Charlie Piersol letters

Charles W. Piersol was born on September 3rd, 1920. During World War II Charles joined unit 140 of the Civilian Service Committee through the American Friends Service Committee as a conscientious objector. He met Chris Holladay (born Evelyn Lavillion Holladay) while participating in a hepatitis experiment where she was getting a graduate nursing degree. Just after Charles and Chris became engaged in the spring of 1946, Charles volunteered to be a ""cowboy"" through the Brethren Service Committee to assist the Heifer Project of the UNRRA relief effort to help take 400 pregnant cattle to Czechoslovakia. These letters were all written by Charles to Chris during his travels from Newport News, VA to Bremen, Germany and back to deliver the cattle. The letters contain his observations of racism in Virginia during his departure, his work as a ""cowboy"" on the ship, and his experiences of the American Zone, the Red Cross, and the devastation following the war. He returned to the US in May 1946.

Charles and Chris married on June 21, 1947. After Charles completed his master’s degree in social work at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration (which was inspired by his previous service at Big Flats, a school for boys sent for “delinquency” near Baltimore, MD), they moved to Rochester, NY. Charles took a job at the Family Service of Rochester while Chris worked at the Visiting Nurse Association. They were also active Rochester Friends Meeting members, with Charles serving as Treasurer and Chris serving as Clerk at times. They had two children: Lynne Holladay Piersol and Frank Witman Piersol. They moved to Pennswood Village, a Quaker retirement community in Pennsylvania, in 1991 where they joined the Wrightstown Meeting. Chris worked with the Bucks County Peace Center until her death on December 14th, 1994 and Charles Piersol passed away on August 15, 1996.

(adapted from donor note)