I recently came across a stack of my grandmother's old letters from 1953,1954 and 1955. As I started reading them, I remembered the stories told of when she lived in Ardmore, OK and would feed Air Force men after church on Sundays in her home. I had no idea the extent of her ministry to these service men or her "boys" as she would call them. Evidentially, she wrote their mothers or family members about how they were doing and these letters are people writing back to her. There are 49 letters in all, 30 from family members, 22 mothers, 5 of them wrote twice, 1 father, 1 sister and an aunt, 13 letters from the service men themselves, 2 of them wrote twice, and 6 other letters. 
Ardmore Air Force Base was opened in 1952 outside of Ardmore, Ok and closed in 1959. There was a bus service to and from Ardmore on Sundays for those wanting to attend church services. My grandmother, her sister, Aunt Dorothy and my mother who was a teenager lived in a 2 story house, 800 square feet with 4 rooms, 1 bedroom and bathroom upstairs and the kitchen and living room downstairs. They attended the First Baptist Church. The pastor there wanted to do something more for the service members that were attending so approached Grandma about having them over for lunch after church. They also had fellowships for them along with the teens from the church. I think he asked several women to host lunches but my Grandma's was the favorite. Her and Aunt Dorothy were really good cooks and a lot of fun to be around. The "boys" evidentially helped with the cooking, one told his mother about baking biscuits. They also cleaned up, washed and dried all the dishes. Several of the mothers thanked Grandma for Christmas gifts, one mentioned a pretty apron, probably sewn by Aunt Dorothy. The mothers commented that they felt they knew Grandma because their sons had talked or written about her so much. Many of the mothers wanted to meet Grandma in person or invited her to their homes for a visit. Several letters talked about how Grandma had nursed several of the "boys" when they were sick or injured. Grandma was an RN for over 50 years, nursing was second nature for her. As a thank you, several of the boys gave her a Mix Master in 1954. Several of the mothers wrote more than once so there were letters going back and forth between them and Grandma. Several of the service members wrote her, Aunt Dorothy and Mom when they went home on leave, on training or when they were shipped out and evidentially she wrote them back from the responses. She must have written a lot of letters over these years.
The boys would ride the bus to church on Sunday mornings, then go to Grandma's for lunch and spend the afternoon there, go back to church that evening, then ride the bus back to base. I don't know how many they had each afternoon but there had to be anywhere from 10 to 20 any given Sunday just from the volume of letters. The house was set back from the road and had a long driveway. I remember stories of how they played music outside and would dance, play games or just hang out there on the driveway.
Here's excerpts from some of the letters. I'm going to do another post with more excerpts (part 2)since there's so many. For privacy, I'm not including last names.
Mrs. T (mother) from McQuady, Kentucky, April 1954
"Was so glad to get your nice letter. I appreciate it and the interest you have in Ralph. I know it has meant so much to him. I want to tell you that I don't worry so much about Ralph since I've known about you. Also so glad that he goes to church. Thank you again for your letter and being so nice to Ralph."
Mrs. P (mother) from Malvern, Arkansas, December 1953, also wrote again in April 1954
"I received your nice friendly letter and am so happy to know that you have taken an interest in my boy, Eugene. When he was home he told me all about you. How nice you were to him and all the boys. I want to thank you with all my heart and may God bless you all. I know Eugene appreciates it very much. I feel so happy to know that he has taken an interest in church work and attends regularly."
Mrs. C (mother) from Owensboro, Kentucky, Feb 1954 and also in March 1954
"Surely did appreciate your letter last week. You can never know just how much it means for us for the interest you have taken in Bill and he really loves you too. It is worth so much to know he is among such good Christian people and I know he will never forget his days spent in Ardmore. We are so thankful he has had the privilege of being out there. Thank you so much for what you are doing for Bill."
Mr. M, (father) from Milan, Tennessee, November 1953
"You don't know how much I appreciated your sweet letter. I sure am proud of the interest you folks are taking in the soldier boys. William has told me you sure are friendly people. It does me so much good that the boys go to church like they did at home. I want to thank you again for your sweet letter."
Mrs. A (mother) from Many, Louisiana, January 1954
"Thank you so very much for the lovely gift. We are so glad that George is at work in the church there. We want to thank all of you good people for being so nice to him. It makes us feel good to know that he has good friends up there."
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