The Love Sweetie Podcast is a unique project exploring the life of "Sweetie," aka Kathryn Frances Demaree Graham, who lived from 1922 to 2009.  Kathryn chronicled her life in letters that she sent to her family consistently (at some points multiple letters would be sent each week) from 1940 to the mid-1990's.  The volume of these letters number in the thousands.  Additionally, family letters from other parties survive, notably those of her father, Dr. Chester Demaree, M.D.  The consistency of these letters and the narrative prose that both Kathryn and Chester had paint a vivid picture of life in the latter half of the 20th century, and through this podcast they are being presented to the public for the very first time.​

 

This project is operated by Kathryn's granddaughter, and has been authorized to proceed by Kathryn's son (her only child).  The letters are the property of the Graham family - authorization to reproduce any of the content of these letters must be provided by Kathryn's son and/or granddaughter.  ​

 

Perhaps the most important figure in these letters was their original intended recipient, Velma Jeanne Demaree Joss ("Jeanne") who lived from 1920 to 2011.  Jeanne kept the letters through all the years.  Without Jeanne, this project would not exist.  We hear of Jeanne and her exploits through her correspondence with her sister Kathryn, and are grateful she had the prescience of mind to save such a collection.

 

​This project is dedicated to a number of parties, most notably to the memory of Kathryn herself, to the Demaree family, to the Graham family (Kathryn's spouse), to the people of Iowa (specifically to Lacona, Iowa, who carry the memory of the Demaree family there to this day), and to the people of Pennsylvania, where Kathryn made her home from 1946 to 2009.