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Dear Hank
FRED “PAP” ROSE
March 18, 1948

Dear Hank,
I feel kinda let down today after receiving your call ‘cause I knew you were drinking again and Hank that is something I refuse to go for because it only proves a man’s weakness.

If you love Audry [sic], why don’t you try and straighten out and be man enough to tell her you love her and are willing to change. Both times I visited you folks, I noticed you bossing her around for my benefit, and I knew she would get filled up one of these days and get enough. If I talked to Lorene the way you talk to Audry, she would walk out in nothing flat and I wouldn’t blame her one bit…

I’m writing you this way because I know YOU LOVE AUDRY more than you are willing to admit and you are taking the wrong way out, slopping up a lot of poison that makes you feel sorry for yourself and makes your friends disgusted with you. If you really want Audry back, get a haircut and buy a new suit, wash your face and throw that damn whiskey bottle out the window and become a man that she would be proud to have back.

I am trying to be your friend ’cause I know you need a friend. The guys that are drinking with you are not your friends, they just like the whiskey you buy, and when you run out of money they will leave you by yourself and tell everyone else you are a drunk. I know what I am talking about because I have gone through the same thing that you are going through now.

I know you can become a successful man if you will allow yourself to be one. If you think you want to straighten out and let me take care of your business as I have been doing, sign the enclosed contracts and have them notarized. If you feel sorry for yourself and keep drinking then just tear them up and forget the whole deal….

Please don’t phone me when you are drinking as it only makes me feel I’m being let down by a guy I felt would never let me down. Think it over and read this letter when you are sober and you’ll see that I’m trying to help you find yourself. I am…

Your friend,
Fred Rose