Many stories emerge from these lines, drawn to form the faces of World War II servicemen and women. And many stories unfold in the letters exchanged after two lives intersected for a portrait sitting.

The artist, Mildred Dabney Shearer Didot, traveled to military bases along the West Coast, sketching about 3,000 portraits of soldiers, officers and nurses. Mrs. Didot, who went by her middle name Dabney, was a USO volunteer, serving from 1944 to 1947.

A St. Petersburg resident since 1996, she died in February at age 92. Now Audrey Oatley is executing a top provision in her will: to donate the sketches to the Institute on World War II at Florida State University.

Ms. Oatley finds the task fascinating.

"The eyes are so great," she said of the portraits. "They say they're the window to the soul. She really made you feel like you can see into them."

Ms. Oatley, 73, became friends with Mrs. Didot in 1995 at a personal life history writing class that meets every week at Heritage Park in Largo. There she heard Mrs. Didot's memoirs, spiced with tales of high society, extensive travels and love lost and found.

"She was a character. Everyone loved to hear Dabney's stories," she said.

Ms. Oatley also learned about Mrs. Didot's experience in the USO camp shows. Mrs. Didot toured in the tradition of Bob Hope and Betty Grable, raising morale among the troops. Other traveling portrait artists included a Walt Disney artist and the illustrator of Tarzan books. Mrs. Didot was trained as an artist in France and showed many oil paintings in California, where she lived most of her life.

Mrs. Didot gave an original sketch to each subject, or sent it to that person's family. Many, including Capt. Sylvan Feder, kept in touch.

In his portrait, Feder's eyes were especially warm, his face soft and unsmiling. In 1945 he wrote to Mrs. Didot, whose last name was Shearer at the time, mentioning their encounter and discussing everyday life in the service.

"I feel confident, though, that our paths will cross again."

Most of the letters are from men confessing their admiration for Mrs. Didot's artistic ability, charm and beauty.

"Dabney was such a lady, always dressed to the nines," Ms. Oatley said.

There is one pile of letters that is not accompanied with a portrait. They are from Ralph Bennett, who commanded a squadron of Marine flame throwers. He thanked her for being so gracious when they met at an officer's club, "especially important to a sentimentalist such as I!" In June 1944, he wrote about an operation set to take place before his letter would reach her.

"Keep your fingers crossed, dear, and do keep waiting -- see, you're stuck now."

The letters came about once a month, each letter slightly more charming, a bit more confident. They made passing references to letters Mrs. Didot wrote. At the bottom of the pile are two letters from Mrs. Didot addressed to Bennett. Both are stamped "return to sender."

Although Bennett was restricted from giving his whereabouts, Mrs. Didot wrote that she saw a newscast that indicated his unit was near Iwo Jima.

"Your last letter was returned to me, so I'm writing again, with a prayer in my heart that it reaches you ... I shall keep my fingers crossed," she wrote.

That letter was dated March 17, 1945. About a month earlier, 36 days of fighting had begun at Iwo Jima, claiming the lives of 26,000 U.S. servicemen.

Lt. Bennett was buried March 9, 1945, according to the Iwo Jima Memorial Historical Foundation.

"I get chills when I think about those letters," Ms. Oatley said of the Bennett-Didot exchange.

Those letters are precisely what captivate William Oldson, director of the World War II Institute and history professor at Florida State University.

"I'm interested in how the normal person made it through the war, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally," he said.

Oldson oversees a collection of World War II memorabilia from about 10,000 former service people. Dozens of copies of Mrs. Didot's sketches will join the collection, as well as a few color originals.

Oldson has sifted through numerous "Dear John" letters and drawings scrawled on the back of envelopes. He has been surprised at the amount of poetry he has seen -- from love sonnets to epic poems.

"With people writing home to their loved ones there's an innocence, a genuineness that is truly attractive," he said.

Items from the collection will be displayed at FSU in Tallahassee, and an exhibit will travel around the state, showcasing Florida and Floridians during World War II.

The collection includes materials collected for Tom Brokaw's book The Greatest Generation.

Oldson reads letters to his history students at FSU. The war is distant and irrelevant to many of them, until people like Mrs. Didot shine through in materials remaining from the war years. Art and letters often convey the humor, romance and fear that is common to many of their lives.

"All of a sudden it's real to them," Oldson said.

- Staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this story.

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