Ithaca, New York
September 1937
Dear Folks,
Catherine sent you a post card so I didn’t write immediately to let you know we arrived ok and have been quite busy since. I am very well satisfied with my rooms – plenty of heat and a nice environment. Irving and I have the rooms all decorated with the banners he and I brought out and some tapestry which he brought from Mexico.
I didn’t have a chance to show Catherine and Andy around as much as I would have liked to but did fairly well for the time we had, as they wanted to get a good start. After they went I unpacked and fixed my room up and then went to work at the Coop. There were a whole bunch of new fellows around looking for jobs and working free gratis so I knew I had better get started right away if I wanted to be sure of a job.
Yesterday I spent eight hours up there painting and today four hours. I did practically the whole kitchen and the bathroom today. They have 125 members signed up already and their full quota is 150 so I guess we will have a waiting list. The membership fee is $5. All of us who work there are members as it is a club which is beginning to look like a large fraternity. Everything is being redecorated and the place is beginning to look very nice.
Today I registered. A bunch of us were supposed to go up at 8:30 a.m. so we went up at 8:00 without eating any breakfast only to find a line about a quarter of a mile long ahead of us with people who had the same idea as we did. I finally got through at 11 a.m. and had a couple of sandwiches and then ate a late dinner.
It seems nice to meet all of my old friends again and feel much less lost than I did a year ago. Monday I saw Wesly Smith and was talking with him quite a bit. He is rooming on College Avenue right across from where Pop used to room, with a friend of his who used to go back and forth with us last year. Only two of the old roomers are back at 210 Dryden as all prices were raised. I haven’t seen anything of Fred Tillerton and don’t think he’s back yet. I’m wondering what happened as I was going to get a second hand Economics book from him.
I have started to keep a diary again. It’s raining here as usual since I arrived and kind of cold, although Saturday it was 87. I heard that the 8,000 people who watched the game nearly smothered but Cornell beat Penn State as you probably know. I will write later when I have more to say so remember me to the others.
Lovingly, Hall
Gilbert Hall Flint was born August 14, 1918 and raised on Flint Hill Farm in Amenia, New York. His formal education began in a one-room schoolhouse in Smithfield. He graduated from Amenia High School in 1936 and from the Cornell University College of Agriculture in 1940. He taught high school agriculture from 1940 to 1944, served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946, taught high school agriculture from 1946 to 1963, and finished his career as a school principal from 1963 to 1975.
Gilbert Hall Flint passed away on December 16, 2009. The letters are published in his memory. To view the letters in chronological order, please click a timeline label from the side bar menu, scroll to the bottom, and read up.
Gilbert Hall Flint passed away on December 16, 2009. The letters are published in his memory. To view the letters in chronological order, please click a timeline label from the side bar menu, scroll to the bottom, and read up.