v26-1 We Get Letters

From time to time we publish letters from our readers, especially if they have some community history in them. This excerpt of a letter from Betty Thulin Larson who wrote to us about the Edgewater Chicago History Book Club and her interest in getting copies of the books. Her letters tell a bit of Andersonville history.

“Six generations of my family lived in the apartment building located at the (SE) corner of Balmoral Avenue and Paulina Street. I attended Trumbull School from Kindergarten to graduation. As a child my mother would take me to Lincoln Park Zoo. Going back to my childhood and remembering ice skating at Peirce School my childhood friend Eleanor and me would walk from our homes on Balmoral and Paulina street to Peirce school which was east of Clark Street and ice skate for an hour and walk home. We had a lot of camaraderie with all the children.

“I attended Amundsen High School from 1945-1949. I met my husband Ralph Larson in the Ebenezer Swedish Lutheran Church. We married September 10, 1949 and we had our wedding reception at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. We lived in an apartment in our family apartment building from 1949-1957. We had four lovely children, Lawrence, Jerold, Karolyn and Elizabeth.”

In 1957 the Larson family moved to Ravenswood Manor and in 1987 they moved to Lancaster, California to live near their daughter.

Betty has included some reprints of her family photos and a special thank you. “I received the Edgewater Scrapbook today and love all the history news about Edgewater and Chicago and your wonderful dedicated people who help preserve Chicago history. Thank you so much.”

Sincerely, Betty Larson