Deep Roots Family Tree Blog

The front of the postcard (above) and the picture below are both from the Painted Desert in Arizona. I would love to put that and the Petrified Forest National Park on my travel bucket list, but I’m afraid I would melt in the heat. It is incredibly beautiful, though.

The card itself talks about the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert, which are both in Arizona but according to the postage mark, it was sent from Merced, California, which can also be seen written at the top of the postcard. It looks like it went to Garden City before finally making it to where it was supposed to go; Colby, Kansas.

Thurs morning. This part of our trip has been the hottest. It is Indian country. We went through the petrified forest and saw painted desert. I don’t care for this country. My left lung and shoulder have hurt all the time since I got out here. Climate I think.
Love, Mother
I liked mts.

It was sent to Keith Farmer from his mother in 1943.

I went to newspapers.com first. No luck. Searched for a Keith Farmer in Colby Kansas from 1900 to 1980, but got no concrete hits. The “farmer” was causing some trouble because it showed a lot of different farming ads or farmers in the community. I could not find an article specifically for Keith Farmer.

Ancestry was a little more helpful. I found a Keith Orville Farmer (1924-2016) whose parents were Orville William Farmer (1899-1937) and Verne Virene Grover Farmer (1904-1997). Keith’s dad was 37 or 38 when he died. I was unable to find a cause of death. Keith would have been 13 when his dad died and 19 when this post card was sent to him.

Keith himself has draft cards for both World War II and the Korean War. It is unclear if he ever was deployed in either war.

I think my favorite part of this postcard was the writer (mom) describing how the weather is affecting her physical health. I’m getting to that age myself where I can stop for a second and go “rain is coming..” and people look at me funny.