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April 30, 1974

Dear Mrs. Blake:
After returning to New York, I called the lawyer who has done everything legal for me in the last few years and asked his opinion of the will you showed me. You may remember I had some misgivings about being named sole trustee- I hadn't expected that. He was also not happy about that for a reason I hadn't though of. After all, I am not immortal. It is quite dangerous and unusual, for that reason, to leave things in the hands of one person in cases like this. He recommended that several trustees be named or, if that was impossible, that some institution like a bank be also named trustee (though he doesn't like banks for this purpose since they don't have any interest in the person for whom they are caring for the money). A bank is still better than nobody, in case I should step off the curb without looking some day.
I would like you to call my lawyer and talk to him about this. His law firm has a Washington office, which can handle the job of making a new will. His name is Alan Oster. He knows Doris and her problem, and is very understanding about it. I have gotten to trust him because he has done a good job on everything he did for me, particularly arranging the adoption of our child. His law firm is not cheap- he thinks the cost of arranging some sort of safe way of leaving your money in trust to your daughter will be several hundred dollars- but this sum is so small in comparison with the size of your estate that I think it would be well worth it.