1170 NW 107th Ave.
Portland, Oreg, 97229
December 1963
Dear Friends,
Christmas greetings to you from the Strongs.
Please accept my apology if you are one of a number to whom I have not yet written telling of our great loss May 1st when Marion passed away. Our sorrow is eased by the knowledge that faith in her Lord grew strongest during her greatest trial. And He has been a “very present help” in our time of trial.
Carol, who has been a championship 4-H cook and baker at the county and state fairs for several years, is our chief cook and we eat well, indeed. Bonnie and Debra share the honors for miscellaneous kitchen chores and dishwashing.
Through the last school year we were privileged to have Yoletta Ferdinands as an added daughter. She was a senior at Sunset High, being an AFS foreign exchange student from Malaya. At the close of the school year we enjoyed a brief trip to Victoria, B.C. Then we said “goodbye” a bit tearfully as Yoletta boarded a Greyhound which took her and other AFS students on a tour of the US. Later in the summer we visited her near San Francisco just prior to her departure for Malaysia. After trying to see all of Frisco in three days and nights while herding a 3rd grader [Debra] and a 6th grader [Bonnie], with two teenagers setting the pace, dad was “beat”!
Bonnie and Debra spent several weeks with both sets of grandparents.
Bonnie also spent a week at Camp Kilowan, a Camp Fire Girls’ camp. They enjoyed the summer but were glad to start school. Bonnie, age 11, spends much time reading or talking, is interested in science and animals and wants to be a veterinarian. At the county fair she won the 4-H junior muffin baking contest.
Debra, age 8, likes horses, wants one, does some cooking, is a tomboy but presently has a sophisticated hairdo which prompted the query “Daddy, don’t you think I look like a miniature teenager?”!!
Carol is a junior at Sunset High, works hard, earns honor roll grades, and has many activities. She is devoted to the youth work in our community church and to the Youth for Christ club. She is president of Empire Builders, the high school social-service for Washington county, and may be leader of the 6th and 7th grade 4-H cooking club. She plans to be a nurse or to study education with a minor in pre-med.
In late August it was my opportunity to fly to Chicago and to Philadelphia on business for Tektronix. In Chicago I had a good visit with Dick Rostrom, a bombadier with whom I flew while we were in the 401st Bomb Group in England. In Philadelphia I spent most of one night walking to see Carpenter Hall, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, etc. It was a rare opportunity for a westerner.
Twice this year I have had the pleasure of a visit from Kay Baker, a 401st pilot with whom I flew during WWII.
In mid-November I spent a 15 day tour of duty with the 6571st Aeromedical Research Lab at Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
Carol spent a wonderful week at Malibu Club, a Young Life camp on the British Columbia coast. Two boats carried the 150 teenagers on an 8 hr. trip between Vancouver, BC and the camp on Princess Louise inlet. Weather, water skiing and everything were described in only the strongest superlatives.
We hope that your year has been a happy one and that during the next God will continue to bless. We would like to see you whenever possible and until then, please write.
Bill, Carol, Bonnie and Debra