Left Out in the Cold

Meg Fries and Sr.Nolaska, O.P. (who was a sweetheart, by the way)

My father was notoriously protective of his family.  Here is a letter that he sent to St. Michael's Elementary School when his youngest daughter, Margaret, was left out in the cold.  Since my Dad mentions the 8th grade boys misbehaving, I imagine the year was the winter of  1959-1960 since that is the year that Marty would have been in eight grade.

           "My son, Martin, has been instructed to escort his sister, (Margaret of Mrs. Wiese's class) home from school each day.  This involves taking the Liberty Avenue bus to Pennsylvania Avenue and then walking six blocks towards Highland Park. 
             In order that this plan work smoothly, the two children should be able to leave school at about the same time, or at a prescribed difference in time as on Wednesday when Martin gets out at 2PM and Margaret at 3PM.  Each Wednesday Martin must find shelter for this hour and then return to the school exit where he can expect to find his sister.
             Yesterday things did not go well at all - no doubt to extenuating circumstances.  Margaret was released an hour too soon and Martin almost an hour too late.  ( I understand Mrs. Wiese is ill and the 8th grade boys misbehaved again).  As a result of this and very poor bus service, the children arrived home at 4:30PM in a badly frozen condition.  Margaret was out in the cold for a longer time than was good for her health.  Some stranger noticed her condition, and called the traffic policeman's attention to it.  This patrolman had just taken Margaret in tow when Martin arrived.
               The purpose of this letter is to ask you to help keep this cold waiting time to a minimum.  Anything that you do in this direction will be greatly appreciated.  If seeing me personally will help, I shall be glad to meet with you at your convenience.
                                                                       Respectfully,
                                                                       Charles A. Fries "