Grandfather Says: The Continuing Chronicles of Elaine, Part 25

The following was written by my late wife Elaine. She wrote a long book, a diary really, from which this is one passage:

1962 Missile Crisis, and Looking for a Bigger House, Farther from Washington

During Kennedy’s presidency, relations between the US and the Russians, with Khrushchev their leader, were not good. There was a “Missile Crisis” in 1962 with Russian missiles stationed in Cuba, pointed at the US. Dave believed that in Arlington we were too near “Ground Zero” if any nuclear missiles ever got fired off to Washington. And since we were planning to move anyway because of needing a bigger house, he started looking farther out of the city area for a safer place from which he could still commute to his job.

(Once again, in the early ’70s when the Vietnam war was going on and on and body bags were coming back to the US every day, we began to think of the possibility that Jonathan, the oldest of our boys, could possibly be drafted into that quagmire, and we considered moving the family to Prince Rupert, Canada, on the West Coast; we’re happy we never had to do that. But families have to do what they have to do. And families have to think about options when they feel threatened.)

Moving to Warrenton, Virginia

Dave was watching Washington Post ads. (I saved the one listing the place we bought– our beautiful 17-acre place in Warrenton, Virginia.) The property was owned by a special old couple, Mr. and Mrs. C., who reminded us of Mr. and Mrs. F., our landlords in Lansing. All of them were pleased when we rented or bought their properties, knowing their places were appreciated and would be well taken care of.

When Dave took us all to see the Warrenton house after his first visit to it, we all loved everything about it, and made our plans to move in the summer of 1964. The house and land was priced at $35,000 including a stable with a loft which Dad made into a nice studio, and another outbuilding, a garage which we used for storage, also with a loft. Lots of fun exploring places! The whole property, starting at Route 17, went gradually uphill; from the very top of the hill there were long views to the west.

The house was an attractive Dutch Colonial with two stories and a basement.

Mr. C. had bought it as a pre-cut package from Sears Roebuck, for owner to build, years before. On the main floor was a large living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom. The stairway to the four bedrooms and bathroom upstairs had a generous landing at the top, which we later made into a bathroom. We called the small enclosed porch at the side “the sun room,” where we kept the TV, and there was a large open porch along the back of the house, and an attractive back lawn edged with a stone wall and boxwood hedges.

I was very fortunate that we could afford my staying home for most of the kids’ growing-up years, just as my mother had done when Ron and I were growing up. And the kids benefited from that, I’m sure.

They were good years in Warrenton, and Dave believed that the benefits gained from living there, for all of us, outweighed his long commute, which took 60 minutes each way (he was always pleased if he could shave off even one minute of this driving time). Commuting on those roads now would be much slower because they have become so badly congested.

We know of patent office people who commute beyond Warrenton to Culpeper and Rappahannock County; most of them have apartments in the city, and go home to the country just on weekends. Too bad.

We were lucky; we had it both ways. Country life and a reasonable commute.

To be continued…

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About the Author: RD Blakeslee is a nonagenarian in West Virginia who built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.

Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family