My Dear Mr. Belote Sr.,
Recently a friend sent me a copy of Cecil Soil Magazine and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Mike Collin’s article about Don and Jane Balderston was very interesting because Jane and I went to Elkton High School together. Also, Hazel’s article about Gertrude Manlove was of great interest to me because she was my sixth grade teacher at Elkton Elementary School and we all liked her. She was a very nice lady and a good teacher.

I was born and raised in Elkton and lived there for the first 21 years of my life. Even though I have been away for many years, I still feel like Elkton is home.

Is it possible to get a subscription to your magazine or some way I can receive it when it comes out? I would really appreciate it. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.

Very Truly Yours,
Barbara E. Oelschlaeger
Silver Spring, Maryland

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Dear Mr. Belote,
Our thanks to Mike Collins for his good work in the article about us in your Spring 2006, Cecil Soil Magazine. We inundated him with so much information that it took great skill on his part and yours as the editor to consolidate it.

Our customers for nectarines, peaches and apples come from all over the county. We think of our business as being like an old-time country store. It is a place in which folk have time to become acquainted and reacquainted with one another. Your quality magazine is providing a similar service and a much-needed one.

Sincerely,
Don & Jane Balderston
Colora Orchards
Colora, Maryland

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Hello Mr. Belote,
I just wanted to send a short note to thank you for such
a wonderful magazine. Your articles are wonderful and very informative. I thoroughly enjoy the columns about the life and times of Cecil County in days gone by. I've only been in this area a relatively short time but your magazine gives me a sense of history for the area. Please keep up the fantastic work.

Sincerely,
Reggie Brown
Newark, Delaware

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Dear Mr. Belote, Sr.,
I’m writing to say how everyone here at Tapeta Farms really enjoys your magazine Cecil Soil. This is about real people making it in the real world. The people in the countryside work hard to preserve the environment and your magazine accurately conveys the passion people in our area have for country life, which is not always well understood by the townspeople and politicians. Cecil Soil Magazine hopefully will educate those who do not understand our way of life. There is no better way of sharing our ideals than your excellent magazine.

Congratulations and keep up the good work.
Michael W. Dickinson
Tapeta Farm
North East, Maryland

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Dear CSM,
In response to the Spring 2006 issue of Cecil Soil Magazine, page 56 – I was one who washed my car every Saturday morning in the Mill Creek stream on Old Elk Neck Road. Thanks to Joe Rea, who lives by the stream, for help on remembering the correct name, (not Plum Creek). The water was always extremely cold and crystal clear. It was affordable in those early days.
Robert Bredenburg who was our first director, was a wonderful man. The YMCA article made no mention of him. He gave swimming lessons at Frenchtown Pool. My children took lessons in the morning and women in the evening. I think it was just once a week. Everyone called him “Mr. B” and he was a splendid teacher.

V. A. Powell
Elkton, Maryland

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Dear Mr. Belote
My cousin in North East sent me a copy of Cecil Soil Magazine. I really enjoyed reading it. It brought back memories of my childhood.

I was born in my grandfather’s house on his 40-acre farm three and a half miles west of Elkton on Route 40. Dad built his Cedar Tree Garage. He made cranes for the two tow trucks from angle iron, pipes and car frames. He’d do anything to make a living in those days. He’d take a farm tractor engine apart in a farmer’s field, go home to reface the valves, put new rings in the pistons, etc. Then he would go back and put it all together. When kids from town wanted a “Hollywood” muffler, he’d cut it in half, cut out a baffle or two and weld it back together. He welded a V–shaped piece of metal on the end of a soldering iron, heated it up and cut new grooves into tires that were worn smooth.

He built a bigger garage on the new Route 40 that cut through our property. My older brother, Edward C., and a mechanic worked at the garage while Dad got a steady job at the Bainbridge Naval Base near Port Deposit. In May of 1943 he was killed in an accident on the base.

My brother had already joined the Navy for six years and I became a tail gunner on a B-24. We bailed out of our flak-damaged plane over Yugoslavia and were welcomed by the Germans. Spent the last two months of the war in a POW camp.

Mom had sold everything and moved to Columbus, Ohio so my younger sister could go to college. I went to OSU on the GI bill and moved to Texas in January 1951.

About the TRIUMPH EXPLOSIONS... There were other places near Elkton that made military things with powder. The Bello family across the road from us made flares or something dangerous. Many small wooden buildings about 8’ X 10’ were built – but not close together. Two of them blew up that I know of. One killed a man that was renting the house that my brother and I were born in. His mother was on the front porch and saw it happen.

I am sending you these comments and photos about memories near Elkton. Sorry – got started and couldn’t quit. If you use anything – OK. If not, I’d like the photos back. Think you’re doing a great job. Wish I could get back to Cecil County more often.

Duane Borden
Forth Worth, Texas

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Dear Ed,
Thanks for the copy of the Cecil Soil. I initially thought I would not be interested because of the cover--a picture of people racing horses. I thought, "Why would I want to read a horse racing magazine?" Upon reading it, however, I was intrigued and impressed - first to see a letter written by someone I knew in the Mailbox. I couldn't believe it because I don't even live in Cecil County yet I knew someone who had written in!

The second reason I did not think I would be interested was because I did not think there would be any articles relating to "people of color." I was again proven wrong when I read the article about the one-room schoolhouses. Lastly I realized when reading the magazine, that the stories were human interest - it didn't matter the race of the people, the stories were just about their lives and I found I could relate to many of them! All this proves the old adage… "You can't judge a book by its cover"!

The magazine is informative, fun, interesting and a quick read. The ads are bright, colorful and eye-catching. The stories remind me of my small hometown of Providence, RI. It is obvious that the people of Cecil County love and appreciate this publication. Keep up the good work! I look forward to reading more in the future.

Vivian Nichols
Newark, DE

(Publisher’s note - Vivian wrote a very nice poem for CSM… see pg. 73.)