Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Letter 15, the last letter from Joan aka "Dusty"

As I post this last letter from Joan "Dusty" Marin, I want to make an appeal to anyone in the Waltham area. Help me find Dusty! All that's known about her aside from her name comes from these letters: She lived in Waltham and graduated in 1949 from Waltham High School, which means she was born in about 1931 or so, making her about 80 years old today. Google searches have not produced any results, but given the fact that she likely got married and changed her surname, that's not surprising. But I'd love to find Dusty! So all you Waltham-ites, ask around!


June 9, 1949
Thursday Nite

Hi Sal:
Well, I'd just about given you up for lost when I got your letter. It was good to hear from you again.

I guess I expected to see you more than I did too, but, you know how the saying goes, every man to his own taste. (that goes for sailors too)

Last Thursday was a big day “Graduation.” It was really nice to see. Too bad

II
you couldn't have been here. Yesterday was another big day (yep I'm now 18) quiet, I am not getting old. Here I am the inefficient office secretary (I mean efficient).

Say Sal, we never did get to take our walk did we? It's been kinda cold here the last coupla days. I don't think it will ever warm up enough so I can go swimming. Ya know what? Sometimes I get so disgusted.

III
I got lotsa nice stuffs for graduation. Beautiful pearls, a pendant and bracelet set, money and other things.

Woolworth's is coming along pretty good. They have most of the skeleton put up. They say it won't be done till around November though.

By the way it wasn't Mr. Huff I shook hands with it was The Mayor.
Before I fergi, have fun at the dance. Now, now, don't give me that. You

IV
can dance a little can't you?
Too bad I won't be there to see Louis Prima. I've never seen him. Oh well he don't interest me much anyhoo. Well Sal, guess that's all for now.
As Ever
Joany
alias
Dusty

It's no surprise that this is the last letter from Dusty. The spark just seems to have gone out! It looks like Sal got leave for a bit to visit home, but the flirtatious tone in their letters just didn't translate to real life. And it appears that they don't have a whole lot in common, what with Sal's interest in "hillbilly" music like Louis Prima, which I can tell my readers he held for the rest of his life (with good reason). To the question, "You can dance a little, can't you?" In the 70s, he took Disco dancing lessons with his wife. They practiced in the living room to 45s like "Beethoven's 5th Symphony" and "If you want my body and you think I'm sexy" and let me tell you the practice paid off. But then disco, as we all know, had its demise. Sal later said in his dry tone, "The only dance I ever learned how to do, and it went out of style."

As a side note, the Mayor of Waltham in 1949 was John F. Devane. 

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