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Today we have an aerogramme letter postmarked 11 August 1964.from Robert Zerzawy in London to his aunt Helene in San Francisco. Robert’s birthday was July 27 and he would have been 65 years old.

 Phrases written in English are in italics.

Dear Helen,

It is hard to describe what joy and relief your birthday telegram brought. Almost a year had passed by without my hearing anything from you. I was seriously worried but I didn’t have the courage to ask what was going on. The Cablegram had been sent from Berkeley from which I can figure out that either you are or were with Harry and his family. To be on the safe side, it had been sent on July 26th so it would have reached me punctually on my birthday and really would have topped off my birthday if we hadn’t been having a postal strike here right then. It also was sent to my former address and so I did get it but somewhat late. Despite that, I thank you sincerely for thinking of me and I accept the big Kiss in lieu of unwritten letters in the hope that this bad habit will finally be broken by one of you and that I will find out about how you and your children and their children are doing. I only hope that you are all doing well and that the children are thriving and that you my dear Helen are staying young with them with your wonderful vitality.

Apparently you did not get my letter in November that I sent for your birthday or you didn’t make a note that my address had changed. I told you at that point that we had managed to get ourselves a small house, somewhat outside the city limits, but on the way to Richmond. It is located in London in a fairly wealthy area, 200 yards from the Thames, with sport grounds in front and enough garden in the back to give us the privacy we desire. I probably also reported that my company was changed into an office of the paint factory Bayer over which I preside. Not too much longer, in the next year I would like to retire if the firm grants me a pension, remains to be seen because I don’t have an entitlement to it. Anne is still working with me. We are also lucky in that we got with the house the opportunity to keep the cleaning lady who (pssst!) is very good and very willing to do things. After those lean years which we had to put up with for a quite some time, we are now doing pretty well. We ought to be happy with our life then. Unfortunately, it is human nature that one forgets easily and then creates problems that shouldn’t even really matter. But that’s probably the case everywhere.

Now I have told you in sort of an outline form about us. I would be glad to write in more detail when I know more about how you are doing. But in the meantime, I wish you, dear Helen, good health and much joy in the family. Greet Eva and Paul, Harry and his wife and the offsprings on both sides. Anne also enthusiastically joins me in these wishes.

I give you a hug to represent our old connection

Your Powidl

Although Robert was not able to join his brother Paul in San Francisco, it appears he was able to make a more comfortable life for himself in England than his brother did in the U.S. Of course, he lived longer and had more time to establish himself.

As we saw in letters posted earlier this year, Helene and Robert had gotten out of the habit of letter writing by the 1960s. It appears they don’t manage to write except for birthdays, and sometimes only sending a telegram.

I don’t know anything about Robert’s wife Anne. I found a marriage registry list on Ancestry that shows that Robert married a woman whose last name was Lock in the last quarter of 1949. This photo was in an envelope of Paul Zerzawy’s family photos and may be Robert’s wife:

In this and another letter, Robert signs his nickname – Powidl – a plum jam made in Bohemia. In a few of her stories about her childhood, she fondly remembers eating Buchteln filled with Powidl. I assume Robert liked the jam as much as his beloved aunt. I decided to find a recipe and make a batch in honor of today’s post and to have a taste of my grandmother’s childhood.