A fine face

I found two tiny clippings* mentioning a message received by my great-grandparents that I thought were worth mentioning.

RECEIVES MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT

Editor and Mrs. A.E. Huls received a message from President and Mrs. Coolidge last Thursday morning expressing their sympathy over the death of Charles Huls. They stated they had seen his picture and were impressed by his fine face. The recent death of their own son makes them doubly sympathetic.

PRESIDENT WRITES

LOGAN, O., Feb. 13 -- Among the many messages and letters of condolence received by Mr. and Mrs. A.E. Huls over the loss of their son Charles H. Huls was one from President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge. Others came from Senators Willis and Fess.**

The recent loss of their own son enables President and Mrs. Coolidge to sympathize with Mr. and Mrs. Huls. In addition to these messages, have come more than one hundred similar tokens of sympathy and regret.

Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president of the United States from 1923-1929. He and his wife Grace had two sons: John Coolidge, born in 1906, and Calvin, Jr., born in 1908. On June 30, 1924, after these photographs were taken, the two boys went to play tennis.  Sadly, Calvin, Jr., developed a blister which became infected. Calvin, Jr., died on July 7 -- six months before Charley.

Big brother John rarely spoke of the tragedy beyond acknowledging the terrible sadness it caused the family, especially his father. People who knew the President said he never fully recovered from his son's death. 

"When he died, the glory of the Presidency went with him."

That certainly sounds familiar.

*Please always identify photographs and newspaper clippings with the name and date.

**Why we kept the letters from Senators Willis and Fess but not the Coolidges is a mystery to me. 

-30-