June 14, 1971: Most People Never Find This Kind of Love—Our Friendship Never Stopped
Send us a text It’s Father’s Day morning, 2025, and I’m sitting quietly in Miami at my best friend Kelly’s house while the rest of the house sleeps. I’m using this early moment to catch up on one of the two letters my parents wrote on June 14, 1971. I fell behind yesterday—life happens—but I’m back at it today, because this project is my way of honoring them. They never stopped writing to each other. And I don’t want to stop either. My dad, Dick Allgood, was in Vietnam. My mom, Sarah, was i...
It’s Father’s Day morning, 2025, and I’m sitting quietly in Miami at my best friend Kelly’s house while the rest of the house sleeps. I’m using this early moment to catch up on one of the two letters my parents wrote on June 14, 1971. I fell behind yesterday—life happens—but I’m back at it today, because this project is my way of honoring them. They never stopped writing to each other. And I don’t want to stop either.
My dad, Dick Allgood, was in Vietnam. My mom, Sarah, was in San Antonio—working as an Air Force nurse and newly pregnant with me. Even with a war raging and a baby on the way, they wrote every single day. Most days, two letters. Some days, maybe a tape. But always something. Always love.
In this letter, my mom shares a poem with my dad called Non-Stop. It’s about how their friendship never ended, even when they fell in love. And that was true for them. They were best friends their entire lives. Everyone who knew them—friends I’m seeing now here in Miami—saw it. They loved each other with a kind of devotion most people never find.
She writes that she’s feeling “wittle icky in the A.M.,” and she’s exhausted. But still, she shows up in this letter with tenderness, humor, and hope. And on this day—just days before what would’ve been my dad’s very first Father’s Day—she keeps writing. She keeps choosing him.
This project is a labor of love. It takes time and emotion and presence every single day. But they gave that to each other, so I’ll keep giving it too.
This one is for them.
This one is for all of us who believe in a love that never stops.
The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.
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