Letter from G.S.F. (Gaillard Stoney FitzSimons) to Amy, 10 Nov 1942, page 1
Book 1, Page 548 ·1942
Transcription
Hendersonville, N.C., Nov. 10, 1942.
Dear Amy:
I have before me, at this moment, my copy of “Memorandum of the Fitz Simons Family,” so you can be certain that you returned it to me. Your memory is all right, and the two copies you have are yours. However, I thank the doubt in your mind, as it brought the pleasant surprise of a letter from you. The folks at “Fitzbrug” are always eager for family news, and the items in your letter were very welcome. “Aunt Ellen” left us on Nov. 4th — the end of a month’s vacation. On her way to Charleston, she stopped over in Columbia with the Waterfalls a day and night, and enjoyed the contact with our colony there; lunching with the Allisons and visits from the C. Fitz Simons’. Considering her age, 80 on the 24th of this month, “Aunt Ellen” is in good physical shape. She keeps up an
AI Notes
First page of a three-page letter dated Hendersonville, N.C., Nov. 10, 1942, addressed ‘Dear Amy’ and signed G.S.F. on page 550 (same signature flourish as the four-page letter on pages 545-547). G.S.F. is Gaillard Stoney FitzSimons (paternal uncle / cousin of the compiler; principal Hendersonville correspondent in this section of the album — see also his Aug 8 1944 memoir-letter on pages 279–280, signed in full; the ‘After Glow’ references in this 1942 letter and in p547 fix the writer’s permanent residence). The writer confirms that Amy returned the Memorandum of the FitzSimons family (referenced in the preceding letter, p546). He reports on ‘Aunt Ellen’ (Ellen Milliken FitzSimons, Charleston librarian, who would turn 80 on Nov. 24, 1942) — she broke a month’s vacation at ‘After Glow’ on Nov. 4th, stopping over in Columbia with the Waterfalls a day and night, lunching with the Allisons and visiting the C. FitzSimonses, and was ‘in good physical shape’ for her age. The cursive in quotes reads ‘Fitzbrug’ — the writer’s familiar name for the FitzSimons family seat (possibly a pet-name pun on Fitz+burg). The Christopher FitzSimons family (‘the C. FitzSimons’') refers to Christopher ‘Kit’ Jr. and family in Columbia.