The Box and The Letter

On August 1st, 1969, he was stationed at Utapao Royal Thai Air Force Base situated on the shore of Thailands western Gulf of Siam. They had met a little more than a year earlier when she was at a Rapid City, South Dakota bar with friends celebrating her 19th birthday. He was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near there and was 23. They had been married for two months.

That day, he wrote her a letter that went like this...

"I was recalling the time you and I built that dam at the cabin. I was really grooving on you that day and was thinking something like; If I am not already, I hope I fall in love with her because she is definitely the girl I'd love to marry. She's got warmth when you need it - Enthusiasm when you need it - Class when you need it - She's a hick when you need it - She's got insight when you want it - She's naive when it's nice to be that way and wise when it's necessary. There's more but I've run out of words. Nope - it's not the booze talking because I've just finished my first. 

Yours and Yours and Yours & still in Love With You,"

(When he returned from Thailand, they would spend their first year together at March Air Force Base, Riverside, California.  He would then be assigned to Thailand once again for a year in Udorn, Thailand. She would return home to Rapid City and while there, complete school as a Radiology Technician.  During those times, they would exchange dozens of letters and later cassette tapes. This note is an excerpt from one of those early letters.  Almost 57 years later, he would come across it among many others she had placed in a box for safe keeping. The box travelled with them through 9 moves over the next 15 years while they remained with the Air Force, finally settling in Sacramento, California in 1987.)

 

... and God Bless Morris Davis Junior

I was the new Administrator at the Great Falls, Montana Air Force Hospital. Malmstrom was a small 20-bed WWII era cantonment-type hospital that was spread over six sprawling one-story wings.  It offered a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services along with dental and veterinary offices.  

Among 250 hospital staff, five reported directly to me.  These included the resource manager (bean counter), the Squadron Commander, the Registrar, the Logistics Manager (box kicker) and the Facility Manager.  I soon heard that my predecessor and the Facility Manager had a pretty bad long term relationship.  I got with him pretty quick and told him I wasn't concerned about any previous issues, that we had a fresh start and would go from there.

Morris Davis turned out to be a damn good manager and we got along great.  A couple years into my tour there I heard some pretty sad news.  Morris's son, Morris Davis Junior had been working as a pizza delivery man in Great Falls.  Someone had ordered a pizza and when Junior showed up at the address, they had shot, killed and robbed him.

Among other things, we at home decided to include Junior in our dinner prayer, adding God Bless Morris Davis Junior at the end each time. If memory serves, Junior was the first.  Over the years, we have added names of those close to us and the list has grown to more than a couple dozen.  Also, son Tyler and daughter Samantha have taken over recital of the "God Bless" list at the end of Grace.  These days, they take turns and rattle that list off so quick you can hardly understand them.  In any event, close relationships and loved ones remain part of our "bounty," the biggest part.

There Was Something

Something I intended to do

Something that cranked my curiosity

But then, a moments distraction

And I forgot that something

It happens

Sometimes it returns

Sometimes it does not

I like forgetting something

Best when it involves chores

Least when it involves research

Today I learned 

The right digital thermometer

Reading for chicken

Will I forget that something 

By the time I need to recall it

Only time will tell

But hey

Tell me when it's time

Tell me something

When I need it

My Pal, Phillip Earl Campbell

We were rich, Phil and I.  We played on the streets of Pontiac, Michigan and made it a magic kingdom. We had other cousins and our grandparents living nearby and we were a close group. We consisted of auto worker families with homes rented and purchased within a mile of downtown Pontiac.

There were musicians and singers in the family, some blessed with fine voices and others who played guitars, pianos and such.  Phil's dad Everett had a wonderful baritone voice. Everett's wife, Mina was an accomplished pianist.  When he was around 10, Phil took up trumpet.  He would play for himself, his family and on bands for the remainder of his life.  He was also a devout student of theology, genealogy and a devoted husband to wife, Kathy for some 60 years.

At one time, in the mid-fifties, the Michigan Campbells comprised such a large group we would rent halls for family gatherings on major holidays.  They were a pot-luck feast filled with love, laughter and home-spun music. Us pre-teen kids, Phil, Sharon, Donna, Dennis and I would make a hell of a racket at those gatherings.

Phil and I lived in the same house for a short year or two.  His family rented a duplex on Taylor street, and we lived in the back.  The home directly behind us was rented by our Aunt Alma and her family.  He and I created our own version of the movie, Stand By Me on those streets. 

Phil (R) and Tom, Early 50's

Among our pastimes, we would frequent any gas stations we could reach by bicycle and collect maps of various states.  They were free then.  Sunoco, Texaco, and Phillips 66 come to mind.  The maps stirred our curiosity about what it would be like to travel there.They were like discovered little treasures for us.  We would also stand on the curbs of fairly busy streets, carefully listing with pencil and paper the States and numbers from license plates, all out of curiosity about where the cars were from and where they were going.

There was a dairy nearby.  We discovered a hole in it's perimeter fence and would sneak in to steal cartons of chocolate milk.  It always seemed to taste better when it was stolen. It was the Mark Twain "Watermelon Effect" I would recognize and write about many years later.

There was also a ball field nearby.  At some point, we discovered cigarette butts under the bleachers. Almost everyone smoked back then) and we would sneak a few puffs to see what it was like to be (cough) adults.

We were big time marble players as well.  I wrote a story about that years ago and will put a link here: https://tclifecycles.blogspot.com/2010/09/marbles-deadly-game.html.

Out of necessity, my family was pretty mobile.  With that and the happenings of life, Phil and I lost touch for many years but then reunited online with the advent of the internet and the ensuing forms of social media.  I discovered then that Phil was a prolific writer.  I'd key in a "What's up?" and get back what seemed like several pages in response, most of it preceded with testaments about his beloved Kathy. His writing was always clear, enthusiastic and definitely Campbell family newsworthy.

Phil passed this morning at around 2AM PST. This was after many years of wrestling with infirmities of growing intensity.  He and his surgeons fought mightily for him to stay with us but it was the end of his journey. I love you and I miss you Phillip Earl.  I miss your avowed love of family, your curiosity and your sense of humor.  See you soon old pal.