Letter "Dear Skip" about the end of Gordon and Carol's marriage, no date

Letter "Dear Skip" about the end of Gordon and Carol's marriage, no date

unknown to the archivist

This letter was filed in Gordon Copeland’s correspondence folder in the Charles Shively archives. Written by hand in cursive, with faded pencil, on yellowed stationary, it is addressed “Dear Skip,” and is not signed or dated. However the stationery is embossed with the line “Out of Carol’s Inkwell” and there is a note on the back that reads “This is part of a letter I wrote you the night before I moved to Miller’s.” Based on other letters in the archive, “Skip” seems to be Gordon Copeland (Charles Shively’s future partner), and Carol is Skip’s wife. The writer explains what sounds like a decision to leave a neglectful husband:

"Dear Skip,

This is a letter about you and me – strange that this should be the first letter I have ever written you.

It’s twelve o’clock midnight now and I have just finished washing my hair – I hear the screen door opening downstairs. If only it would be you but I know it won’t. This has become a set pattern that started a long time again – last Xmas.

We have been married a little over a year now but have never really known each other. We have never told each other what we really want out of life or what is deep down inside us. I so wish that our marriage could have been like your parents’ – no secrets, no doubts, sharing everything with each other, fears, dreams, hopes, and happiness.

I have always been jealous of your friends because they have always come first – first with your time and first with your money. I needed you so much while I was pregnant but you were always too preoccupied with your friends and I was hurt so because you could afford to buy liquor, entertain your friends, and gamble but could never afford to buy me a maternity dress. You often wondered why I loved [Pepper?] so – when I felt bad, hurt, or was just plain lonely, she was always there – she was the only comfort I ever had.

The first few months we were married I thought you were the most thoughtful man I had ever met and I was truly surprised how well we got along with each other. But now you seem so cold and aloof.”

The letter cuts off here, but on the back there is a note that reads “This is part of a letter I wrote you the night before I moved to Miller’s.”

Based on other letters in the archive, this letter seems to be written by Carol, at the time the wife of Gordon Copeland (Charles Shively’s future partner).

"Dear Skip,

This is a letter about you and me – strange that this should be the first letter I have ever written you.

It’s twelve o’clock midnight now and I have just finished washing my hair – I hear the screen door opening downstairs. If only it would be you but I know it won’t. This has become a set pattern that started a long time again – last Xmas.

We have been married a little over a year now but have never really known each other. We have never told each other what we really want out of life or what is deep down inside us. I so wish that our marriage could have been like your parents’ – no secrets, no doubts, sharing everything with each other, fears, dreams, hopes, and happiness. "