Friday, August 31, 2007

On His Last Morning...


Dad Last Letter
Originally uploaded by savtadotty
On his last morning, my father wrote this letter and my mother typed and mailed it, saving a carbon copy. Then they had lunch, watched JFK's inauguration on TV. He took a nap, and he never woke up.

January 21, 1960
Chief of Bureau of Naval Personnel,
Navy Department,
Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir:

On Dec. 30 last, while motoring in Florida with my family, I was stranded because of car trouble on an isolated country road several miles from the nearest town. It was getting dark fast and I had visions of spending a miserable night in the car.

This certainly could have been our fate had not Lieut. Wesley Ingram, U. S. N., happened to be driving by. Mr. Ingram stopped, wheeled around (he was going in the opposite direction ) and immediately volunteered to drive me back several miles to Callahan, where he saw to it that I got the necessary help. He then drove back to notify my family.

Such willingness to help others in distress certainly indicates the gentleman that Mr. Ingram is, and I would feel ungrateful if I did not thank him in this manner, since I do not know where is stationed. Again, Sir, I thank you.

Very truly yours,

5 comments:

Lioness said...

How lovely of him. Not many people would bother but really, how absolutely lovely of him.

Shabbat shalom, dahling S.

Udge said...

I wonder whether Lieut. Ingram (USN retd) is still alive, and whether he will see this. I googled him, and this post is in the first half-dozen items on the first page.

SavtaDotty said...

Lioness, thanks...I wish more of my friends now could have know him.

Udge, I sent an email to someone with the same name whom I found on Google, but no reply so far.

Anonymous said...

Oh, wow....this was extremely moving. AND it certainly says volumes about the kind of man and human being your father was.
Imagine....it was almost like he had one more thing to do and then he could pass on.
I'm really impressed with this. Thanks so much for sharing it.

Anonymous said...

This is just too wonderful. Very moving.
Thanks for sharing