June 9 1947

Monday. 9th June. 1947.

Dearest Mummy & Daddy,

I am writing this in school during exams. The end of term seems so strange here because we don’t have one good “breaking up”, but everyone just drifts away. The school doesn’t finish officially until Friday, but today & tomorrow the students have exams (only 4 or 5 each, because they only take that number of subjects each year) then they just don’t come anymore. The rest of the week the staff marks exam papers and puts grades (marks) on report cards which are posted to the students and on Friday the seniors who are leaving & have passed come to their “graduation exercises” and get their diplomas. It all seems very peculiar to me – we don’t have a mass meeting & bid the students a happy holiday at all!

Summer seems to have come to Toledo at last, but still in no very pleasant way, because it has suddenly become hot and humid with terrific thunderstorms and very heavy rain showers. The sun shines in between, but it is so wet that it makes everything steamy and there are terrible floods in parts of the country, and tornadoes too. I hope that your nice weather has been continuing and that it is nice and warm and sunny for you – certainly you deserve it after the awful winter. With the floods & so on here, Til is wondering if it is going to be all right driving to her sister’s in Connecticut, but it is a week yet, so things may improve by then. She is leaving a week today (16th) and I am going with her, and will stay with her at her sister’s for about a week before going to Long Island. I am not going to pack up my trunks etc. & take them to New York now, because there is really no room for them at any of the cousins, & it is awkward taking them across N. York & on the L. Island Railway etc. so I am leaving most of my stuff here, & then returning to Toledo with Til in the car at the beginning of Aug. & will pack & send my luggage to the Q. Elizabeth from here & then probably leave here just a few days before I sail.

I had tried to keep myself free of engagements in June, but last week I still managed to have one or two engagements. On Wed. I went into town with 2 of the teachers from here & had tea & on Thursday I went to a meeting of the Daughters of the British Empire! It was held at Vida McCartney’s house – do you remember – she is a British bride I met when I first came to Toledo- and Mrs. Atkinson & Ruby & the baby as well as a lot of other people were there. We had tea, & then I was invited to stay to supper with 8 others & it was very hot & I practically fell asleep before the evening was over!

On Friday evening, the school had a Banquet for the Seniors who are leaving & afterwards the Junior Senior Farewell Dance. As I have a Junior Homeroom & teach some Seniors I was invited & went with Mr. and Mrs. Pasquier. It was very elegant all in evening dress & the girls looked very sweet- I, of course was a “chaperone” & didn’t dance a step, & my black dress nearly killed me, it is so tight now! On Sat. I was supposed to go boating on the lake & a picnic & it poured so I didn’t go. Yesterday we had Lois’ 2 sisters, Ruth & Mary, & Frances Kaya to dinner (roast beef & Y. pudding!) so it was quite a busy day!

I hope that you are both keeping well and taking care of yourselves – 

    With lots of love from Cynthia 

P.S. Thank you for your letter, Mummy – am writing.