At long last you are to have a report from the Curtis Phillips family! We wish for each of you the very best in this coming year. We really mean that invitation on the map we designed and are sending: “Won’t you come visit us?” We love company! We’ve had a lot during this first year here and it’s made our move easier, because we’ve seen folks from home often, and new neighbors here have made us feel welcome.

The holidays a year ago brought the realization that our move was not far away. Gladys spent January and February leisurely sorting, discarding, and packing our 10-year accumulation of “stuff”. The actual moving of household goods was March 9. Curtis spent that time on both the Kansas and Nebraska farms. He was hauling machinery and starting to remodel the barn here.

We will comment a little upon our forced move. We are very happy here, but no matter how satisfactorily the Blue Valley people are relocated, the building of Tuttle Creek dam can never be justified. No finer land can be found anywhere, than that in the valleys of our mid-west. Its loss will someday be felt by our nation with its rapidly growing population.

Some from outside Blue Valley have expressed regret that we spent so much time, money and effort in the fight against the dam, only to lose in the end. But we think we express the attitude of all Blue Valleyites when we say, “It was all worthwhile”. We made many new friends, had unforgettable experiences, thousands more are aware of the injustices done, and the watershed cause has been promoted. We hope our friends in other valleys will have the courage to stand for their rights as the big push comes for more and more dams.

Now would be a good time to say a big THANK YOU to neighbors, both new and old. We couldn’t have made it through the year without you! You helped load and unload, build and repair, and farm on both places. We owe you a debt we’ll probably never be able to repay.

Curtis’ brother, Earl, and the Holstein herd came here in June. It has been a real challenge to make the facilities here meet our needs. Largest projects have been the installation of the Surge milking parlor,siphon milking system, 600 gallon Zero bulk milk tank, the building of loafing shed of a new Kaiser Aluminum product to go on the market later this spring, the drilling of two deep wells, and the leveling of our cultivated land for flood irrigation. Of the 320 acres here, 240 are cultivated, the rest is pasture. Principal crop this year was 120 acres of 85 and 90 bushel corn, half of which we put into silos. We plan to have 100 acres of alfalfa and brome grass.

We have a 10-room, red brick house built in 1920. We have remodeled the the kitchen, the fireplace wall, and added a picture window. We hope to get drapes made and painting done soon. We plan to have plenty of beds for you overnight visitors!

A word about our parents: The Merle Goffs are living in Manhattan now. Ramona Phillips is still at the Blue Valley farm. A new house is being planned for her here.

This is going to a very wide circle of friends, relatives and acquaintances, so we will copy a line from my cousin’s duplicated Christmas letter: “I decided you’d rather hear this way than not at all. Please consider it just as personal as if I’d penned it by hand”.

Curtis, Gladys, Ted and Robin