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| Ina Dobson, 1948 |
Dearest
Vance,
I am figuring on coming. Round trip to Chehalis via Portland is $17.12 but only
10 days. They are looking up the 30 day ticket price and also cost of
trip via Seattle. Seems to me the Portland way is nearer and I could see
Myrtle, too, going and coming. .... Almost mail time
and I’m very busy today canning meat and otherwise caring for it.
Weather like spring – fields and hills are greening.
Closing
now.
With
love,
Just
got return call from depot. Via Portland to Chehalis one way is $9.51. To
Seattle one way $9.02. Can’t get longer than a 10-day round trip, so I'll just get a one-way ticket, see?
In other words, she could only stay ten days on a round trip ticket -- no 30-day option. Since the difference between two one-way tickets and a round trip ticket wouldn't amount to much, she would just buy one-way tickets.
In another letter she briefly described her trip from Orofino to Portland just before Christmas. At that time she was a widow, her husband Jack having died in November 1945.
In other words, she could only stay ten days on a round trip ticket -- no 30-day option. Since the difference between two one-way tickets and a round trip ticket wouldn't amount to much, she would just buy one-way tickets.
In another letter she briefly described her trip from Orofino to Portland just before Christmas. At that time she was a widow, her husband Jack having died in November 1945.
I
left Orofino Sunday p.m. after hearing sermon and songs at the
Christian Church and having dinner there. Edgar [a relative and
minister at the church] took me to the train, and finally I was off
for my long-planned trip. Couldn’t get a berth, but managed to
sleep some anyway. Vance and a friend met me at the station in Portland, an unexpected surprise, and they brought me out
to Lynn’s. She met us in her dressing gown,
as she hadn’t expected us so soon. The boys soon left and we had
breakfast in due time.
The photo of Ina was taken in October 1949 in her son Earle's yard in Idaho Falls. I can just imagine that she looked very much like this as she traveled. She likely wore a suit accessorized with gloves and hat. That was the norm for traveling women in that day. "One does what one can," Ina would say. KW
4 comments:
$9.02 in 1934 would be about $172 in our dollars today. That’s just the one way price. Definitely a bit of an expense, but if she can stay for a month, it’s a small price for memories and being with loved ones.
Seems like a lot for a train ticket, doesn't it? I know it did her a lot of good to get away. Her family was concerned about her, both mentally and physically, but she coped with her health issues, and ironically she outlived the other three -- her husband, his brother, and her sister Bertha -- by a number of years.
Sure glad we don't have to dress up to travel any more. Actually, sure glad we don't have to dress up for much of anything any more! So uncomfortable! I'm just now remembering getting a new dress for graduation, which was a waste because it was under the graduation gown. And I remember Mom telling me that, coming from Seattle, she was used to dressing up before going "downtown", and when she did that when she first came to Orofino, people would ask her who had died, assuming she had just come from a funeral.
I'm with you on dressing up, Chris. It wasn't comfortable.
And I know that Orofino was always more casual than what your mom experienced in the city, but even so, my mother would change into a "better" dress to go down town, and especially to the bank. And I remember your mother as always neat as a pin when she walked to town. And we dressed up to shop in Spokane. The first thing that happened was that my feet hurt, so I was cranky and tired before we even got started.
I know someone who pines for the glamour of mid-century life, and I just don't see it that way. A lot was wrong with it.
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