As We Walk Into the Sunset
Did anyone ever serenade you? Send you love songs on cassette tape, CD, or playlist? I received a few of those some decades ago, and those memories are so special. Long before the technologies any of my suitors used, Larry was writing to Joy the names of the lovely-sweet songs that made him think of her (not that he needed to be reminded!). I love tracking down these old songs and lyrics, and the song below truly applies to this ever-young couple. We can all enjoy this little serenade, and remind ourselves of the days that we too, may have experienced the first blooms of a long-lasting love. Sending someone a song is one of the most innocently intimate ways to communicate feelings across whatever distances we face, and I just love it!
As we walk into the sunset
Into the glow of golden years
I’ll always be beside you
To smile away your fears
As we walk into the sunset
Sweetheart, I’ll hold your hand in mine
We two, together always
To share this love divine
When the sun goes down behind the hilltop
Darling, here’s what I’ll do
As the sun goes down behind the hilltop
I’ll take a sunbeam or two
As we walk into the sunset
Should any dark clouds dim our view
I’ll always have a sunbeam there
To share with you
Feb 28, 42
Dearest:
There seems to have been a mistake or slip up somewhere. I couldn’t quite understand why you hadn’t got my letters. I’ve sent you two this week, you will have received by the time you get this. But the one letter that you should have received in that long gap between here & there reposes here yet. You see I gave it to one of “my boys” to mail as he was going home and he forgot to mail it. It was my fault for not doing it myself. Will you forgive me darling? Red called me a short while ago and told me that you were worried badly about me. Honey I am sorry that you worried. But you must not do that, because if anything would happen to me you would hear about it very soon. I have already taken care of that. Don’t worry about me. It was just an accident that the letter didn’t come and the reason I didn’t mention it in either letter was because I didn’t know what had happened to it. That sounds all mixed up doesn’t it. I hope you can understand it my sweet.
I understand you are keeping a scrap book. That right? If so, I have a few clippings that I am sure you will like which I am sending you if you don’t like them, please keep them for me. On the other hand if you do like them I think they will look nice in our scrap book. Do you mind my helping you with it? I’ve picked out the best ones I have if you like them I’ll send more from time to time. I think “Letter of Introduction” is pretty nice, and “One Speaks for Millions” is very descriptive. I think the second stanza is about the most beautiful way I’ve ever heard death described. And of course you know I like blue. So “Ecstasy in Blue” and the Scotch man and his alarm clock adds the humor. Darling I’m a hopeless sentimentalist, I enjoy writings like this. But then someone said that all Irish are sentimental. Is that right? And I am especially so, about a certain beautiful Irish girl I know. I love you. (Just remembered I hadn’t told you yet in this letter.) Have you heard “When We Walk in the Sunset”? If you haven’t you have missed something. The thought and the words describe us and they are exquisite. Well I must quit. Goodbye, my lovely little lady. I’ll always love you and I’ll write more often too HA!
All my Love always,
Larry
It doesn't seem that Larry & Joy's scrapbook has survived the years, but I think we can recreate at least a little of it. Larry mentions four titles in this letter and I set about trying to find them. Thank goodness for Newspapers.com! Hunting through records from January & February 1942 I was able to find two of the four Larry mentioned:
I haven't been able to track down anything called “Letter of Introduction”, but I'll keep looking as time allows. Larry also mentioned "the Scotch man and his alarm clock"... I've scoured several papers that would have been available to him in Montgomery, Alabama. There are lots of mentions of alarm clocks, but no story that has jumped out to me as possibly the one he liked.
An interesting side note- as I was searching the papers for mentions of alarm clocks, I read about how the production of American alarm clocks was stopped in the Spring of 1942! Can you imagine?! I've never thought that much about the scarcity of everyday items this generation faced....
Here's a cute little alarm clock anecdote I found in the Southeast Air Corps Training Center News, February 21, 1942:
How much more special do these small things become (newspaper clippings, household goods, letters, and cards...) when they can become scarce, when it takes time to communicate with those we love, when the tactile items become the stand-ins for the time not spent together? Holding these letters in my hands, hunting down the places and ephemera that were important to Larry & Joy draws me so far into their world. Wishing I was a friend of Joy's who could tag along as they go to the movies or have dinner with school chums. Wishing I could see them stealing glances across her father's dinner table or holding hands when no one was watching. (sigh)
I wonder if Joy pulled out this letter to re-read it on days when no new letter had come. I wonder if she spent afternoons waiting by the radio to hear one of "her" love songs. I wonder what made her smile or laugh in his passionate words. I wonder if she would have liked her story being told.
I truly hope so. ♥
Cheers,
Leah
The way this story is unfolding has me captured — both with the topic and the way you are finding the connections and the meanings of their topics. You are gifted as a historian AND a writer. Thanks for sharing this story and your gifts with the world.
How lovely!! Also – your process of discovery and research is so interesting! I am so glad you are sharing that side (your side?) of this journey with your readers. You are bringing the story to life in a broader sense, while succinctly connecting a wide range of topics. Nicely done!!
Thank you SO much! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!