Signature, 'George'

After being gifted our family home in 2019, my extra surprises and mysteries included finding 68 plus letters from my parents courtship in 1947, found in the huge. crawl space trunk in our attic. There were additional photographs, telegrams, news clippings, but many letters and stories both fictional and autobiographical had been typed on parchment paper. Faded type and fanciful free hand letters made translating them slow.

One mystery, instantly solved was the way my Dad signed his letters to my mom. His real name was Glyn, derived from Danish origin, meaning "Small Valley". However, when my Dad met his future in laws, Irene and William , they had a hard time pronouncing 'Glyn' so they just called him 'George'. My Mom told me this story when I was in my teens. I thought it was sweet that he changed his name so it was a respectful move and also to endear him to his future in-laws . Dad signed all his letters to his future wife, Emily Greatrex, as George.

A friend of mine suggested that my Mom had no privacy, with a household that accommodated six children and two adults . It was likely that the letters were read by Irene and William as

my Mom indicated she wrote right on the kitchen table between meals. There was no keeping of secrets when it came to romantic letters! In another letter my Mom stated she was hiding behind a file cabinet at work, keeping an eye out for her boss. She worked for the Daily News in the auditing department in the late 1940's and her boss was none other than Ed Sullivan. My parents love addiction is apparent in all letters.

Here is a copy of one of the hundreds of literary surprises , signed by a very smitten

'George'.