To Marna (Papurt) Wolfe [Letter 295]

Marna Wolfe (known in the family as “Docky”) was one of three daughters of Frank O’Connor’s sister Agnes Papurt.

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January 31, 1947 

Dear Docky: 

I have just received a letter from Mimi, telling me that she is leaving for Washington and sending you back to Cleveland. She did not say anything about what your plans are, how far you have progressed in school or how long you have to go before you graduate. 

Will you write me yourself and tell me in detail how things stand with you? As you probably know, I had agreed to send Mimi the money for you to go to school for one year, and Mimi had assured me that one year was all the time you needed. That year will expire in March, so the next check will be the last one. I don’t know whether Mimi has just left you up in the air, and I don’t know what it was that she intended for your future. I had made it very clear to her that I would send the money only for one year. 

So will you write to me and tell me how long you still have to go before you graduate from high school; and what are your plans? 

I had asked you to write to me, so that we could get acquainted, but you haven’t done it. I suspect that you are afraid of me and that that is Mimi’s fault. So don’t be afraid, and just tell me directly how things stand with you, what are your plans and what you would like to do. Tell me something about yourself. I would like very much to help you, if I can, but I can’t help you if I don’t know what you really are or what you are doing. 

And I can’t help you by just sending money on indefinitely. That is very wrong, both for you and for me. I hope that Mimi has not made you into the kind of girl who expects that. And I am very angry at Mimi, if she led you to believe that I am the kind of person who’d agree to be used in that manner. There is a great difference between

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helping a friend and just being used. Mimi has put us both in the second position. And I had wanted very much to be your friend. I still do. Now let me hear from you. 

Love from both of us,