These letters were written by Donald Earl Caldwell, while he was studying petroleum engineering at Tulsa University, to his fiance, Frances Adeline Sullivan, who lived with her parents in Wichita. During their engagement, Don wrote Frances frequently--sometimes twice a day--and drove to Wichita often for visits. He discusses his classes and roommates, the plans for their wedding, and his search for an apartment in Tulsa where they can live after the wedding. The couple met when Don and Frances were both attending the community college in Hutchinson, Kansas. His father owned and operated the Caldwell Greenhouse in Hutchinson for many years. Don began his studies at Tulsa University after serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and Frances joined him there after their wedding on June 1, 1948. But ultimately the couple returned to Hutchinson to take over the greenhouse business when his father's health deteriorated unexpectedly. They lived in Hutchinson the rest of their lives, until their deaths there in 2017. These letters were kept by Frances until her death. In addition to Don's letters, there is a list of 79 friends and relatives to be invited to the wedding, and Frances' brief letter of resignation on May 14, 1948, because she is "to be married and move out of town." There is also a letter to the couple written by Frances' younger brother Perry, March 13, 1950, while he was serving in the U.S. Navy, to congratulate them on the birth of their first child.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Letters from Don Caldwell, Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Miss Frances Sullivan, Wichita, Kansas - May 26, 1947