A GOOD SLEEPER

Cousin Stewart 1932

I remember shoe boxes full of correspondence Grandma Isabel and Grandpa Claude had received and saved over the years.  They kept them neatly in one of their basement rooms at 2811 Lamonte in Spokane.   My mom preserved many of them.  

Uncle Jay, Grandpa Claude's brother, was married to Aunt Anne.  In Aunt Anne's letters many family traits are revealed.  One such letter from Aunt Anne to Grandma Isabel was written just after Uncle Jay's and Aunt Anne's son, Stewart, was born, and Grandpa's and Uncle Jay's mother, Sarah, had just died.  She mentions how their sister, Grace, would be so lonesome now after losing her mother. Aunt Anne writes how Stewart, as a new born, would not wake up to eat.  She had to wake him up or he would never eat.  I experienced this same thing with our son.  He was a good sleeper.  Here is the letter:

 My dad referred to himself as a slow sleeper.  I got the impression that this meant that he was good at sleeping.  My dad did not appear to have any dementia so maybe being good at sleeping prevents brain deterioration. 

Now back to Stewart.  Stewart and his wife and three boys lived in Hartford, Conn. when we visited them in 1960.  I thought they were a good looking bunch and tried to talk the oldest, John, into coming down to Alexandria and taking me to my Senior Prom.  No such luck.  I believe John never married.  The next brother Jim moved to North Carolina and that is where Stewart lived when he passed away.  

I'm attaching a news clipping about Stewart's visit to Spokane in 1936: