Love is in the air, as always, around Valentine’s Day. But imagine putting pen to paper for the love of your life, hundreds of times!
On Display
The Nashville Public Library is showcasing a digital display of more than 200 love letters exchanged between a loving couple before and after they were married during World War II.
“You can really tell how much they loved each other and how much they missed each other,” said Kelley Sirko, metropolitan archivist with the Nashville Public Library, in an interview with Military.com.
Just the life of two very loving people during a very complicated time in our history.
William Raymond Whittaker and Jane Dean met and fell in love at the historically Black Meharry Medical College. Whittaker, or Ray as he was known, was from New Rochelle, New York, and moved to Nashville for school. But he lost touch with Jane when he was drafted into the Army in 1942.
Lost, Then Found
Stationed at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, Ray started writing letters to Jane, who was working as a medical lab technician at Vanderbilt University. Those letters, almost a century old, were found in a Nashville home that once belonged to Jane and her siblings. They were donated in 2016 to the Metro Nashville Archives, paving the way for the Nashville Public Library to put the letters on digital display.
“The letters were given to the archives by someone who had purchased a house that was once owned by Jane’s family,” said Sirko. “The letters were in a basket, and after reading through some of them, the new homeowner decided to donate them.”
There’s no record of Ray’s first letter to Jane, but found in the archives was her reply, dated July 30, 1942, where she used the very formal greeting, “Dear Wm R.” and then wrote, “It sure was a pleasant and sad surprise to hear from you. Pleasant because you will always hold a place in my heart, and it’s nice to know you think of me once in a while. Sad because you are in the armed forces, maybe I shouldn’t say that, but war is so uncertain; however, I’m proud to know that you are doing your bit for your country.”
Depending on how you interpret Jane’s love letter, she was either already madly in love or simply listing several mutual acquaintances who had gotten married recently, even mentioning those with children. She ends the letter with the words, “Write, wire, or call me real soon — Lovingly Jane.”
“The couple was married almost 50 years,” said Sirko. “And it all began with these letters.”
Nashville archivists have not been able to locate any living relatives of Ray and Jane, so most of what they know about them is from the letters. The couple did not have any children, according to an obituary for Ray, who died in Nashville in 1989.
The trove of letters also had a few photographs with them, along with Ray’s patch from the historically Black fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Reading between the lines, the love story between Ray and Jane also gave glimpses into what life was like in the segregated South with racial and gender issues, Army life, Jane’s work life, and their dream to be together freely.
“It’s more than just a love story between a soldier and his sweetheart. You can really get a look at a very pivotal time in our history,” said Sirko. “Ray’s letters give a lot of insight into the life of a soldier. With Jane, you get her everyday take of what’s happening in Nashville.“
Another letter from September 1942 shows Ray telling Jane, “I have something very important to tell you when I do see you, and you will be surprised to know as to what it is. I might even ask you to marry me. One never knows.”
Jane is skeptical in her reply, writing: “What makes you think you still love me? Is it that you are lonesome and a long way from home? I’m sure I want you to love me, but not under those conditions.”
Finally, Yes
Within two months, Ray wins Jane over, and they are married in November 1942 in Birmingham, with more letters to come showing Jane addressing Ray as “my darling husband.”
Still, the two continued to be apart, with Jane returning to her job and family in Nashville while Ray returned to his Army base. Eventually, they moved to New York for some years, then back to Nashville, where they settled into married life.
“It’s a wonderful thing to have such a sweet and lovely husband. Darling, you’ll never know how much I love you,” wrote Jane. “The only regret is that we didn’t marry years ago.”
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