Christmas card to an inmate of an Ohio correctional institution

 Christmas card to an inmate of an Ohio correctional institution

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edward w Pritchard

Lucas Allen
inmate number- [deleted]
Grafton Correctional

Dear Mr. Allen:

I hope your move from The Summit County jail to Grafton went smoothly and I pray you will be comfortable at the new location and can quickly fit in to your new surroundings.

Again I would like to apologize for my spelling errors and any other mistakes in my letters. The young lady down the hall has been very busy with her new child and has been unable to help me with editing the letters I write for the Prisons without chains program for my Church. Please excuse an old colored woman who dropped out of high school if my letters contain mistakes.

Well I originally came to the Akron area in 1942. I lived on Turner Street near the Viaduct bridge with my Grand parents when I first moved North from Alabama, No I never met Le-Bron James but I believe I remember the family from the West side of Akron.

I enjoy looking out across the Portage Lakes when I can get out that way which is difficult as I don't drive anymore and I do not have a car. Sometimes one of my nieces will take me out to look at the Ducks on the Lakes on Sundays. Since I was a young girl I have enjoyed the Lakes and my Grand father used to tell me stories about the Indian tribes that lived exactly where the Young's hotel use to sit. The Hotel is now torn down, which is sad because it was a beautiful old building over a century old. My Grand Mother use to fish near the Hotel where she sat in a lawn chair with a cane pole for hours and hours to catch fish for our supper. I hated to clean fish but it was my job and I did it the best I could although to this day I hate the smell of fresh caught fish.

I wanted to tell you Mr. Allen about some of the young girls who run along the canal who I saw two Sundays ago just after I received your last letter. They drive up in their fine cars early on Sunday morning to run and it is so interesting to me to see how young women now have their own money and are independent, driving about and traveling alone. My how I wish I might have had an opportunity to live like that when I was a young woman. They wear bright colored running suits usually with a pink top and tight black slacks. They don't wear hats but use a pink band to hold back their hair which is very thick. These girls do not stand around and talk like the Men do before or after their runs but are all business. Always bustling about with so much to do.

Of course you may share my letters with other inmates if you wish.

I am very sorry you do not receive many letters from your own family but hopefully they will write more now that you are at the permanent facility. Please do not get discouraged with your situation and remember that many of us are praying for you. You are now part of our family even though we are not officially related.

I doubt that I could get up to visit you because of my health but I will continue to write for as long as I have the health to do so. Take care Mr. Allen and may God bless you this Holiday season until we may talk again.

Your friend,
Clara Jones