was apparently getting more & more turned off to being a mother and turned on to being independent and identifying with the co-called intellectual, liberal atmosphere afforded her at the campus.  She gave Jim custody of the children in November; he's with them at the trailer, and Linda is living with Bob in his trailer in Clarendon.  I couldn't believe it.  I do believe that the children are probably better off with Jim -- he's very devoted to them.  So, as for Linda, that's the name of that tune!

I kept in touch with Mike Foster last fall and sent him a card & letter at Christmas.  We received a card from him about a week later with a new address, so I don't know if he got any of my other correspondence.  I haven't written him at the "new" address yet, nor have I heard from him.  Do you correspond with him at all?  I'd be interested to know how he's doing and if anything has developed regarding job opportunities in urban development, his major field.  I do wish him well.

Again, Paul, thank you so much for your wonderful letter -- it means a great deal to me that you remember and have kept in touch.

Flash:  Did your father tell you that he sat next to the King of Sweden at the recent festivities in (was it Chandlers Valley?) the small Swedish church there.  My parents spent the day in the area for the festivities.

I'd best end this for now.  We send you our best and wish you well.  Please let us know if and when you'll be in this polluted neck of the woods!!  We'll look forward to hearing from you when you can...

May 11,1969 (Letter from Tina)

It was wonderful hearing from you.  Although I've been neglecting my correspondence, you still put up with me and are thoughtful enough to write.  So, you'll be living and working in the big burg of Buffalo...You can't get rid of us that fast, Paul, dear...We'll be coming up to see you during the summer so we can check the situation out. It just won't be the same without you -- going to the Surf Club, or trying to pass for 21 in the Pub, and going to see a flick at the Wintergarden or even the passion cit..."Chuck" the Whiteway for entertainment...that's a bit below our station, now.  Oh!  I forgot about the Peninsula.  We should get a room for a couple of nights -- the six of us.  You should bring some of your friends home.  It would be great to see a few new faces in that stereotype little town.  I can just imagine what your Q.P. will be for second semester, probably a 3.5, or close to it.  Hope that all is going well for you, especially on the social end, but I need not worry about that aspect of your life at U.B.  Right?  Right!  When is, or was, your Spring Weekend?  Ours is this coming weekend, including the formal, a chariot race, a fashion show, "Shoutout" -- a takeoff on Laugh-In, a concert, and a sports car rally.  I've been asked by someone from campus, but I don't want to go with him.  I've asked a guy from Shady Side that I've been dating since last October, but I don't think that he'll be able to make it.  (To the weekend, Paul....)  I know how your mind works!  He's really a sharp guy, but he's very unassuming, yet very intelligent.  He hopes to become an architect and is going to school in Pittsburgh.  He'll be 21 this summer... This weekend he's at Lake Placid...must be nice.  He's a ski instructor.  Guess it would be nice if I told you his name...Vern.  He went to Mansfield for two years, but decided to transfer because he didn't like the idea of teaching the rest of his life.  Besides, Paul, there's not too much $$$$ in that profession.  You might know that I'd think of the money angle!

About life here at RMJC...not much happening, but that's not so unusual.  I was in a place here at school presented by our Theater Group.  I was Laura in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie".  I really loved it!  Our director, Mr. Thomas Gaydos, is marvelous to work with.  He's a graduate of Harvard, London Fine Arts (where he went to school with Peter O'Toole and Albert Finney), worked in New York and Hollywood for five years as an actor, and is now working as an English professor here.  The play was presented May 3, 4, and 5, and was a big success.  My. Gaydos asked me if I had ever seriously considered acting because he felt that I could do well if I really had the desire and ambition.  Mom and Karin drove down for the last performance last Monday night.  Vern also came, and they were introduced.  Mom and Karin both like Vern, and good old Mom is all hep on his coming to Warren this summer.  I don't know what Vern is thinking or how he feels about me because we've never really seriously discussed between us how we both feel or what the future will hold.  I really like him, but I don't expect anything from him.  There's no sense in my getting all hot and bothered over someone I may never see again.  Our finals begin this week and will continue until the 27th of May.  They'll be rough, and I can't wait to get them over with.  This week is going to be a bad one -- I've got a research paper due this Thursday, which I haven't even started,; a critical due on Orwell's 1984; an Eng. Comp Lecture final; and finally,, serve as hostess for a tea here at the dorm.  All this is happening on Thursday!!!  I'll probably have a nervous breakdown about 1:00 Friday morning.  Last night I went out with a guy who is a senior at Pitt and is also a football player.  He's so sharp!  After he graduates, he's going on to Law School.  We went to see "Oliver!".  It was really a marvelous, fascinating movie.  His name is Ray Reppert.  His sister, Gina, (really a sharp, egotistical, sophisticated young lady), who rooms right next to us, asked me if I'd like to go out with him. Naturally, I said "Yes!".  I really had a wonderful evening.  Get this one, Paul, he didn't kiss me goodnight, or for that matter all evening.  I had a late pass, so the security guard had to open the door at the dorm. We said goodnight and thanked each other for the wonderful evening.  He said he'd like to see me again -- we'll probably run into each other in another ten years.  Just so it's not in court!  (Damn that security guard!)  A few minutes after I got in, there was a power failure and all the lights went out.  Absolutely no electricity!  We all whipped out our candles, took off our make-up and went to bed.  The traffic lights weren't even working.

About working this summer -- I went to see Mrs. Decker at the Process while I was home over Easter.  She said that they weren't thinking about hiring any of the kids this summer, but then they say that every summer.  They usually hire about 60!  Instead of coming back here in September, I'm going to work in Warren until January and return in February.  I'll finish up my last two semesters here, going February through to the June semester, then June through September.  I'll get my associate, then heaven knows what I'll do.  I'd like to go into some phase of travel, probably the airlines -- as a ground hostess.  My parents don't want me in the air as a stewardess.  That doesn't appeal to me either...Maybe I can grab a prospective husband within the next two years so I won't have to worry about supporting myself for the next five...Yea, I WISH!!!  Have to have the right bait before you put your hook in the sea and get a good catch!

What's this about Mardi going to Florida and working?  Last time I talked to her, she was thinking about going to New England this summer for work.   You're right about Mrs. P not liking it.  She is such a wonderful woman.  I really hate to see her alone, as she is now.  I wish that Mr. Sayles would get the lead out of his feet and take her down the aisle.  She doesn't deserve the loneliness that she has now.  But really, one couldn't expect Mardi to stay close to home because she, too, has her own life and ambitions.  She's such a shaarp girl, and she'll have no trouble adjusting anywhere she settles.  (I haven't written her lately.)

The weather here has been so shitty.  It's been raining for the past week.

Well, I must start crackin' those books.  Next time you talk to Mardi, please send my best!  By the way, I've switched from Lark to Marlboro.  Everybody is always kidding me about how horrible Larks are...one thing, they never bummed cigarettes!  It's a pack a day, now...Guess I better cut down, seeing as I'll be going home in a few weeks.  Mom would have a cardiac arrest if she knew how much I smoked.  Mike and I have been writing -- he's at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  He's received orders for Fort Benning, Ga.  He's in the Combat Engineers, and he thinks that he'll be headed for Vietnam sometime this summer or next fall.  I know that I'll never love him enough to marry him, but somehow he'll always be in my thoughts.  I could just never start anew with him because for me it would be impossible to forget the past, as things were before.  His jealousy is a part of him, although maturity will aid in taming it down.  Paul, it's hard for you to understand why I even went back with Mike.  It's hard for me, too.  When I broke up with him at the beginning of my senior year, I hated him.  And yet when the summer came, I wanted so badly to see him, hoping that he had changed; but as I found out, he hadn't.  Neither had I.  I don't know what I'd do if anything never happened to him while he was overseas.  It would give a few people in that Bleech family a chance to think twice.  No two people can experience what Mike and I did for that year and expect, when either of them has tired of the other, to forget everything.  When I never had to worry about seeing him everyday after we'd broken up, it was easy.  But as soon as I knew he was back, I ran to h im.  I guess that I've aid enough on that subject-- it's a sore one.

-My roommate, Pat, went home to Johnstown for Mother's Day weekend. Actually, the real reason she went home is because she didn't have a date.  JoAnn, my other roommate, just left with her boyfriend, Bob, to go over to his apartment.  So, here sits Tina.  That's typical.  A guy who I dated last semester, November through January, is now in the Air Force Reserves.  He went to Penn State for two years, and he flunked out.  When he transferred here, he didn't have enough credits and the draft was on his back.  He received his orders in December and was sent to Lackland AFB, Texas, January 31.  He is now at Keesler AFB, Mississippi.  He will complete his 120 days basic training May 27.  He's from Altoona.  He's the boy who sent me the dozen long-stemmed red roses for Christmas.  He's really a great guy.  We've been writing a lot, and he calls me every Tuesday morning from Mississippi -- we talk for about an hour.  (His parents sent him a credit card.)  He's planning on coming to Warren this summer and stay for the weekend.  Mom has invited him.  He's from a wealthy family, and I just hope that after he sees our home that he won't change his feelings.  Let's face it, Paul, we don't live in any palace.  His name is Bob DiVentura.  I really shouldn't say that about our house, because Bob isn't the kind of guy who judges a person by the car he drives or the house he lives in.  Besides, if he doesn't like it, TUFF SHIT!!!  (I'd better watch my language..)  I really wish you could meet him.  I think you'd like him.  Bob and I care for each other, but it's nothing serious.  That's the only way.  We have no strings on each other, and we've made no promises or commitments.

Did I tell you that I flew out to the Univ. of Missouri for a frat Spring Weekend?  I probably did.  That was about six weeks ago (March 22).  One of Jim Mattson's frat brothers, who I dated while he was in Warren for a week last summer, asked me out.  I had a really great time!  I flew by jet from Pittsburgh to St. Louis.  It's the first time I've flown, and I loved it!

I almost forget to tell you!  Linda Rickert and Jim Pompilio were married last weekend at Holy Redeemer.  I was her maid of honor, and it was a beautiful wedding.  Linda looked lovely, and wore a long gown.  Jim is stationed at Keesler AFB, where Bob is; and they'll be living off base.  They left for Mississippi last Sunday. They don't expect to be back in Warren to visit until next fall or next winter.  Linda is really a beautiful and intelligent girl, and I know that she and Jim are going to be very happy and that she'll be a wonderful wife.

Well, well, well, I REALLY MUST close.  Take care, Paul, and if you have time, write.  I'll be home May 28.  Good luck to you....