Alan Bayer, the youngest of the Bayer brothers, grew up in early 1960s Wichita, maintaining a steady correspondence with his older brother Norman during his service at Fort Bliss. His letters were a boyish ledger of simple joys: the assembly of Impala and Corvette model kits, hand-drawn maps of South America, and the quiet pride of a five-pound bass caught at Bush’s pond. Even when chicken pox kept him from the classroom, Alan remained a constant presence in Norman’s thoughts, receiving a sweater from Texas to bridge the distance between them. The child who once asked for a toy tank eventually grew into the young man who stood as a groomsman at Norman and Gloria’s 1967 wedding. Today, these stories and letters serve as a warm preservation of Alan’s place in the family’s shared history.
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“Dear Norman, How are you? I’m fine. I must be catching the flu or small pox. Do you remember if I had the chicken pox? Is it cold down in Ft. Bliss? It is raining snowing or sleeting here. Wess and Ethel are here. Ethel wants to say, Hi. I got two 1962 cars to put together. I got an Impala and a Corvette. The Impala is red and white. The Corvette is royal blue. I don’t have any girl friend yet. I didn’t find one I like yet. Ronnie had to go to church to get his first medal for Boy Scouts. I have 313 miles and no tents. One flat tire since I had the speed ometer.” [Closing not visible in scan.]
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Alan’s letter captures a boy’s world in miniature — model cars, weather reports, and keeping score of his bicycle miles. The casual question about chicken pox and the proud note about Ronnie’s Boy Scout medal paint a picture of a Wichita household carrying on while big brother Norman was far away at Fort Bliss.
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“We heard a little from the miller’s not long ago. I draw maps of Central America. I draw maps of the United States too. Next map I’m going to draw is South America. Love, Alan”
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The shortest letter in the collection — just a few lines — but it reveals a boy’s curiosity about the wider world. While Norman was experiencing life beyond Kansas firsthand, Alan was mapping it out on paper.
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“Dear Norm, How are you? I am fine so is Beaver. While you are down there look around and see if you can get a tank with a motor O.K.? It has been pretty cool up here. It hasn’t rained yet. I see you in another week maybe because I am going down to Beaver’s for a whole week. P.S. Ken, Ron and I went fishing all night Friday. We caught a few little bass about sundown. Then I started to reel mine in and it had a fish on it. I had to let Ken reel it in while we were holding the lights. He messed around with it for a while then we got him in. He weighed between 4 and 5 pounds. We went to Bush’s pond. Love U. Beaver. P.S. what’s Beaver doing? (Drawing of a porpus)” [Alan used “Beaver” as his own nickname but also refers to someone else by the same name.]
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This letter — complete with a request for a toy tank, a fish story, and a hand-drawn “porpus” — is pure Alan. The nickname “Beaver” appears throughout, and there’s something timeless about an all-night fishing trip at Bush’s pond and the pride of landing a bass bigger than anything they’d caught before.
In Norman’s letters home to Ronald, references to their youngest brother Alan come up often. Norman couldn’t be there for the day-to-day — the chicken pox, the model cars, the fishing — but he kept Alan close in his thoughts, sending sweaters from Texas and making sure Ronnie shared the record player.
By August 5, 1967, Alan had grown from the kid building model Impalas into a young man standing beside his brother as a groomsman at Norman and Gloria’s wedding at the Medicine Lodge Armory. The full story of that day is told in the wedding scrapbook page.