THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030037
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 315 lines
WE KEEP hearing that our writing skills are sliding, that people would rather pick up a phone than compose a letter.
Yet a very popular play (A.R. Gurney's ``Love Letters'') and a best-selling series of books (Nick Bantock's ``Griffin & Sabine'') have piqued the public's imagination. Both are comprised entirely of thoughtful notes, posted back and forth between the main characters.
Evidently, the idea of sitting down to compose a mushy missive has not gone the way of the quill pen. We received 22 submissions from our recent request for love letters from our readers.
It was a fun and various batch. The entries took us on many a sentimental journey, from Manhattan high society of 1913 to the Persian Gulf in January 1991. At times, it felt like eavesdropping at a crucial and very personal moment.
We gathered four judges, each of whom graded the letters. Then we tallied the results. Those who submitted the published letters will receive a pair of free tickets to the play ``Love Letters,'' in performance through May 14 at the Wells Theater in Norfolk.
Tickets are courtesy of the show's producer, Virginia Stage Company.
Read on, and sigh. We open with the top letter - to Miss Beatie. The senders of that letter - Beatrice's granddaughter Arlene Ingram of Virginia Beach, and her mother Margot Palmer - will receive two passes to a backstage party with stars from ``Love Letters.''
Beatrice Drachman was a free-thinking intellectual who, in the early 20th century, found it too trying to conform.
She was the eldest of seven children in an affluent New York family. When an ambitious young German immigrant, Siegfried Frohlich, became her ardent suitor in 1913, the family approved. He was talented, bright and very accomplished. He always showed up with flowers and jewelry.
Siegfried's heartfelt note to his Beatie was written as the two became engaged. It was submitted by Beatrice's granddaughter, Arlene Ingram of Virginia Beach.
``She was such a free spirit,'' Ingram said. ``She wrote poetry, made paintings. But this marriage made in heaven only lasted 10 years.''
A son and daughter in tow, Beatrice headed to San Francisco, where she went bohemian. Siegfried became a successful stockbroker.
1913
My sweet darling Beatie:
What seemed so improbable only a short while ago has become an accomplished fact and as I am proudly writing these lines we are actually officially and formally engaged.
It is hard to express the deep feeling of satisfaction and pride to have you, a girl of a type so splendidly remarkable and so remarkably splendid in every sense of the word.
As I told you before you have completely destroyed the idea in my mind of man's superiority to woman and you have raised your sex to a level which I thought it could never attain. Here is conclusive proof of the elevating influences we will be able to exert upon each other and as a result of which we will progress along the lines of intellect in a manner that will force others to look up to us.
I told your Uncle Ben the other day, ``I am not rich.'' Since then my wealth has increased enormously and when I hold you in my arms I realize that I am much richer than many a millionaire. But this is not all my darling; the all-important matter is I love you. I love you wildly, madly and passionately with all my heart and soul and with every fibre of my body. It is not a feeling born today by impulse and killed tomorrow by indifference, but one that will live and grow and cause our hearts and soul to become one solid element of mutual understanding and admiration that will stand the acid test of modern life and civilization and that can never be dissolved.
Good night my sweet Beatie - barrels of love and 1,243,600,689,782,637,814 kisses.
Your loving
Siegfried
Dr. James P. Charlton used to tell his wife, Karen, ``Do you think they'll ever make a movie out of us?''
Karen Charlton thinks it was a love that was meant to be. ``I truly believe people's paths cross for a reason. He thought I was sent to him to help him through his first wife's death. But I always felt I was sent to help him through his own.''
A registered nurse, Karen took a job in 1986 at Virginia Beach's First Colonial Family Practice, directed by Charlton. After Charlton's wife died in 1989, the two became friends, then began dating.
There was a 26-year difference in their ages, yet they shared a life-embracing attitude that dissolved the gap. In 1991, after Charlton was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he continued to be very physically active, including hiking the Swiss Alps.
The two finally married in March 1994. On their Paris honeymoon, his health plummeted. He died in July 1994.
To Karen:
I love you totally - forever - whatever happens. You are the most complete and wonderful person I know. You were made exactly to the specifications I want in the girl of my dreams.
Thank you, Karen:
For your love - that I feel is so sincere - and that I cherish more than I can tell.
For your total support and friendship during this very rough time in my life.
For the beautiful respect that you show to me in all our relationships - at work, at play, and whenever we are together.
For your acceptance and belief in my ideals in life.
For your radiant, glowing, positive personality.
For your exuberance and joy of life.
For being my super nurse.
For (even when it hurts) being totally honest in all of our relationships.
I have had more beautiful, wonderful, loving experiences with you than I ever dreamed were possible at this time of my life - these experiences are mine for life. Nothing can take them away.
You have showed me magnificent true love. These things I will never lose, and I will cherish them as gifts from you to me for all my life.
Should God in his wisdom so order things that we should join together, I would look at the union as a supreme part of my life - my final and complete love.
I would look at it as a beautiful phase in your life - limited due to our age difference - to a finite number of years.
No matter what happens, I feel ours will be a lifetime love affair - and I will enjoy sharing your happiness in life - whether it be with me or with someone else.
One more thing - and I say this with the greatest sincerity and total love for you - will you marry me???
All my love,
J.P.
Ferne T. Kitchen of Courtland found this letter in 1992, soon after the death of George, her husband of 52 years. The letter had been written in 1986, sealed and placed where she would find it. On their 50th anniversary, Ferne donned her granddaughter's wedding dress and this loving couple renewed their vows. ``I don't have to tell you,'' writes Ferne, ``I miss him very much.''
Dec. 10, 1986
To my Precious ``Baby Girl,''
Time waits for no one, but eternity waits for everyone. The birth, death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ gave us a clear choice. We either believe on Him and have everlasting life or we reject Him and perish forever. I truly believe on Him and believe that He has gone to prepare a place for all who do believe on Him and that He will come again to receive us unto Himself that where He is there we may be also.
I have been blessed all of my life far beyond anything I have deserved. I was blessed to have a good and caring earthly father and a stepmother who loved me very much and tried as best she could to fill my dead mother's place when I was not even two years old. I was blessed with a wonderful childhood, including a very happy time in my youth when I was in school, taught by some very good teachers, one being a very special one who had a great influence on my life then and all through my life. Even now - many, many years later - I often recall the joys of her teaching.
The greatest joy of my life and the greatest blessing in my life ``My Precious Baby Girl'' was when I met you and later married you. Together we have been blessed with two wonderful children whom we love very dearly, and some wonderful times together for close to a half century. Did you ever think you would be married to one man for over forty-five years? Comes close to being all of your life, doesn't it?
I was happy when the preacher said, ``Til death do you part,'' have been happy I chose you for my wife and will as the preacher said be ``Happy til death do us part.''
Nobody will ever be able to truthfully tell you that they love you ``just for you alone'' as much or more than I do.
May God love and keep you in his tender care forever.
I love you now and will forever and ever,
Always your
George
Meg Cooley of Virginia Beach wrote this letter on April 23 for Ken, her husband of four years. She intended it as among her birthday gifts to him on Friday. ``It only took me about two hours to write it. It was so easy. Everything that comes out of my heart, it just poured onto the paper.''
My Dear Husband,
You will ask why I slipped away this morning while you were still sleeping, to walk alone in the dew-covered grass? Why I fell away from the warm embrace of your strong arms around me, the calming sound of your steady and restful breathing, and replaced it with the lonesome coo of the morning dove? You will wonder why I didn't linger under the soft quilt with you to savor one last hour before sunlight flooded the room? My darling, I didn't leave you. I was with you all along.
When I closed the door to not disturb you, the hard work and long hours you have endured were in my thoughts. This little house on the lake was our dream come true. I am reminded daily of the sacrifices you have made to help us reach this goal and how you come home to me so tired each night. I am filled with love and affection for you, and as you sleep on, I send you this love to keep you warm.
The morning sun has warmed my bare arms and I survey the miracle of nature in this half-acre of greenery and blossoms. Spring is such a lovely season here in Virginia and I am reminded how we moved here from New England in the fall, just before it turned cold. We were newlyweds then, and it seems as though the love we had for each other yearned for a warmer climate to flourish in, to grow stronger and burn brighter, and it has. You are the love my heart was seeking, the kind of love that neither a million miles or a single closed door can come between. Just as the blue and yellow pansies near the doorstep thrived through the winter here and the lilies I planted last year have sprouted anew, our love is perennial. It is firmly planted, and is a love for all seasons.
A solitary white egret steps gracefully along the shallows of the lake, with scarcely a ripple to disturb the tranquil beauty of the scene. I feel the calmness your love has given my life, the contentment and peace that surrounds us when we are together and I send a message of love to you in your dreams. A message that was sent to us by the angels that united our two souls, knowing that we needed each other, that we were meant for each other; such bliss I thought was meant only for storybooks.
Sweet prince of mine, you have turned all the thorns in my life into roses. Pink roses, fragrant and soft, that are a symbol of all the goodness that remains in the world. They grow along the fence for support and protection, like we turn to each other. We will cherish this love together, give it plenty of sunshine and happiness, a dose of forgiveness during high winds and rough seas, and maybe a few extra hours of sleep now and then.
Your loving wife,
Meg
Babette Bell submitted two letters from her husband, mailed to her from aboard the USS Nassau on the Persian Gulf in January 1991, just before the outbreak of war.
January 4, 1991
Dearest Babette:
I love and miss you very much. I know you were a little down because we were apart for the holidays, but keep the faith. We will be together again and I think better for this separation. Your letters and love through the mail have helped to keep me from getting down and staying down. Neither of us can keep from getting a little depressed, but we should not stay that way. You and Christine have done very well so far. You have coped with a broken-down car and appliances and a broken-down husband/father who didn't write as much as he should the first couple of months.
Your mail, letters, words, audio and video tapes have kept me looking forward to something I could count on in a world where nothing has been stable and steady for very long. Not knowing when we would be heading home and not knowing if we are going to war have been hard to deal with for me and I know not easy for you either. It looks like now we are definitely going to war, unless Hussein backs down. The war may have started before you read this, but we probably won't be involved for the first couple of weeks or so. When we do get involved, it will be taking wounded out and sending supplies and ammo in.
I really don't have any needs now, just a few wants, and the biggest is to be home early. . . . Well, I gotta go now. I really love you and need you and you have always been there for me.
Hugs and kisses,
Love, Jack
January 17, 1991
It is 6:15 in the morning our time and the war started about 4 a.m. our time with air and missile strikes. It looks now like we caught them by surprise. We will have to wait and see how effective this attack was or how many planes and pilots we lost. It looks like we pulled off a very effective tactical attack. You will probably see more on CNN than we will get here. I really won't be able to tell you too much about what we might or might not be doing from here on.
I love you and I miss you both. I pray this all ends quickly with little loss of life and we can return home as soon as possible. May God bless and protect us all.
XOXOXOX
Love, Jack
Tom Johnson submitted this letter, written to him by Sally Hooper, whom he met at a health food trade show in Las Vegas in July 1993. It was love at first sight, Johnson said. The romance lasted a year; now Sally lives in Canada, but the two keep in touch. They share a belief in reincarnation.
June 7, 1994
Tom,
I will always love you. Never have I had this overwhelming aching, these feelings that overcome my stomach, my heart and my head. The moments when I miss you.
When you go to teach another - earth or heaven - I will forever be kissing your lips, holding you, loving you, seeing you in the face of another.
How I thank the Lord the day on Earth I found you. Your eyes met mine. I almost turned away hoping you didn't know what I was feeling - yes, still shy. The touch on my nose you entered me from my head to my toes. Incredible, enormous power-destiny!
Physically being with you is heaven, fulfilling as being with God. I guess I truly am, aren't we all?
It has been long centuries since I could hold you my darling. I can hardly believe we are together again.
I, always needing you, you always waiting to show me the way. Your love is a well which will never run dry. Next life I will be there as always. I will never let you go far for long. We are truly soul mates!
Unconditional love? I wish I knew the meaning like you. For someone who feels no pain beneath; you know, I do.
Will it end again soon, always too soon. Back again some day.
To my knight, soldier, healer, teacher and lover.
I surrender my love to you
Forever,
Sally
Dear Jenny,
That feeling, that awful, inescapable feeling tore right through me. Watching you drive away left me with the reality of our situation. I should have said something more often, I should have done something better. I should have been one hundred percent sure that I had done everything in my power to let you know what you mean to me. If I tell you that I love you every time I see you, could that ever be enough?
I think not. I felt that the way to your heart would be to eliminate all doubt. To trust you and receive your trust without question. We've got that. And this is rare nowadays. We could have something that others only dream about. We could be really and truly happy the rest of our lives.
Don't think of today as a sad day. Think of the wonderful adventure we will share together. I think they call it life. No, I'm not jumpin' the gun. Fact of the matter is, you're stuck with me.
So just surrender and come along peacefully and I'll go easy on you.
It's the first day out, it just got dark, we just left sight of land and there is absolutely no news to tell you, other than that I love you very much, I'll be true to your heart, in me we will never be apart. And it's very important to me that you know this.
Love, Rick
P.S. Funny letters to follow.
MEMO: The ``love letter'' judges were Denis Finley, features editor for The
Virginian-Pilot; Peggy Earle, a Virginian-Pilot book reviewer and
librarian; Dawson Corley, marketing director, Virginia Stage Company;
and Virginian-Pilot writer Teresa Annas.
ILLUSTRATION: SAM HUNDLEY/Staff
Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Free spirit Beatrice Drachman received this note when she became
engaged to Siegfried Frohlich in 1913. He wrote: ``When I hold you
in my arms, I realize I am much richer than many a millionaire.''
Photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Karen Charlton with a portrait of her late husband, James. He died
four months after they were married.
by CNB