Tag Archives: Uvalde

September 8, 1924

Monday Night
Sept 8, 1924.

Dearest Ina,

It was a blue Monday when I came down town this morning, but your letter and the fact that you have confidence in me, set everything all right. I think I have read it at least ten times and have looked at your pictures about the same number of times. You don’t know how encouraging you were in simply letting me know that you believed in me. You would have to know that I really care for you to appreciate just what it meant.

September 8, 1924

September 8, 1924

It is true, Dear, that we haven’t been together very much but that is no fault of our own, and I am thankful that I was with you even for the short while. I really mean it from the bottom of my heart, I have had just such a girl as yourself in a mental picture for a long time, though I didn’t think she could have those qualities and be so beautiful as yourself. As a rule I am shy of the girls for I usually find that they dance, that they are Catholics, or that they have some quality that I could never like. With yourself it seemed that we agreed on everything, and best of all you were not wearing a solitaire. Who wouldn’t miss a train?

I consder that the most pleasant time I’ve ever spent and I’ll always remember it, even if you should decide that you don’t care for me. I only wish that I could offer you more in a material way, but I doubt if that would mean real happiness to you. To my mind the happiest people are not the ones who have the most money or live in the greatest amount of style, but the ones who really enjoy the pleasures of one another.

I am really pleased to have you tell me that you don’t know whether or not that you love me, for with yourself it is different. I would want you to be sure of yourself and I realize that you haven’t been with me enough to know. I hadn’t heard of Mr. Parmans request but nothing in the world would please me more than to come to Uvalde and relieve him for a while. If I could be down there for a month and see you often, I am sure that we would know one another pretty well and it would be doing the fair thing by you. You might not like me near so well, but it would be better to find it out early in the game. I don’t know what Mr. Bishopp will do, for my stay is uncertain here, depending upon cases. He planned that I should make a survey in the state after Oct 1st and this would probably take about 10 days. No doubt he would want me to come to Dallas when I have finished the year’s work here.

He is inclined to favor me and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he would ask me to come down there before reporting to Dallas. He saw your pictures when he was here and is aware of my personal interest at Uvalde. He knows that a trip down there would be welcomed by myself. I was so proud of your pictures that I had to show them and it only took a glance for him to recognize them. He thinks you are mighty fine, and I know you are wonderful.

When there is anything that you would like to have me tell you, please ask me. I want you to know everything and I’ll tell you anything even if it hurts. But I don’t believe it would hurt to tell you.

You mean everything to me and I love you dearly. Here’s hoping I can see you next month.

Always,
Walter.

September 7, 1924

Sunday P.M.
Sept. 7, 1924

Dear Walter:

We have just returned from church and I want to answer your much appreciated letter which came yesterday.

I was so glad you felt so much encouraged with your work. In your letter before the last one you seemed a bit discouraged, and I am glad Mr. Bishopp came along and made you feel better. I have an idea how you feel about it sometimes after you have worked hard on it, especially on something like you have now that has been worked on for so many years without much success. You feel like it’s a hopeless case at times, don’t you? I have tackled things in my work that looked awfully hopeless, and I know how discouraged a person can get. But isn’t it a “grand a glorious feelin'” when you do finally succeed?

September 7, 1924

September 7, 1924

I know you are going to succeed even though you were to have to leave this particular branch for a time. The part that you have already done has been done thoroughly, so I consider that you have been successful so far, and if you have the privilege of continuing, you will, I think, have the satisfaction and honor of solving the problem entirely. I think it will be nice for you to have a laboratory down there since you are so deeply interested in the work of that state, and like the country there so well. However, it would please me very much if they would think it necessary for you to be away from there for a month or more in order to take charge of Mr. Parman’s work in Uvalde while he is on his vacation. He expects to leave about the middle of October I think. Don’t you think a few weeks of good Texas fresh air and sunshine would help your feelings? Not that I think your health is failing, but really, Uvalde is a wonderful place to come for rest.

I am feeling fine now since my vacation. I feel so refreshed from the rest that I took that I really don’t mind work a bit. It has been nice and cool for the past few days, and that gives a person a little “pep” you know. I am going to need a surplus of it soon, too, because the rush season is coming on.

It was too bad that you couldn’t be present at your sister’s wedding, but I suppose she will write you all about it. I know your mother needed your letter the next day, because she would naturally be awfully lonely. However, the fact that her daughter is so happy and has married a fine young man will be a comfort to her. I sincerely hope they will be happy, and, since they are congenial and love each other, why shouldn’t they be?

I hope I will have a letter from you before long saying that you will work in Uvalde next month.

Sincerely,
Ina

June 23, 1924

In June 1924, Walter was visiting ranches near Uvalde, TX to teach the ranchers how to combat the pernicious screw-worm fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax), which was then wreaking havoc with cattle and sheep. One Sunday, he met a young lady named Ina, but didn’t quite catch her last name. Nonetheless, he was so smitten that he wrote her a letter the next day.

Regan Wells, Tex.
June 23, 1924

Dear Miss Field,

I am taking the liberty to write this because I’d like to have you know that I certainly enjoyed your company Sunday. I only wish that I could have become better acquainted with you, though I feel that I know you quite well.

I started this note just before the dinner bell rang and immediately after eating we went coon hunting at Mr. Miller’s. The ladies didn’t go but I thought of you just the same. Had some fun and caught one good coon. They hunt them here just as they do in Mississippi.

June 23, 1924

June 23, 1924

When I returned Sunday evening Mrs. Taylor said some mighty nice things about you, but I can assure you that they only confirmed my opinion of you. You were a good sport to climb the mountain and get wet, and I wonder if the after effects were good. Have felt that you might have taken a cold, or that the exercise was too much for you.

Miss Ina, I am not sure just now but I believe that I can persuade Mr. Laake and Mr. Brundrette to get along without my assistance Saturday. I would like to come to Uvalde and return Sunday. If it is agreeable to yourself and you have no other engagement, I would like to see you Saturday evening. I presume that you are on duty during the afternoon. If it is not possible to see you Saturday, possibly I could go to church with you Sunday morning. I am not so anxious to go to church but I would like to see you.

Would you drop me a line so that I’ll get it Thursday? Trusting that I may hear from you and hoping that I can see you, I am,

Your friend,
Walter E. Dove

March 21, 1919

On returning from the Great War, Walter resumed his previous job with the US Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Entomology. His salary was $1,800 per year, which is equal to $22,913 in today’s dollars. As before, his work consisted of investigating various insect problems in the Southwest and developing solutions for them. He continued to correspond with some of his old Army buddies, but otherwise focused entirely on his work.

March 21, 1919

March 21, 1919

Meanwhile, Ina finished an Associate’s degree at a local college, paying her way with a Spanish language scholarship. She then took a job in the tax collector’s office in Uvalde, TX, a small town west of San Antonio. She was a popular young lady, and by the age of twenty-five she had rejected twelve marriage proposals.