-
derivative filename/jpeg
-
363-05544 to 363-05545.pdf
-
Digital Object Identifier
-
363-05544 to 363-05545
-
Title
-
Letter from Chuck Keever to Beverly Keever's family about marriage
-
Description
-
Letter from Chuck Keever about his plans to marry Beverly Deepe Keever, written to her parents April, 1968
-
AI Usage Disclosure
-
Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
-
Transcript
-
--------------------
- Page 1
--------------------
3 April
Dear Mr. & Mrs. Deepe,
I guess that Bev has already told you that I have asked her to marry me and that she has at least tentatively agreed to do this (which has, as you could doubtless guess from my high state of enthusiasm for your wonderful daughter last June, made me just about the happiest guy in the world!) She has, however, taken a very pragmatic, legal-type approach to matrimony, having already extracted from me a contract whereby she has the right to require me to cook our breakfasts each morning after we are married-and further to require me to serve her her breakfast in bed on Sundays! (The quid pro quo for this required undertaking on my part is, of course, the thing that makes me very, very happy she agrees to marry me no later than 1 June 1969---pointing out, by the way, that the breakfasts start the next morning!) In any event, it is this legalistic approach to things matrimonial on Bev's part which has prompted me to assert my right as an attorney (as well as a Marine) to present some evidence for the defense and Bev has graciously consented to this.
This particular legal-type confrontation occurred-or commenced-when Bev let me read her very fine article on Marines in Vietnam. My almost immediate reaction was that although the article was very interesting, it was hardly an article designed to soothe the apprehensions of the parents of a young lady who was weighing a proposal of marriage by a Marine-and of a Marine who has already served a year in the field in Vietnam, at that! Ergo, this very short statement of defense on behalf of a Marine who hopes very much to become a part and parcel of your daughter's life!
I don't know if Bev has told you about my proposal-but it occurred over a three week-end period of time during which on the first week-end I failed to get up the courage to propose, only to be ordered back to Saigon the next week-end by my Commanding General (who happens to be another devotee of Bev's although luckily he is happily married already!) "to get the job done." I finally did get marriage proposed the next week-end-and Bev likes to remember that I proposed before I even kissed her (although that's not really true-I had kissed her on the forehead the evening before just
--------------------
- Page 2
--------------------
as I was leaving). Bev really didn't give me a response that week-end, so I returned the third week-end only to get no real response again, although she didn't say, "No." It was in this state of suspended animation that I carried my very deep love for your daughter back to the States, and nurtured it carefully during the time I was in Washington, D.C. -and then on 17 December Bev finally relented and made her agreement-only to remember that prior to committing herself she had to take care of the problem of breakfasts!
In any event, I'm confident that that record of dashing romanticism doesn't really fit with Bev's article in all particulars. I understand, of course, that journalists make their work sensational in order to improve the sales-but I didn't want this particular piece (which I think is really outstanding, by the way) to mislead you folks so that you would immediately write Bev back a letter, inviting her attention to certain of the sentences in her article, and asking her if she has really gone out of her mind!
I'm sorry that I don't have more time right now to tell you about the wonderful times Bev and I are having- now that I'm back with Bev, every minute of every day seems wonderful regardless of the little distractions which seem so inherent in the situation over here. We are having a rather important planning conference this week-end in our civilian organization, and perhaps when this is over Bev and I will be able to send you a joint-newsy letter. Obviously, however, we shall continue to rely on her writing talents, because I really look bad by comparison in this field!
I'm glad to hear that you folks enjoyed your trip to California - and I only wish that I could join Bev in her trip to Nebraska next month. I'm sure that it's quite apparent that my heart and thoughts will be coming with her.
Sincerely,
Chuck
-
Date
-
1968, Apr. 3
-
Subject
-
Letters; Long-distance relationships; Marriage proposals
-
Location
-
South Vietnam
-
Coordinates
-
10.8231; 106.6311
-
Container
-
B151, F6
-
Format
-
personal correspondence
-
Collection Number
-
MS 363
-
Collection Title
-
Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
-
Creator
-
Keever, Beverly Deepe
-
Copyright Information
-
These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
-
Publisher
-
Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
-
Language
-
English
