1977 Letter to Janet Veverka (mum)
Next up, a couple of my own little memories. In 1977, I was just six years old. In late June 1977, mum was in hospital giving birth to my brother. On behalf of my four year old sister and I , I picked up a pencil and wrote a letter to mum to take into the maternity ward. A quick, simple and nice little letter. Unknown to me, mum kept this letter, and after she passed away in 2009 and we were sorting through the items in the house, I found myself once again with the letter in my hands.
It also describes how that hot Summer, we were tanned due to taking the rugs outside on top of the grass, and sunbathing.
That sort of precious memory was just too difficult to throw away and I’ve kept the letter. I also found all my school jotters, which are no good to anybody. I kept one from each year and threw the rest out. I forgot that school jotters used to be wrapped in brown paper, which depending on what teacher you had, was great for putting graffiti on! The lesson probably is that I “hoard” many memories and probably too nostalgic for my own good. Did anybody else keep their childhood memories, schoolwork or writings?
1977 Paul Veverka School Jotter
Mike – another scottish term “jotter” meaning ‘books’. This was simply a blank book of paper destined for nightly “homework”. Its good to keep memories for kids. My mum must have done this, as it certainly wasnt me at the time. I would have burned them all if i could, back then!!
Great story Paul. Thanks for sharing. By the way, what is a school jotter? I am accused of being a hoarder. I have kept many of my 4 kids’ school projects and folders. Most importantly I have every Elementary School report card except one. One their backs show the names of the teacher and the principal. I began first grade in September of 1949 and graduated eighth grade in June of 1957. My Elementary Catholic School – St. Bartholomew’s – is having another all-former-students reunion this coming Saturday in the school itself. The current enrollment is 200 (mostly Hispanic children) whereas there were 2,000 students (mostly Irish-American) when I attended. Back then, there was no tuition – the church collection supported the school and the 20 or so Nuns. Now the tuition is about 3,000 dollars per year per student. Now there are no nun teachers and a civilian principal. Sorry for the long story – but my wee brain has all this data stored in it, and is always looking for someone to listen to my great memories. Regards my friend – Mike.