whit19640809
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Letter from Carl D. Duncan to Patricia Whiting, August 9, 1964
Duncan, Carl D. (Carl Dudley), 1895-1966
1964-08-09
English
Carl D. Duncan wrote this letter after spending time pet sitting Patricia Whiting's kitten, Twischen.
PDF
11 X 8.5 in.
Correspondence
Whiting, Patricia, 1940-2010
San Jose -- California
Dr. Carl Duncan and Patricia Whiting Collection
San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives
Series I, Box 1, Folder 13
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Dr. Carl. D. Duncan (1895-1966), former SJSU professor and chairman of the National Science Department, began his career at San Jose State College in 1922. During his tenure he mentored many students, and between the years 1964-1966, he mentored Patricia Carpio (Whiting), a student in the Humanities & Art. Whiting worked for Dr. Duncan, who served as the secretary of the Field Studies program at that time. Whiting went on to become the first Filipino woman elected to the Oregon State Legislature, serving three terms from 1972-1978, and a community activist and beloved leader. Duncan and Whiting maintained a long-term friendship that lasted until his death in 1966. Patricia Whiting died at age 69 on July 1, 2010 of cancer. She is survived by her husband Vincent Whiting.
Aug. 9, 1964 P.M. / After Twischen feeding. Dearest Patricia: Beautiful word – “Dearest” – rhymes with nearest, kindest, fondest, sweetest! I’ll stop on that one, but you’ll never know (or maybe you will) what you did to my spirits when you began your sweet little note to me in the same way. An old childhood rhyme and song that doubtless you know – deserves paraphrasing. – Its beginning: “I’ll give to you a paper of pins / For that’s the way that love begins,” etc. The paraphrase / “Then I will stroke you under the chin, For that’s the way for love to begin, ‘Cause you are so cuddly and all of that. And you are Patricia’s wee little cat.” Twischen and I got along superbly this evening. He was expecting me, for he meowed repeatedly as soon as I opened the front door. As soon as I was in the kitchen and while he was rubbing against my legs, he told me in no uncertain terms that what he really wanted was some fresh chow. What little (a tablespoonful) he had left over from his breakfast had lost its savor. So I washed his two little dishes, helped him to a liberal portion of his chow mix & filled the other dish with water. He seemed most grateful and promptly gulped several mouthfuls of chow without waiting for it to warm up. (Later he went back for more.) Then he took a good drink – performed his duty in the sandbox – and was ready for play. We played ball for quite awhile (15? min.) under the chair, up in the chair & out in front of the chair. I kept the ball in motion much of the time to make it more tantalizing but part of the time he’d play with it no matter if I ignored it. A few times he got the rubber just above the ball in his mouth & ran straight across the floor till the stretched rubber stopped him & took the ball away. He also played at polished rock spinning, attacking paper bags, finger chewing (mine, of course), finger licking & whatever else he could think up. Then he was ready to be picked up, & cuddled, & have his chin stroked, & his ears scratched, his paws rubbed gently underneath between his spread toes (kittens – and grown cats too – like that, you know. And – he purred for you, Patricia / And he purred some for me / He purred for both of us together / And he purred quite purrfectly!
Scanned with Epson Perfection V700 PHOTO; as a 300 ppi TIFF image in 8-bit RGB color. Compressed into JPEG format using Photoshop CS3.
Dr. Carl Duncan and Patricia Whiting Papers MSS-2012-01-19, San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
