Miss Ruby Jay - Letters from my great grandfather to my great grandmother in 1929

In 1929, my great grandfather and great grandmother took several trips. Robert Royer "Bob" Moose ventured to Sulphur and Oklahoma City, as well as several destinations in Arkansas. Ruby Fern Jay visited family in Kansas and Iowa. During these times apart, Bob wrote several letters and postcards, and sent several telegrams. Ruby saved these correspondences, and I have transcribed them with the intention of including them in genealogy book I plan to publish in the future. I am sharing some of my favorite excerpts here.

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Ruby Jay – 1220 W. Wash. – Guthrie, Okla.

June 27

Will leave here tomorrow. Still having a good time. Sure is hot but coal [sic] at night. Love, Bob

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Miss Ruby Jay – First Natl. Bank – Guthrie, Okla.

Foreman, Ark. – June 28-29

My dearest:

I am still in Foreman and having a good time. Kid you sure would like to be down here. I can’t hardly leave. I intended to leave here yesterday but the folks wouldn’t let me. I am going to Idabel tomorrow this afternoon. Will probably stay there tonight. We may go from there to Okla City. We have rode about six hundred miles since we left Guthrie. We went to a peach orchard yesterday and filled up.

Kid the trees and everything here are just beautiful. There is almost any kind. Pine, walnut, maple, hickory, and a million others.

Say kid don’t notice this writing as I am so nervous that my hand shakes. This writing love letters is almost a new experience to me. But dear, I love you enough to try it once. I have been riding that motor-cycle until I am stiff and sore. I am sending Lawrence two cucumbers. You should sell them. They are only small ones. I am going to take two back on the motor. They are plenty big. How is B.Y.P.U. by now? Boy I would sure like to be there with you and the old gang.

When we arrived here we were as mudy [sic] as hogs. We stopped at Foreman to fix a flat. We stopped at the Ford garage, and hadn’t been there but a few minutes until two of my cousins walked out. They didn’t know us but it didn’t take long to get acquainted. Tommie wanted us to go to the home and we wanted to clean up first, but no use as Tommie is a girl and wouldn’t let us. If you could see me while I am writing this letter you wouldn’t want to be my little wife. I have sent all my clothes back to O.C. and don’t have any more here so the girls and Aunt Mae said I could stay a few hours like this. Oh man but for a good swim in a river, I had one yesterday and didn’t need any bathing suit. There was a boat by the name of Ruby in the water. But I couldn’t use it.

I will try to write so you can read the next letter if you will excuse this one. Remember I love you and always will.

Lovingly, Bob

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Miss Ruby Jay – Pleasantville, Iowa – General Delivery  [8-3-29 Postmark]

From R.R. Moose – 218 N. First – Guthrie, Okla.

Guthrie, Okla. - Sat. Morn.

Dearest Ruby:

I was sure glad to receive a letter from you this morning. It seems like a month since I said good-bye, but it is only three days. I am glad that you are having such a good trip and sure would like to be with you. I sure wish you would write more in these short letters, but I guess that is good for the first letters I ever received from my little B.-T.-B. [sic]

Now figure that out if you can, and if you can’t, I’ll try to tell you when you, “come back to me.” This is our busy day, but you can imagine how hard I am working. I am getting off easy at the present but wait till this afternoon.

Sarah came home last night and knocked Lawrence and I out of a trip to Tulsa as we were going after her next Sunday or rather tomorrow. Now I guess I will go to bed and sleep all day. Heck no! Not me.

Mr. Lintz arrived home yesterday and sure is a busy man. Don’t know for sure, but, it looks like re-moddeling [sic] will start soon. Well I guess I had better stop and get to work before someone tells me too. [sic]

I close longing to hold you in my arms once more.

Love, Bob

P.S. Tell all the folks hello. Hoping you lots of good luck. Bob

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The last letter in the group is this one, and I thought it was a particularly nice testament to their relationship. The is is a telegram that was sent on Valentine's Day 1930. 

They married one month later, on March 15th, 1930 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and were together until Bob's death on June 18th, 1975 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.