Love Notes from June

Details

Published on Tuesday, 24 June 2008 19:05

Written by Stanton O. Berg

  

During our marriage, June would occasionally send me little love notes. They were short and cute little notes that expressed her love. While she could have just given them to me directly, she made them a very special surprise by mailing them to me. They were always a delight!  This was one of the many things that June did during our marriag years that made our life together an "Adventure."

I have a few examples of her love notes displayed below. Unfortunately I do not have the dates on all of the notes. They are however representative of notes given me over many years. They never stopped coming until finally Alzheimer's took over June's life.  Most notes were lost over the years including our letters to each other while I was serving in the Army and a thousand miles away from June.

The notes continued over the years of our marriage and ended after the year 2000 when Alzheimer's begain to take over June's life!  While June continued to do very well until after the year 2002, the last love note ended in the year 2000.

I never called June by her given name. I always used one of my pet names for her. Her use of the name "Doll" in the signature on the first undated example shown below was one of such pet names that I frequently used. In the 1983 love note June uses two of my pet names for her - "Doll" and "Monkey Putt". In a 1986 note she uses "Tonkey"  -  pronounced "Tunkee".

(The below example was one of the cutest of the love notes given to me - Hence it is shown first!)

(The below note has a postmark date on the envelope of August 1977 - Cover of note )

(Below is inside page of the August 1977 note.)

(The Below Note is dated 1983 - Front Cover.)

(Below is the inside left page of the 1983 note.)

(Below is the inside right page of the 1983 note.)

(The last love note below is undated and is an invitation for an evening of fun! - front cover.)

 

(Below is the inside page of the special invitation)

 

(This note on the below card was one that June had sent to me just prior to my July 1^st career retirement in June 1984. I was taking the first of two retirements. This was an early retirement from a managerial position (30+ years) at State Farm Companies. This permitted me to devote more time to my first love, the forensic sciences. Prior to that date, my forensic science work was a part time endeavor and had been for over 20 years. (June and I were both 56 years of age.) June would become my administrative assistant in my final forensic career years that ended December 2004. (20 years later.) It ended then only because Alzheimer’s was taking over June’s life and I needed to focus my attention on her care for the rest of her life. The “Golden Years” that June talked of had really not arrived although most of those 20 forensic years were some of the happiest years of our lives. While June talked of how I made her feel like a Queen, having June for my wife made me feel like a King!   One might say it all happened in the late fall of 1951 when I proposed to June. I played an ace and I won a Queen when she made me King of her heart!  Over night I went from a Jack to a King! )

( The Photo below was taken at a retitrement luncheon at the Venetian Inn, St. Paul, MN, June 29th, 1984. June and I are standing by a gift or roses presented to us by the State Farm Co.'s at the Luncheon.)

 

 

(The love note below in the form of a card is one that I just recently found. The envelope on the outside was addressed "Lambie".  The term "Lambie" was one of her pet names for me. I had written the year "1986" on the lower edge of the card.  The views below show the card on the front and the inside face page. June signed the card using one of my pet names for her: "Tonkey". The name would actually be pronounced "Tunkee".)

 

  

 

 

(The below card was received from June sometime in 1989. June was the executor of her mother Haldis's will. Her mother had died in August of 1988. I had helped June through the legal maze of carrying out the provisions of the will. This cute love note was a thank you from June following the settlement of the estate.)

 

 

(Below is the inside note that June added to the card.)

 

(Photo Below is June and Stan in the mid 1980's)

(The last love note (below) received from June was a printed card that I recieved from June on 5 October 2000.  Because June was at that time, into the third year of her Alzheimer's, I took special note of this card and dated it on the reverse side. The card came tied with a violet ribbon and was fitted into a flowered folder. It was titled "A Lifetime Love Affair". For me, this last love note from June always causes me very emotional moments.)

 

 

 

 

 

(The below picture of June was taken one month after the above card was received from June. Picture was taken at Cary, NC during a birthday party for June in November 2000 at our daughter Susan's home in Cary during one of our visits.)

 

 

Editorial Note: The year 2000 in which I received the last love note from June in the form of a card entitled: “A Lifetime Love Affair”, was June’s 3^rd year since being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in January of 1998. This card seemed  almost like a final statement from June on how she viewed our “Lifetime” together. I am sure she could see the distant storm clouds on the horizon and wanted us to make the most of the remaining time we had together.  We both had a goal of living our remaining life together to the very fullest.  With such a goal in mind, the year 2000 was a very busy one indeed. We started the year with a trip to Maui, Hawaii in January and ended the year with a bus trip to the "Christmas Shows" at Branson, Missouri in early 'December. We also crammed into the other months of that year, as much enjoyment as we could while attending forensic conferences. This enabled us to visit with as many of our old forensic  friends as possible. In February we attended the conference of the American Academy of Forensic Science at Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe. The forensic firearms conference at St. Louis, Missouri in June was also attended. The Minnesota state wide forensic group meeting in Duluth, MN in September was also on our agenda. In October we attended the conference of the forensic blood stain pattern people at Tucson, AZ.  Finally we visited our daughter Susan in Cary/Raleigh, NC in November to celebrate June’s birthday. At year end, our daughter Julie hosted the entire family for Christmas Eve at her home in Fridley.

 

June's funeral notice as published in the Minneapolis Star in October 2008 can be seen on this website under the "In Memoriam" label - Click on:

"June K. (Rolstad) Berg - In Memoriam"

 

 

 

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