a coincidence and a letter

This evening, purely by coincidence, I came across a letter my great grandfather wrote 57 years ago
today.

The occasions was the death of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson's succession to the presidency. Great grandpa Simon wrote to President Johnson to express his support and well-wishes.

A bit of background is in order. At some point Simon had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. In order to occupy his time, he started writing letters. To family, to famous people. To anyone he could think to write to. He would type two copies of each letter -- one to send and one to save. This was no easy feat since his left arm was paralyzed and he was typing with one hand. But it served its purpose of keeping him busy. He saved his letters along with the responses in books, which he had bound. The one I have is titled Life Begins After a Stroke, Volume Four. I don't know how many volumes there were or what happened to the others. Simon had fantasies of getting them published.*

I am most amused by Simon's comments regarding the form response he got. He noted that he realized it was a form response, but added "I feel very pleased that my letter to him merited an answer."

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*Sounds familiar...