True Love ~ Teddy and Libby

My grandmother, Elizabeth Adsit, first married my grandfather, Charles McAlpin Pyle, in 1919. Their only child was my father.

This was not a happy marriage.

In the early '30s, Elizabeth (known as Libby, even to her grandchildren), divorced her first husband. Within days after the divorce was finalized in August 1933, she married a widower, Edgar Carter Rust, whom she had met on a trans-Atlantic cruise, according to the family story. (I have not yet found a passenger record to prove this.)

Libby and Teddy (as he signed another letter to her) had a very happy marriage and in honor of Valentine's Day, I share the following letter Teddy wrote to Libby. It appears that in December 1937, Libby had gone to Chicago, (perhaps to see her mother before she moved to New York City?) and was away for about a week. She was staying at the Hotel Ambassador East in Chicago.

To An Absent Bunny.
O sad is me since you has went
So here I will my sorrows vent
The day is gloomy. There is no cheer.
Everything's nothing when you ain't here
Love and laughter went out west
We're left without a bit of zest
There's no desire to cut out loose
Even the King looks like the Deuce
Mary and Sarah and Mike and Joe
All want me to tell you so.
But through the clouds a bright light shows
Because of course one really knows
That bright sunshine and skies so blue
Will very soon be breaking through
When back to me come Charles and You.
From the Bunny's Mate.

Also in the envelope were the following drawings: