The Red Flannel Rag

Rob and Aunt Goldie. During the week, they wrote wonderful love letters to each other,

although they lived only three miles apart. There were no telephones.

Mom gave me some of the letters she got from Dad during their courtship. In one

letter, dated June 11, 1940, they had apparently talked about getting married. He wrote:

“Myrtle darling I would love to do what you said Sunday evening right away for if I don’t

soon get you where I can be with you all the time I will blow my top and you know that

would be bad. There is only one thing holding me back and that is the money problem.

Of course, if you want to we will make it right away. It is all up to you. ” He always

signed his love letters, “This letter is from a boy who loves you X X X X X X X X X X X ,

Norman Shifflett.”

It is obvious from the letter that Mom asked Dad to marry her. Norman Shifflett

married Myrtle Morris, in a group wedding, on July 27, 1940. Nine months and ten

days after their wedding, I was born. Within three years, I had a brother and a sister.

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