In the fall of 1938, my father went off to college of Salem Oregon, leaving his family in Montana–his first major venture into life beyond the farm, the small town, the honey business, and the small city of Great Falls where his parents sometimes wintered over as they worked to get all 8 of their children–spanning an 18 year spread in age–college-educated and into the world. My father, #7 of those 8 children, left for Willamette University and grew lonely for his far-flung family. Many of his older siblings were already married and raising families, and he wanted a way to help keep everyone in touch. 

He came up with the idea of a “Round Robin” letter that would circulate among his parents and the homes of all eight young and adult children. The idea was simple: there was an order of who you received the letter from, whom you sent it to, and you had the chance then, every few months, to read news of the whole family, take out your old letter, put in a new one, and send it on.

Of course each one was supposed to receive, read, write, and send within a week… but I remember as a child there were times the robin got buried on my parents big desk and with a shriek they’d find it a month later… and sometimes it seemed to disappear for such a long time that everyone in their Christmas cards would inquire as to its whereabouts. Then in the mail it came again: full of handwritten or typed pages, recent photos, news clippings, recipes and other bits of communication.

My father is 88 years old now and has only one older sister left alive, but the Robin continues around– and as one uncle after another has left for heaven, the responsibility for writing has passed to the next generation. So a few days ago, my cousin Don, age 70, my cousin Bill, age 67, myself age 62, and my father were all at dinner and listening to this history. We marveled, in the age of email and cell phones, that this packet of family material is still circulating–and our delight in this old fashioned idea of getting real mail. There was talk that many of our aunts/uncles/parents saved all the letters they wrote in the Robin–and what an interesting archive this is in itself. Now we want to find and collate what we can.

We are committed to the Robin’s continuance, to educating our children to its significance, and saving what we can of its history.

Copyright ©2009 Christina Baldwin. All rights reserved.

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