Letter

            My dearly loved family,                                           Dec. 29, 1966

I had a grand Christmas because all my family remembered me so wonderfully! Charlie & Betty sent me 2 perfectly lovely blue dresses.  One is 2 piece and one is 3 piece & VERY SMART IN DEED. Tee Keenan sent me dark kid gloves from Italy and framed picture of John Keenan that I have be­gged for for many months. Caroline Sydnor sent me white silk slip. Anna Bob Sampselle sent white chiffon headscarf. John gave me $10.00; his children gave me brown lace hose like black ones Laura had, as she is so stylish she sets the pace for the family now. Laura Keene sent me $12.00 & Anne Palastra sent me $5.00. Bee Coulter sent stylish blue cloth dress. I received bushels of cards as I think every one of the 50 members of the Pollyanna Class sent me a Christmas card. Arlington Methodist Church sent me beautiful poin­settia plant with many blooms on it. Lisa Coulter sent beautiful framed photo of herself that adds much beauty to my room. John Rich rented taxi & drove Charlie & myself partway to Airport.  Then Charlie got out & walked in pouring rain to where he was going. John & I went to airport & he turned in his rented car.  When we reached Roanoke they had not had any snow at all  & it was very deep here. Sara tried to drive John III to Dr. to operate on birthmark by his mouth for second operation. John watched them out the window & Sara was stopped at top of hill. He said she would not move for a week & walked up & drove away from the icy hilltop. Then he walked back home on the ice. John II put up the tree in game room in basement that touched the ceiling. John 1 put large star on top of it & Billy & Charlie decorated it with ornaments. It reminded me of when my children demanded privilege of decorating the tree as they said Papa & I had all the fun because we decorated the tree always. Sara served me fresh strawberries for breakfast every day, which were delicious. Also had turkey for Christmas day. Wednesday we drove to Wytheville & visited Laura Keene. She had her home beautifully decorated.  Served us sherry & took us to Restaurant for excellent dinner. We did not take the children because they had to go to school that day. P.A.Early came down to see us & lamented over how much his new furnace which of course he had to borrow the money to buy and then got scalded when he was installing it. Laura Keene was beautiful & well dressed.

John Rich & his 7 salesmen sold 1500 typewriters & other machines last year and they will get trip to San Francisco next April with all ex­penses paid. John was offered 2 new positions, each with 5 additional salesmen under him. One in Providence, Rhode Island & one in Richmond, Va. He declined both positions. A man in New Jersey told Jim Sampselle he would double his salary if he would come to New Jersey and work for him but he declined.

John Rich has 2 handsome automobiles & telephones on all 3 floors. Laura has so many boy friends that sometimes 2 are phoning her at once on different floors and she is quite excited. They promised her a private phone if she improved her grades at school. She made all As & Bs so they installed it for her. She is quite distracted as they are on different floors. Billy played 2 or 3 drums for me. He sat in rocking chair & played big bass drum with his right foot on pedal & it went “boom, boom, boom” He played 2 drumsticks on snare drum at same time with his hands & they went rat tat tat. I was so proud of him! Sara served delicious meals & we went driving whenever the snow permitted. I had trouble getting seat on plane coming home as they had oversold their capacity but I finally got last seat in rear & 3 other people who had bought tickets got left. Genie Sydnor & Bucky Sydnor met me in Washington with Caroline’s car. We drove to Sydnor & I transferred to Bill’s handsome dark blue car that some man in his church gave him & he drove me to Fairfax nursing home. Caroline was sick with cold & sent me plate of homemade candy for my dessert which I passed around to the other patients who enjoyed it very much. Belisa Coulter sent me smart blue dress that was very pretty & very warm. Charlie & Betty flew to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas to visit the Palastras. She is expecting her 5th child in January. I hope it will be a second boy and that they will name it Charlie as that is a saint's name & so the Roman Catholic Church will permit its use. I told the guests here that Bill’s church had one pew with a silver plate engraved “George Washington sat here" and a second pew with silver plate engrave “Robert E. Lee sat here”. They said I should put a 3rd silver plate in a 3rd pew engraved “General Charles Rich sat here”.

Love to each & everyone & hope you had as happy a Christmas as I did!

Nana Rich.