Snooping around…

My readers may be tiring about recent posts regarding my father, but I hope you’ll forgive me for writing one more. The posts are the result of me acquiring some documents, drawings, letters and other memorabilia in a box given to me by a step sister who I had not seen for years. I recently found at least one more thing to write about from the treasure trove

I was just about to toss a stack of his letters and papers that didn’t seem to have too much interest for me or my sister when I spotted a small bright yellow envelope. The envelope featured a sketch of the Snoopy character and had a return address of “Number One Snoopy Place” in Santa Rosa, CA.

I opened it and found a personal typed note from Charles M. Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip, to my father.

My father had moved to Sedona, AZ, after he sold our family-owned newspaper in Ruidoso, NM. He and his new wife had opened a small curios/office supply/general store in the middle of the old part of Sedona. As he did in Ruidoso, he took an immediate interest in the Sedona area, including its history, geology and culture.

On one of his frequent drives around Sedona to get to know the territory, he can upon a red rock formation which locals had dubbed “Snoopy Rock” because of its similarity to the Peanuts character when he took a nap on his dog house.

He apparently thought that Schulz, creator of Snoopy, would be interested in knowing about the rock. He snapped a photo of it and sent it to the cartoonist in 1975. Schulz responded promptly. I was pleasantly surprised that someone as famous as Schulz would have taken the time to respond to what I’m sure were many notes and letters he received while he was drawing his famous cartoons.

Below is the letter and the envelope.