THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507190055
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 176 lines
STEPHANIE ANN BRAHIN knows the luxury of a letter.
Selecting a favorite fountain pen and several sheets of good-quality stationery, she feels she's doing something special when she writes a friend a note.
About every two weeks, she settles down in her Norfolk home to tell friends what's going on in her life.
``I might write about something that made me think about the person, about what my husband and I have been doing, a trip we've taken, music we've enjoyed or just to say I'm missing them,'' says Brahin, secretary in Old Dominion University's department of history.
``It's a way of relaxing, and it feels a little bit more elegant than sitting at the keyboard or at the telephone. There's more time to communicate a little bit more of your life.''
Time. Ticking forward as we rush to work, rush home, spend time with kids, rush to vacation and hurry back again.
Shortage of time is making dinosaurs out of people who shun the phone, fax and e-mail and still stubbornly eke out an hour to write a personal note, making a little ceremony of the task.
Those who still write letters say the task makes them feel good. They like the feel of pretty paper in their hands, the way their handwriting runs across the page, the personal touch of an enclosed recipe or clipping that says ``I thought of you,'' the finality of glueing on the stamp and slipping the letter into a mailbox for pickup.
Letter-writing is an old art. And old letters have preserved history in a very intimate way. They are beloved by historians who read them to ferret out details about the writers' private lives. Using every flowery adjective of the time, Napoleon passionately wooed his Josephine by letter. Robert Browning exchanged poetic love notes with Elizabeth Barrett.
Abraham Lincoln wrote scores of letters to political rivals, businessmen and to his wife. He often ended with his favorite sign-off, ``. . . as ever, A. Lincoln.''
If historians of the future gathered up Ronald Graham's letters, they'd find the Virginia Beach resident and court reporter fires off letters at the drop of a hat. Co-workers say he jots complimentary notes to attorneys for jobs well done.
``I write to Iowa relatives, or Congressman Pickett to share with him my thoughts on legislation,'' Graham said. He recently dashed off a quick note to Air Force pilot Scott O'Grady after the captain's rescue from Bosnia. And even though his branch of the Graham family tree has been in this country for 200 years, Ron Graham has started a correspondence with the European side of his family.
Historically, Graham is in good company. There's no telling where his love of letters might lead. After all, Beatrix Potter once scribbled story-letters to a friend's children that became the basis for her beloved and world-famous Peter Rabbit stories. And American divorcee Wallis Simpson, horrified that her lover might throw away his birthright, wrote pleading letters to Britain's King Edward VIII in the 1930s, begging him not to abdicate his throne.
Nothing quite so dramatic has happened in the monthly letters Virginia Beach resident Susan E. Safire has been writing to her elderly mother-in-law.
``The whole thing started about two years ago,'' Safire recalled. ``I was looking for a Christmas present and when you're over 80 there's not a whole lot that you need.''
But she had an idea. Safire's gift that year was the promise to write one long, newsy letter a month to 83-year-old Zelma Safire in Missouri. Sitting at the computer, she fills the pages with stories about Zelma's grandchildren; Zelma's son, George; what's blooming in the yard; all sorts of homey details. Before she seals the envelope, she slips in pressed flowers, snapshots of the kids, anything she thinks might interest her husband's tiny, white-haired mom.
``I love Sue's letters,'' said Zelma Safire from her home in Fulton, Mo. ``She was late last month, but I told her she'll do better this month. She thinks up things to tell me that George wouldn't. They're two pages, typed on both sides, and every bit of it is fun. I save them all in my desk drawer and read them again and laugh again each time.''
George R. Safire calls his mom every other week. But she likes getting his wife's letters so much that, this past Christmas, his mom put her request for more of her daughter-in-law's mail at the top of her gift list.
Brahin, the Norfolk secretary, makes the time to write by hand. She likes to feel the weight of fountain pens, to watch the flow of the ink.
``It reminds me of a program I once saw where the main character found her father's fountain pen in a drawer,'' Brahin said. ``He'd said that somehow you took the things you write that way more seriously. That stuck with me.''
She also prefers Crane's rich, cotton-fiber stationery. Writing a letter on a pretty piece of paper is a treat for the writer and a gift for the reader, she said.
Good-quality stationery is very much in style with steadfast letter writers, says Stephanie Jacobson, owner of Suzanne Jacobson Stationery and Gifts in the chic La Promenade shopping center in Virginia Beach. Her customers want either their name or monogram printed at the top of their paper.
``When people use stationery sheets, they want to show someone they've taken the time to write the letter,'' Jacobson said. Most customers who buy stationery are older, she said, or, ``They're in their 30s and correspond with former college roommates and have parents who've taught them the right thing to do.''
A heavy piece of engraved stationery makes a good impression on the recipient and, said Jacobson, ``the fountain pen is always preferred.''
Sophistications like that are lost on Beatriz A. CoBell. She sends letters to friends in Texas, Oregon, Japan and England, and to Mediterranean waters whenever her husband, a naval officer, is on cruise there.
This Virginia Beach real estate agent writes letters on whatever's handy - using the backs of old brochures, stationery bought on sale, fliers, and school handouts her 6-year-old twins bring home. She scribbles her news to nearly 10 friends and family members with nothing fancier than a stray ballpoint pen, pencil, crayon or marker.
She's made short work of the setting, too. When her boys were little, she'd pop them into the bathtub and sit on the commode lid, writing.
``Hardly anybody writes anymore,'' CoBell said. ``I think it's because it takes time.'' Most of her pen pals call her back, except her mom, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
``We write back and forth,'' CoBell said. ``She speaks Spanish and writes these flowery letters and puts TTG, `thanks to God,' after nearly every sentence. Like, `I had my wisdom teeth removed but I'm eating again, TTG.' ''
CoBell saves pieces of letters, insightful paragraphs or stories she calls ``food for the soul.'' And she keeps all the letters her husband writes.
``If, God forbid, anything should ever happen to us, that would give the boys a good look at our relationship,'' she said.
Cindy Oman, a Chesapeake resident, finds letter-writing more convenient than the phone.
``I often write late at night when it's too late for a phone call,'' she said. Corporate secretary to her family's funeral home, Oman sends a lot of short notes to stay in touch with friends as close by as Virginia Beach, Norfolk or Portsmouth.
Ruth E. Nordstrom, a professional writer in Virginia Beach, keeps in touch with friends and family in her native Germany and England by letter.
``I fix coffee and take the afternoon off just to take care of my correspondence,'' Nordstrom said. ``You can do a lot more in a two or three-page letter than in a 10-minute phone conversation. It's an emotional outlet, too. It's like writing in a journal if you're writing to a good friend.''
Another Beach resident, Linda Dyer, writes letters with a costly Yaffa fountain pen her husband gave her when her first book came out. Dyer teaches etiquette and poise classes.
She writes thank-you notes, letters to friends and personal notes to employees to let them know she cares about them. To the envelopes she adds pictures, clippings or cotton handkerchiefs, a custom she adopted from her mother.
``Writing is a way of exploring your senses,'' Dyer said. ``I physically set up shop, sit in a green wicker chair and have my cup of coffee with me. I like the way the paper feels and the ink smells.''
A businesswoman who actually uses a fountain pen is welcome news to Mary C. Baker, owner and president of The Norfolk Stationery Co. on Granby Street.
After customer requests for high-end writing instruments increased 18 months ago, Baker began carrying more of the pricey pens. Almost immediately, customer interest was phenomenal. Her shop has been selling fountain pens as investments, fashion accessories and as fine writing instruments.
Quality fountain pens are a big commitment. Limited editions can cost as much as $1,350.
``We've found that the fountain pen has made a very strong comeback,'' Baker said.
And with it, some fountain pen pretenders.
One customer whose business involves international circles recently confided to Baker that Europeans look down their noses at ballpoint pens and their owners.
``They simply do not use ballpoint,'' said Baker. ``If you do not use fountain pens, they consider you somewhat uncivilized. So this customer purchased a fountain pen so he could mingle with the European set properly.'' ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff photo illustration; props courtesy of
calligrapher Gwen Weaver
Those folks who still write letters say they like the feel of pretty
paper in their hands, the way their handwriting runs across the
page.
Color photo
Stephanie Ann Brahin of Norfolk takes the time to write by hand.
``It's a way of relaxing,'' she says, ``and it feels a little bit
more elegant than sitting at the keyboard or at the telephone.''
by CNB