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#1: Letter to Ivah Gale
Grace Goodhue, an only child, befriended Ivah Gale from Newport, Vermont at the University of Vermont in 1897. Later in life, Grace wrote, "Totally unlike in every way, we became fast friends and I knew in her the strong ties which often bind together two sisters."
Both graduated from the University of Vermont and entered the teaching profession. Grace taught at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts and she started dating Calvin Coolidge, living in a nearby boarding house.
Grace Goodhue's letter to her best friend who could not attend her wedding on the eve of her marriage to Calvin Coolidge, October 4, 1905, was recently donated to Coolidge Foundation. Here are a few sections:
My dearest beloved sister: It isn't without a great big sigh and a bigger little pain down in my heart that I begin this my last letter before the scene is changed. That might surprise my mother who claims to believe that I have no feelings, because I don't talk about them. I sometimes think that those who can speak of them don't always have the most sensitive ones. I am sure that you and Calvin are going to like one another very much. He is quiet and doesn't say much but what he does say amounts to something. That's one thing I like about him. Miss Willonghby was having some work done at the dentists in Northampton the other day and Dr. Nichols said that he was glad Coolidge was going to get married and he hoped his wife would be somebody who would train him right. He said he didn't talk enough, that people thought him unfriendly when quite the opposite was true. I knew that would amuse Calvin so I wrote him about it and he wrote back that he expected I'd make a great deal better man of him but that he didn't believe I'd ever get him to talking much. Your letter did me no end of good. These last weeks have been pretty hard for us all, I guess. Mother isn't very strong and she feels a little bit hard because I am going so hurriedly and sometimes she says things which strike in pretty deeply. She and Calvin set the time but she says he was very persistent. He talked with father later in the day and he called him very reasonable. I'll surely not forget to tuck in that dollar. Be sure and write to me at the usual time, and send the letter here, then I'll get it on my way back. I'll be looking for that note before the fourth. With unending and unbounded love, Always your own devoted Sister.
Grace kept up her devotion to both Calvin Coolidge and Ivah Gale throughout her life. Her mother never warmed up to her husband. Ivah moved to Grace's home in 1946 and lived there until Grace Coolidge died in 1957.
#2: Letter to John Coolidge
In July of 1932, Grace wrote her son, John (age 25) and his wife, Florence, from Plymouth, Vermont. She was vacationing there with husband Calvin and walking their dog Timmy to the cemetery where her other son, Calvin Jr. was buried. She wanted to share her thoughts of that time with her remaining son. She began by telling of her son's Calvin Jr's" smile:
I think of Calvin's smile - somehow, this morning it seemed very vivid and I thought of the last afternoon, eight years ago, when I leaned over his bed knowing that he was fast slipping beyond the reach of my voice, perhaps even then would not hear, and I said, "You're alright Calvin, as I had said it so many times in the days when he was troubled about some little matter. Without opening his eyes, he nodded his head, ever so little and the flicker of his old smile came and was gone. Then, they began giving him oxygen and kept his heart beating but his spirit had slipped away. All the afternoon, dark, awe-inspiring clouds had rolled across the sky, the lightening was almost constant and thunder followed it in mighty roars of majestic power. Calvin's delirium seemed to be apart of it all and, for a long time, he seemed to be on a horse leading a calvary charge in battle. He called out, "Come on, come on, help, help!" And, for a time, he thought he was sitting backwards on his horse and asked us to turn him around. Father put his arms under him and tried to persuade him that he had turned him but he thought he was still wrong side around. Finally, he relaxed and called out, "We surrender, we surrender!" Dr. Boone said, "Never surrender, Calvin." He answered only, "Yes." And some how I was glad that he had gone down, still fighting. After it was all over, Dr. Coupal broke down and cried. I found him at the window & I put my arms around him and told him that everything was alright that he and the other doctors had done everything within their power and we must comfort ourselves with the thought that courage such as Calvin had shown us all must now be our example. I have written all this down for you, this morning, because I want you to know that death seems to me a very natural, even a very beautiful transition, a passing from life here, interesting though it is, into a more abundant life.
Grace Coolidge's strong faith kept her going. She wrote this to her surviving son while her husband was napping. "He went to service last Sunday and will today. He looks better day by day and is regaining some of his lost pounds." Some historians believe her husband,Calvin, had a long bout of depression after their son's death.
Grace signed off with her usual affection, "I wish you knew how much I love you. Perhaps you will, some day. Devotedly, Mother C.
#3: On Plymouth, Vermont
Obviously both Grace and Calvin had a special place in their hearts for Plymouth, Vermont. : Calvin's most famous speech, "Vermont is a state I love" was given from the back of a train in Bennington in 1928) It was at Plymouth that Calvin became the 30th U.S. President, sworn in by his father after the sudden death of President Harding on the West Coast. Grace knew how much her husband loved Plymouth and arranged their first Summer White House there in 1924 after their son's death. In August of 1932, she wrote her son John and his new wife Florence that her husband had said, "I should think the children had better spend their vacation here, this summer...Of course it will be quiet, with no other young people around, but the air is good, the food fair-to-middlin', sleeping excellent and a welcome as deep and wide as the universe."
In another letter to Maude Trumbull, September 27, 1932 her son's mother-in-law, she wrote about their impending visit to Plymouth:
"The lean-to, as Mr. Coolidge has called the new wing, in referring to it, is far from complete, as far as furnishings go, but there is everything essential, and I think we can make you comfortable. Mr. Coolidge does things when he gets around to it and I do not make him uncomfortable nor myself unhappy by urging him - As I told John, it is his wing and I am letting him flap it."
After her husband's death, Grace was left in charge of the Plymouth homestead.) She commented to her friend and physician, Dr. Boone, (Sept. 7, 1933), "With the Plymouth properties on my hands and this place here (Northampton house), my time is fully occupied and my problems many and varied. However, it is well for me to be busy and to keep the old mind active. I am getting some experience in affairs which I have never known anything about." On October, 1933, she wrote her son John about Aurora Pierce, their housekeeper in Plymouth, "I sent Aurora her quarterly fifty dollars." Grace continued, "I expect to hear from her any day asking where the wood is coming from for the winter." Aurora had been Calvin's father's housekeeper for 40 years. She was also the one who saved many artifacts in the house. She was so practical she was planning to use them up some day.
August 27, 1953, Grace wrote to son John about the town cemetery: "Father (Calvin) ordered his stone and Calvin's at the time of your brother's death and had a blank place left for the date of his own death. He also had a piece of matching granite reserved ..for my grave."Â
Since we are about to commemorate the birthday of Calvin Coolidge this July 4th at Plymouth with a graveside ceremony including a wreath sent from the White House to the Vermont National Guard, this is an interesting comment. Many have noted the simplicity of the gravestones. Calvin, the president, chose them.
#4: On Baseball
The "greatest White House baseball enthusiast of all time" First Lady Grace Coolidge. She was a fixture at Opening Days, World Series, and ordinary games at Fenway. She told her friends, "Not one of you cares a hoot about baseball but to me it is my very life." Her son John always said that she developed this passion after entering the White House. Washington Senator baseball player Bucky Harris recalled, "all the Washington players knew her and spoke to her. She was the most rabid baseball fan I ever knew in the White House." During those years she even influenced her husband, the President, to stay for important games. When the Senators tied the Giants in the middle of the 1924 World Series, Calvin stood up to leave. Grace sputtered, "Where do you think you're going? You sit down." And he did.
When the First Lady could not attend a game, she listened to the play by play on radio. Her son recalled, "She liked to visualize it &She liked to keep busy, she liked to knit during those radio broadcasts." She did not watch television when that was available. She believed that needleworking chair seats justified the time she spend listening to the games.) Her passion was recognized by the American League when their president sent her handbags with season passes each year.
September 30, 1950, From Grace Coolidge in Northampton, MA to Miss Ivah W. Gale, Strafford, VT
"Florie and I have been busy forenoons getting together a few duds to wear to the ball games. We bought some things in Boston and went to Springfield for dresses and hats. Afternoons we glue our ears to the radio listening to the broadcasts of these last exciting games. We get so tense that we practically fold up when they are over. I succeeded in getting reservations in Camden, New Jersey which is just across the river from Philadelphia. The Phillies could lose out in the race for the pennant. If they did it would be the Dodgers who won it. The race in the American League is between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. Today, tomorrow and Sunday will doubtless settle the matter but in case of a tie in either League there would be a play off Monday. In any case we shall be starting at the crack of dawn Tuesday morning. Your Boston Paper will tell you what happens."
She and Rex Sox manager Joe Cronin arranged a day for "deaf children" to attend a Boston game. This combined two of her interests, baseball and finding opportunities for children with disabilities.
Grace Coolidge followed baseball into her own late innings. Her obituary in the Boston Globe, July 9, 1957 headlined her with the recognition, "Long Active Red Sox Fan." I often think she thought of life as a game. Each day was filled with opportunities and she would carry on whatever the score.
#5: On Love of Family
January 2, 1929 (before his marriage to Florence Trumbull on Sept. 23, 1929), John Coolidge, age 22, wrote his mother from New Haven, CT where he was working with the New Haven Railroad, on the day before his mother's birthday:
"Just to let you know I'm thinking of you on your birthday and loving you as no boy has ever loved his mother. Every happiness I know, or ever will know, is enhanced a thousand fold by your love and care. Your own, Johnny"
When Grace and Calvin's son John became engaged to Florence Trumbull, Grace penned a very excited letter to her son.
May 15, 1929 To Mr. John Coolidge Foundation New Haven, Connecticut "Johnny! I guess I am as excited as Florence. I can hardly realize the good news is true--even yet. Not a word from father--I shall not mention it until he does." "It certainly is wonderful! I cannot fully express myself until I can get hold of the two of you and squeeze you!..My but I love you and believe I'm the happiest Mother on earth."
June 19, 1929:
"John, you are a son for a mother to be proud of and I want you to always feel that I am standing by ready to do anything for you and Florence. You two together should make something very beautiful of your lives. Just don't let little things be-cloud your vision and when the rough places have to be gotten over hold your chin up, throw your shoulders back and go forward--for it's the rough places which steady the feet and strengthen the muscles--life is so beautiful--never do anything which will mar the sweetness of it. So shall each year bring you new appreciation of it. Truly, how I love you--and now I want you to find in life all that is just and true and right and live it gloriously!"
July 4, 1956 (one year before her death) Northampton, MA. To Farmington, CT
"Dearest John, Your thought of me on these anniversary days means more than I can put into words. Lydia has called you "the best father in the world." I know that you are the best and most thoughtful son."
She hopes they will celebrate "the Fourth in some interesting way. I am set for an afternoon of baseball." Grace refers here to Lydia, one of her granddaughters. John and Florence raised two daughters, Cynthia and Lydia, and Grace wrote to them as her "precious four" spending holidays and vacations with them.
#6: Grace's Writing
October 27, 1931 from Plymouth, Vermont to Maude Trumbull, in Plainville, Connecticut:
"If you could only be here this lovely morning! The wind and rain, last Sunday, stripped the leaves pretty well off the trees so that our coloring has gone but the hills are dark in evergreen patches and gray with bare branches--The moonlight, last evening, gave an understandable meaning to lunacy and I could see where too much of that sort of thing, either real or imaginary, would necessitate heavy iron bars to keep mere human beings from doing all sorts of moon-mad deeds."
Grace Coolidge did enjoy writing to her friends and relatives and occasionally even wrote a poem. An unpublished poem on Plymouth, Vermont's cemetery might be one you keep in mind if you visit the historic site this summer or in the fall. She titled this "Communion"
A quiet place, amid enfolding hills,
Green grass beneath my feet
And overhead, blue sky
With in between long, distances
To dream about; Within a green-roofed house,
Sweet memories blessing every room;
Across the road, a small white church
Whose open door invites to prayer; And just around the turn,
On yonder hill, God's plot
Where sleep His dead--and mine--
Beneath two guardian pines; So dear a place on earth,
So near the home called heaven; And yet, the unwise ask,
Where is thy God.
Her philosophy of life comes through in letters and poetry. After the death of her husband, she wrote her friend, Joel Boone, "In whatever way we live, it is a great experience and as long as we make the most of it the greater life to come appears attractive. As we rise above ourselves and conquer in the struggle to overcome human weaknesses so do our spirits wax stronger and that is the main objective, it seems to me." (July 6, 1934)
She also never lost her humor. In a January, 1952 letter to him, she writes about the changes to the White House. "It seems to me that it was a mistake but who am I to criticize? Nobody asked me. I would like to see the house when it is finished. I may take you up on your invitation, put on a wig and dark glasses and make a tour over the place."
And one of her last letters: (June 1, 1955) "I simply have no ginger nor any ideas left for the letters that I would enjoy writing...It is no fun to lead a restricted life but if that is the way it has to be I still enjoy it."
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