Suicide Oak in City Park, New Orleans, La.

Suicide oak in City Park is one of the old monarchs of the forest, which add so much to the beauty of New Orleans’ Parks with their drapery of gray Spanish Moss.  The story of the tree is that in 12 years 16 men committed suicide under its branches.

New Orleans, La., December 10, 1945

December 10, 1945

Dear Irene,

Hi!  Guess who!  I’m down in New Orleans with Steve while he gets his discharge, but it isn’t going very fast and I guess we won’t be back for Christmas like we planned.  The weather is warm but damp. 

Love, Audrey and Steve

Mrs. Donald Miller

232 Cobrain St., S.W.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Only New Orleans could make a tourist attraction from a natural suicide assisting device.  City Park in New Orleans also has the Dueling Oak, so homicide is included as well.  During World War II, the city was home to a large Personnel Separation Center for the U.S. Navy, so perhaps Steve was returning from a Pacific Theatre Tour.   If Audrey is thinking that the process will take 15 more days, did the sheer numbers of returning servicemen jam up the system, or was the process always this slow?

Maybe this postcard was a subtle cry for help.

Municipal Auditorium, Lake Worth, Florida

Lake Worth, Fla., February 17, 1942

Dear Irene:

I am a lovely shade of pink today- just mild case of sunburn.  No matter how careful I am, I manage to resemble a well-cooked lobster.  I was going to write before, but I couldn’t because I didn’t get sunburned until today.  We’re still enjoying every minute here.

Love- Ubendeer?

Mr. and Mrs. D.W. Miller

141 Goldsboro Pl. N.E.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

This is on the top of the list for the lamest excuse for not writing.  I didn’t get sunburned, no obviously I couldn’t write.  I can only put pen to paper unless I am going through horrific agony with lasting and perhaps permanent damage to my skin.  At least she's not "Great Balls of Fire" like Vicki was in yesterday's post.

By now, the Millers are probably horrified that the unforgiving sun is charring and disfiguring their friends in Florida.  Since Miller is a common surname, and Grand Rapids is a fairly large town, I still have not found any credible clues to their identity.

The Municipal Auditiorium in Lake Worth, FL (incorporated as Lucerne in 1912 by the Palm Beach Farms Company) is now home to City Hall and is one of the prominent points of their Historic District.

Florida's Stately Royal Palms

Lake Worth, Fla. February 17, 1942

The palms are beauts!  You are good.  You get 2 cards from me.  Lucky devils

L.W. Fla. 2-16-42

Dear Irene & D.

Well, Irene how does it see, to be a stay-at-home for a change.  On the 13^th I remarked that was the last day you worked.  Al wouldn’t write what I told her to write you so I will say it.  Right now I feel like great balls of fire but am as brown as a potato. Ran into Theda Koeze? Waolker? This P.M. at the beach.  The only day she expects to spend in Lake Worth.  Strange?

82 degrees here today- still zero up there?

Love Vicki

Mr. and Mrs. D.W. Miller

141 Goldsboro Pl. N.E.

Grand Rapids, Michigan


I don't know if I've ever described a sunburn as "Great Balls of Fire," but Vicki must have had a deep tan from that burn.

The Royal Palms pictured here are native Florida species, and were planted to line the streets in many south Florida communities.  I'm sitting under one right now.

As to the Miller family- we ran across Beatrice Miller yesterday, living in Lebanon, PA.  The Michigan Geneaologist from the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries lists a Miller and Cochran Furniture Store from 1894.  Their house no longer stands, most of it developed into a large campus of an unknown organization.  Another interesting coincidence is that a Dr. D.W. Miller, Jr. wrote a recent paper against water fluoridation that began in Grand Rapids, MI in 1945.