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[envelope addressed to Debbie Blakey from father, Laurence L. Layton]
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800 Buchanan St.,
Albany, CA 94710
April 11, 1978
Mrs. Deborah L. Blakey
Dearest Debbie girl
Last week I received a note from your mother, remarking how lovely it was for you and Phil to be together down there. From this & from something Laurence John said I gained the impression that you may not be returning to California for some time. Is this the case? Whatever you do it should be toward maximizing your own happiness. You are young for only a short time and only once! I wish that I had had some better insights when I was your age. I suppose that I have not been really happy for many years – at least not for over 10 years. I keep having a “feeling” the time is running out – wasting – & that I have somehow lost the secret of happiness. Yet I know that it depends only upon my own attitudes – that I have to break away from – or declare my own independence from the past.
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I should be able to experience this feeling since all of my children are on their own & your mother is taken care of and happy. Perhaps I must feel needed in order to experience happiness. I must be essential – This is terrible. I have been thinking of traveling to Mexico but I’m afraid to go alone – perhaps I should simply fly off to Yucatán Mexico as Tom keep suggesting.
We have had a very bad (wet) winter & I have a real mess in my yard. I hope to open the pool next week – so this may give me something to do.
Laurence J. now has a regular job at Herrick Hospital 40 hours per week on 6 days. He seems to enjoy the work, but never has anything to say. I’m glad that I could help him to become established. He sleeps here 4 nights per week so that he can get to work early. Tom was up for Easter spring vacation. He likes to talk so I did talk with him. He still
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does not know about a job for next year. I think that this uncertainty is part of what bothers me. He seems happy enough in spite of his situation. He will be unable to start his house at Tahoe this year because of restrictions on sewer hookups – too bad since he has $17,000 tied up in his lot. Of course I’m in trouble with my house since your mom can’t give me a valid Deed of Reconveyance without going to the US Consul to get her signature witnessed. Either that or the notary has to have a statement from a judge or official that he is a Notary & that that is his signature – All stupid but that is California law.
Annalisa & children are well. She enjoys her research job & certainly enjoys her children. I talked to mother on the phone last week; she and all of her “relatives” are well. Mother will be 83 on 23 May, 1978; her address is Lippert Terrace, Apt. 508, 4420 MacCarkle Ave.SE, Charleston, West Virginia. Zip 25304.
I plan to retire in 1979 around November, i.e. 18 months from now. Of course the problem is what to do with myself and my time. I think that I will become a postdoctoral student for a year or so. I like learning new things if I see a use for them – I don’t know how I’ll feel if I don’t know what I am going to do with my “new” knowledge.
There is just a chance that Tom may get a job in the Bay Area in which case I can see him occasionally. If it’s not too often, he may be able to be pleasant when I’m around.
I do hope that you will use your surgical training; you need that probably in order to be happy yourself. Don’t forget – though that serum hepatitis is almost an occupational disease for people in surgery. It is a “heal bad” disease as you know.
I hope that you will write me of your activities & plans soon. Also your grandpa longs for letters from his daughters & granddaughters too.
With all my love,
Your Dad,
Laurence L. Layton
P.S. Tell your mom that registered mail should be sent c/o the Laboratory in case I’m out of town.
PS (2) 4/19/78 Tom just called that he will be interviewed for a job at San Jose State College on Tuesday Ken will be with me Saturday-Monday. How is your Pinto down there? Send me some snapshots.
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Letter to Lisa Layton from husband Laurence Layton
657 Vistamonte Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94708
May 24, 1978
To Lisa P. Layton
Dear Lisa:
Well spring has arrived with brisk days and changeable weather. All the family are well. Lori and David are both quite tall and beautiful. David is still quite active but not as wild as he was at Christmas time; he has learned to swim. Tom has accepted a tenure track job at San Jose State so maybe only an hour away. He will be in Berkeley on June 10. We will try to find a suitable home for him to buy. He so much wants his own place and a family. He has published and has in press 12 papers since going to Dominguez Hills. He may be able to do even better at San Jose.
My mother was 83 yesterday. I called her and she wants me to pass her love and concern on to you. Aunt Dora age 85 has moved to Charleston too; she is practically blind and could no longer live by herself. Debbie stopped in to see me last Sunday. She looks well and seems happy even though in the process of getting a divorce. She is so constantly on-the-go that I have not really had a chance to talk with her. She is trying to get a job in Sacramento. I have not received the Deed of Reconveyance. I understand it is that the Temple house in Georgetown. I received the paid check in April
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so I know that you did receive the payments; I have been wondering if it had been lost. Please get the Reconveyance to me here at the laboratory as soon as possible. My heart has been giving out and I am anxious to get my estate in order so that Annalisa can settle everything and comfort.
I do not know whether or not I told you that I had a cardiac arrest while being examined at Kaiser. I am on Inderal to keep the heart from going into “fibrillation” (shivering without beating, the usual cause of death in heart attacks). I sent copies of L.J.’s [Larry Layton] certificate to him as he requested. I feel quite hurt that he behaved the way he did after all my efforts to give him a second chance that education and a nice place in which to live these past few months. I feel it is tragic that he quit his good job at Herrick Memorial to go to Guyana – into nothingness.
I hope that your own illness is under control and that you will have a long happier life. Incidentally, Dick/Eva said that your father is now completely senile unable to do anything or to understand anything. Tom has kept in contact. He is trying to “capture” your family’s story while Eva R. and Lisl Burnham are still alive.
All our love, Larry L. L.