Mr. Melvin Lackley was visiting Harbert, a beautiful beach area on Lake Michigan – about 70 miles from Chicago.

Melvin left his mother at home in Chicago; it appears that Melvin was traveling with his own family and Mrs. Lackley may have been ill-disposed toward travel.

Early in September of 1933, Melvin received a postcard from mother.

The face of the postcard is a postcard photograph of the Von Humboldt Monument in Chicago’s Humboldt Park.

Von Humboldt is one of those early-19th century intellectual giants who achieved distinction in diverse fields of science, philosophy, and literature.

His statue reflects the influence of the large German community in Chicago.

(One could assemble an enormous collection of postcard pictures of American statues of European notables – the monuments reflect the geographic spread of national and ethnic communities across North America.)

Von Humboldt is a fascinating figure and I encourage readers to check out an on-line biography.

On the reverse of the postcard, Mrs. Lackley writes that “Mrs. Eudenbach is coming on Tuesday to stay with me until you return”.

The message may have been good news to Melvin if he was worried about mother being left alone.

It does not seem that Mother intended a reproach that someone was coming to stay with her as she concludes, “Love to all”.

One hopes that Melvin and all enjoyed the late-summer days at the beach and that mother was entertained by Mrs. Eudenbach.