Dear Dora,

Thanks for the nice letter. I bet you did have plenty of time to think things over on the long trip back. Many wonderful memories. And thanks so much for your offer of support for the National Club. I'm sure you will be a great help in many ways, including the sketches of the club officials. I'd like to know more about them myself!! My Info follows:

Married to Roberta Mohr McHenry (Bobbie), a dietary consultant for the State of Iowa department of Public Health. No children. Occupation: Physicist, Rodman Laboratory, Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Illinois.

Collecting about four and a half years; don't know exactly how long, as it sort of snuck up on me. I've been interested in telegraphy all my life, as I've always loved trains. I did Signal Corps work in W.W. II and then spent one summer on the heavy construction crew of an independent telephone company in Nebraska during college vacation. Really got started when our local rural county telephone company began burying their wires and abandoned their overhead plant. I first gathered up a whole load of crossarms to cut up for fire place wood. Was greatly annoyed by all the hardware and glass that I had to take off in order to cut and burn it. But as I looked at the glass and saw different company names and numbers, I started arranging them in order to see if I could fill in all the numbers. I've been trying to fill them in ever since, and there are still a few Hemingrays that are eluding me. I have fun with small collections within the big one. I'm working on the baby signals, CD126 and CD127, Denvers. (My collection of the Denvers is fairly complete-- at least I thought it was, until people showed me a couple at the National that I don't have!!) Even the lowly Hemingray-9. I have thirty-two different ones, differing in embossing wording or style and color. Errors fascinate me, too.

I think some of the happiest times in my life have been when Bobbie and I have been hiking along an abandoned line, with the clear blue sky above us, the wild flowers and fruits along the ground, and the birds singing to us. We still go back for our June supply of fresh fruit to the black raspberry patch we found while "Insulating" three years ago. Don't know how much time I'll have left for such pursuits with this job I have, but if I can give back to the hobby half of what it has given me, I'll be satisfied.

The enclosed picture was taken by the local paper for a write up of my first meet last year. The collection has grown, but I still look the same. I gave you Bobbie's nickname above. I answer to many things: Dennis, Denny, W.D., Mac and Hey You!!

Hope these ramblings will be of some use. Keep looking up!

Dennis

P.S. Can you help me? I have a receipt stub for Burl Ford, but no address can I find.

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Sorry, Dennis, I don't have an address. Does anyone know??

Dora