Dear Honey Loves...

Another batch of postcards from the previous post were sent by Gary's and Bob(bie)'s mom on a solo trip to Florida. Reading sequential letters or postcards always gives you a partial glimpse of who these people were and it's always fun to try to guess the rest. My best guess is these cards took place between approximately June 18th and 28th, 1966. A lot of postmarks are illegible, so I've tried to order the cards as best as I could based on content of both the message and the card itself.





The first card comes from Stone Mountain, Georgia, addressed to son Gary and appears to have written Sunday June 19th.:


I'll save your eyes a little by transcribing the message from above (including grammatical and spelling oversights):

"Hi Sweetheart! the air plane ride ('was not' scratched out) was so beatiful we were way above the clouds I didn't get scared one bit. Next year you & Bob & Daddy & me will all come to florida. Tell Daddy I love him." "Sunday Morning" written in the margin and "I Love You Gary" at the top.

Based on the postmark, I originally had this postcard located lower in the series, but since it's also from Stone Mountain and details the flight out, I assumed it had just been mailed later.


And now begins the mystery portion of our posting. This card is addressed to newcomer Jimmie Bradshaw at the same address as Bobbie and Gary. However, the postcard references his "mother", so clearly not a child of the author:
"Hi Jim! I loved the air plane ride this card is from alanta Georgia were I had to change planes. Tell your Mother & Woodson Hello. Tell the kids to be good Boys. I love you Hon." "Sunday Morning" written at top which I presume was also June 19th. My theory is Jimmie is a nephew. A recent real estate listing on the internet for this address shows it is a 4-family dwelling, so it's likely Jimmie and his parents lived at the same address. Although who "Woodson" was is yet another mystery.
Written from the Alamo Hotel Courts in Georgia to both Bob and Gary:
"Stayed here Saturday Nite. going to go to Sliver Springs, in the morning. Bum some before we go into Sarsota Monday Morning. Lovelly Weather Nice Driving."
I would venture that "Sliver Springs" is actually the theme park "Silver Springs" in Florida.


Sarasota at last! Great shot of a 1950's tourist town. Try as I might, I can't make out most of the stores aside from a tackle shop and "FYE" which apparently is a shopping mall still in operation in Sarasota.


"Dear Honey loves. Will today is Won(?). it was cloudy all day long. Went swim and shell hunting & went shopping for you's & Daddy. Supose to be a huriacan tomorrow sure hope not. It's so wounderfull down here you will love it. tell all Hello see you Monday afternoon be good Boys. oooooLove Mom.xxxxxxx"

I couldn't find any information on the "huriacan" she mentions. Hurricane Alma had just passed through weeks before and apparently was fairly destructive.
Mom reaches into her bag of old postcards, pulling one up from Georgia again.

"Hi Honey. we went swimming this morning it's wounder full I just love it. we are going out to eat dinner today then come back and go in the ocean." "Sunday Morning" written in the margin and "Did you get a home run?" Well did you, Bobbie? and "I Love You Bob." Gary, you can bite it.



"Hello My Little Sweets. Just love you to death. We went to see Busch Gardens in Tampa today going to Florida Land one day. Just ate supper. Tell daddy to save all the money so we can come here next year. Wish you could swim in ocean." "Be good Boys" written at top.

I believe everyone is familiar with Busch Gardens, but Floridaland was news to me.
Which brings us to the end of our trip to 1966 Florida and the sudden introduction of a new character. If this were Star Trek, Stevie would be dead by the end of the episode.



"Hi Boys, Stevie & me went looking for shell's today found some pretty ones. going out for supper tonite this afternoon going to Floridaland. be sure & help grandma and be good to her be sure to read your books. see you Monday tell Daddy Hi. Love Mom."
Aha, books again! Very important to this family, perhaps they recognized their lack of language skills.
We presume the Monday Mom keeps referring to returning on was June 27th, although this card was not postmarked until June 28th. Perhaps hastily thrown in a mailbox as she was leaving and not picked up until the following day. Less than a month later, Mom shipped the boys (at least Bobbie and Gary) off to camp in Pevely, Missouri.