June 22, 1943. A letter to Dad from his sister Anna.
It looks like something is in the works for Dad as the War Department is sending background check paperwork out. “…yesterday Mr. Chmielewski the undertaker called at our house and asked if Anthony Murawski was a brother of ours and if he lived on Orange Street and if he was daddy’s son. I said yes and wanted to know why he wanted to know. He said that what he was saying was strictly confidential and he had gotten a form from the War Department to fill out giving you a reference of recommendation.” It seems the undertaker was not the only one contacted. “Also, Mr. Olszewski the coal man came over and wanted to know if you were our son and brother so we showed him your picture and told him that you were applying to a higher school. Chmielewski said that you must have had good marks in school where you studied previously or they wouldn’t have bothered with you and your application.”
The baby continues to grow and develop. She is starting to stand while holding onto things for support, “She is a big little lady. Today I lowered her crib two notches and stood her up in it and put her little hands on the railing of the crib and held her under her arms. I let go and she was standing by herself. She didn’t even know it.” Anna also writes, “Theresa-Marie is a great one for smiles because that is what she does most of the time. She also learned how to stretch out her little hands when she wants to be taken out of her chair and carried around the house. When we pick her up and carry her she laughs and smiles, but when you just come to the bedroom door she thinks that she is going to be put in her crib and starts to yell and cry.”
Anna also tells Dad about Fr. John Harzynski’s first Mass. The church was crowded and after the Mass the new priest bestowed blessings upon the parishioners at the alter rail. Anna writes, “I said to daddy that he is so good looking that it will be a pleasure to go to confession to him and look him over closely. I am only kidding.” On a related theme Anna also writes, “Mama still has hopes that one of you will be either a priest or a brother. One part is fulfilled because you are brothers. I told that to mama and she didn’t think I was so funny.”
In other news from home:
- Mama is going to have a few more teeth extracted next Tuesday.
- Fathers Day was the past weekend. They got both papa and Eddie’s father a bottle of schnapps. “… we figures it would always come in handy for a cold or a high ball or just to drink plain.”
Front cover of a Fathers Day card that Dad sent to his father in 1943.
