One of the casualties of the Great Depression was my grandfather Bruce Gibson's (1903-1994) logging business in Arizona, forcing him to go into bankruptcy. He quickly began rebuilding his life caring for his family principally by overseeing the building of roads and highways in northern California. This was the late 1940s, a time of a huge boom in housing and transportation, but also the monstrous discovery of oil overseas. Roads needed to be built to ferry the oil out of the fields and into heating homes and propelling automobiles. So on the behalf of the the huge oil companies my grandfather packed his bags for points abroad.
He regularly wrote his three daughters, my mother Brenda Kay (1938-1989) included. In our family treasure chest we have a collection of just some of these letters and postcards to my mom. They represent Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Anchorage, Alaska. One of my aunts tells me she still has her letters too.
Remember, you can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.
Copyright © 2010 by Kevin W. Walker
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