I didn’t get the chance to actually meet Our Gang member Jean Darling until the Nashville convention in 2002, but I was thrilled that she actually knew my name as soon as she heard it. We had exchanged some letters and such over the years, the first being her response to the letter and $9.00 I sent her on December 17, 1985. Jean was offering a package deal of six autographed 5.5″ x 8.5″ photos, nine signed notecards, and her book and cassette tape that she had created as her radio personality Aunty Poppy. The photos can be seen at right, below, and in the posting here.
Although I would have preferred to stick needles under my fingernails than listen to that cassette, I cannot stress what an incredible deal this was. She mailed all of these items postpaid in a little package that arrived on January 16, 1986. She even enclosed a nice handwritten letter along with the treasures. After receiving all of the goodies, I delightedly wrote her another letter and sent it on the same day. She responded once again with a another letter that arrived on February 4. The items below, with Jean’s thorough inscriptions, speak for themselves. Joe Cobb and Mary Ann Jackson later added signatures on selected items.
Living in Ireland had made it difficult for her over the years to attend any Sons functions, but once she came to her first one in 2002, she has been brought back for each successive convention and plans on attending the upcoming one in Amsterdam. But this was where my association with Jean Darling all started…
Autographs of 1985 will continue…
Thanks for sharing these. I remember your telling me about your correspondence with her when we met.
Peter
October 23rd, 2007