RETURN TO SENDER

The first letter was written on stationery from the Holland-America Line, envelope emblazoned in royal blue—VIA AIR MAIL. It was a Tuesday—September 15, 1959, to be exact—and a 20-year-old Romayne Troost (a sophomore at University of Colorado) was letting her parents (Peter and Romaine) know she made it aboard with all her belongings as she prepared to sail across the Atlantic on a study abroad program in Switzerland and Norway. It was the first of many lengthy notes the intrepid young traveler would send back to the U.S. through August 8, 1960, each missive time-stamped and postmarked from the city where she found herself. She wrote of getting a “wash and style” in Paris for $1.15, the thrill of an Amsterdam canal ride, turning 21 in Monte Carlo, and the Mercedes factory she “hunted down” in Munich for her father (who was keen to get one shipped directly back to the states). They were moments in time that left an indelible mark on the sender, (now Romayne Kazmer) but she admits she didn’t think much about those letters until her father died in 1970. Little did she realize he’d been saving them all these years, locked tight in a safe deposit box—like a time capsule. “I was very surprised … and touched. I didn’t think it would be his nature to cherish these,” says Kazmer, who with the support of Ragdale and others in the Lake Forest community, published the letters as a memoir, Letters That Moved My Father, in 2020. At first, when she sat down to transcribe the letters into a manuscript, she says it was almost too real. “I see in them this young person … I don’t talk like that anymore,” she explains. Her adventures are well-outlined in explicit detail, from the German drinking songs she’d belt out at bars with fellow students to the friend from Iran whose father flew her and friends to stay in their Tehran villa on a six-week tour of the Middle East. “It really did change my life forever,” says Kazmer, who to date, has visited every continent and more than 140 countries, even starting a business as a travel consultant. She hopes her memoir will inspire others to step outside their comfort zone and open their minds to the world outside of the U.S.—“I’d like for them to look beyond the leaders that run these countries, because the people underneath are wonderful.” While Kazmer and husband, Ted, now live in Bannockburn, she has deep ties to Lake Forest (she was past president of Lake Forest Woman’s Club and is a member of countless other organizations). The book’s acknowledgements read like a local “who’s who,” with Adrian Smith, Ragdale, and others in the community thanked for their support. But perhaps the most magical thing about Letters That Moved My Father is that Kazmer has inadvertently created a portal through time for her readers, one that effectively captures the innocence of the age and the author. “Last night we took a night boat ride for two hours down Le Seine River. Beautiful!” she wrote on September 30, 1959. “Tomorrow night we are going to a place where they dance in the cellars. Don’t worry I’m careful.”

Letters That Moved My Father is available at Lake Forest Book Store and other booksellers near you.