Born In 1909

2009-10-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

Two Stories follow:

2009-10-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

A Memoir - Cars, etc.

While trying to decrease the accumulation of material saved through the years, I found a bill of sale for my first car. It jogged my memory. I had spent about $50 for the first three cars purchased. This first car was purchased in Tallmans, NY, just east of Suffern on the road to Nyack; and my first drivers license was obtained at the county seat of New City.

My attention and livelihood at that time was held by Kanes Open, a 200 acre scout camp not far from the railroad station at Tallmans. A round trip ticket from NYC here cost only $1 for any Boy Scout, and they came by the hundreds on long weekends and during the summer.

These were depression years in the early thirties, and attempts to get a decent job fairly nil. An interview with an A T&T recruiting personnel at Middlebury in 1929 had led me to believe that I would start with A T&T upon graduation in 1930, and be offered a six month indoctrination and training course starting a career with A T&T.

After graduation and being told by A T&T that they were not taking on any new employees, and were letting some go, I tried selling Eureka Vacuum Cleaners in the Bronx. My Uncle Herbert, who was living on the north side of 33rd St., just east of 3rd Ave., let me stay with him while trying to find work.

Since he was the Scoutmaster of a troop meeting on 23rd St., he enlisted me, along with Guy Rowney, to assist him. Guy had been an assistant scoutmaster.

Among the recreational facilities provided by the Boy Scouts of Manhattan was the 200 acre scout camp pictured. This was a camp complete with a very large swimming pool, nature trails, a crafts shop, and materials needed to help provide accommodations for several hundred or more scouts and leaders over weekends or vacations. Our troop was putting up a cabin here at Kanes Open.

My attempt to sell vacuums sort of petered out after finally selling one all by myself. Several had been sold with the assistance of my supervisor but the job was not for me. So Guy and I volunteered to finish the cabin at Kanes Open that now had two sides in place.

This was in the early spring of 1931 while the weather was very cool at night and began to get comfortable around 10am. So , after a day's work ending at dusk, we put up canvas to cover as much of the unfinished portion of the cabin as possible. That, with the help of a fully loaded (with wood) pot bellied stove, kept us very cozy until the morning sun was strong enough to warm us up again.

We finished our work on the cabin around the start of summer, Guy insisting on walking across the top roof beam to be sure everything was secure before our troop came up to finish whatever roofing or siding remained to be done and to add the finishing touches.

The camp director was so impressed with out work that he offered me a position as assistant, which he obviously had cleared with the board of directors of the Boy Scouts of Manhattan. So we became the only two paid staff running Kanes Open.

It was shortly after this on one of my numerous trips to the railroad station to pick up and direct new groups of scouts to our camp that the aforementioned car was found for sale and purchased for $12.50. On being asked why so cheap, the owner said the front tires kept wearing out very fast. It was no wonder as they came to a point around 20 feet in front of the car. This was easily corrected and the car ran nicely with four good tires.

The tires or tubes occasionally had to be patched due to flats from transporting up to 20 scouts picked up at the railroad station. This practice was soon discontinued.

This 1924 Star served me well during the rest of the summer. In the fall an advertisement for a car auction near Suffern caught my attention. Upon arriving at the auction, the auctioneer said he would allow me $35 for my Star on any car I wanted to bid on. A Chevy sedan was finally put up, and after being assured that it had had only one owner, I bid up to $60 for it, and it was mine. This car, purchased with an additional $25, was so economical that it was driven for over two years at a cost of less than 2 cents a mile. This cost even included license plates, and came from detailed records kept during my ownership of the car.

In 1932 my position at Kanes Open was discontinued due to a lack of funds. The depression had really affected the income of the Boy Scouts of Manhattan and they had to cut back on numerous scout activities.

Returning to my mother's folks in Rye, NY, where I had graduated from High School, I took various jobs where obtainable. My Chevy had given me the best of service but was beginning to need attention, so I started looking for another bargain. Noting a Studebaker Victorian Sedan for sale, negotiations began. I finally persuaded the dealer to accept $15 plus my Chevy, this third car was acquired. Total cost of my first three cars - $52.50.

The Studebaker was used while working in several jobs, including gas stations, and finally in helping my Uncle Herbert set up a motorcycle shop in Eastontown, NJ, where I helped clean up and paint the two story shop. This car eventually needed new tires, brakes, and possibly other repairs. It was therefore disposed of.

Returning to Rye without a car, I looked for nearby work. My sturdy old bicycle was still there and a motor wheel was found to propel it; my means of transportation for a while. Trolley cars or walking were also available. Soon finding a job at the meat market around the corner, I became a delivery truck driver, as well as doing other chores. While delivering meat to rich customers in and around Rye, I was able to meet C.N. Edge, a member of the New York Stock Exchange. He had a gorgeous small estate on a point jutting into Long Island Sound. After walking through his complex ornate landscaping where allowances had been made for the falling shadows of almost every tree and shrub, I met him at the back door. He was waiting for meat ordered for lunch. We discussed his house and estate. He told me each room had been furnished with things from a different country. I asked him about work in NYC. He said he could use another person in his small office where he now had only a stock speculator and a lawyer-accountant. After we decided when I would start work, he called his office on a direct line to get directions for me - on a floor some twenty stories up on Exchange Place.

Working for a New York Stock Exchange firm was very interesting. Since this firm was small I did just about every clerical job as well as reading parts of the ticker tape over the direct wire to Mr. Edge. However this position with C. N. Edge & Co. only lated a few months due to the reforms put on the stock market by FDR. In fact, the national stock legislation put through brought our stock trading practically to a standstill. It was so slow that, the last week or so before I was let go, we asked our firm's runner on the stock exchange floor to come up to the office to be a fourth for bridge.

Commuting to NYC from Rye did not require a car, and I had no car at that time. A short walk was all that was necessary.

But a car was required when my next position as outside contact for General Electric Contracts Corporation was acquired. I found a second hand Chevy that had been used in the red clay area of a mid-south state. It must have been driven for miles in the clay as the red powder in every part of the car could never be completely washed out.

Covering part of Westchester County to start, in less than a year I was covering all of Westchester and the upper part of the Bronx. Areas up to Poughkeepsie and east to Bridgeport, CT were added later.

My work consisted of checking GE appliances on credit for window displays and floor plans, bringing up to date delinquent accounts, tracing skips, and getting new business. I also mailed in daily reports, and dictated letters in the main NYC office several days a month.

A car allowance of $6 a week plus 2 cents a mile helped me purchase my first new car, a 1939 Ford coupe, complete with radio, for $595. The weekly $6 then became $8, the stipend for a new car. Some weeks I would receive as much on my expense account as on my salary check.

About the time this new car was nearly paid for, I realized that this position had no future. Giving the firm four weeks notice, and after staying an extra week at their request, I left for Florida late in 1939.

My folks had retired to Sarasota and I wanted to spend some time with them. Finding that my two plus years with GECC and other references meant little in applying for work in Florida. I had to find a position where I could establish myself as a respectable citizen. A specialized service station finally hired me as a night sales and service watchman at $12 a week. This $12 for an eighty-four hour week (12 hours a day X 7) was less than half of what I had been making in my prior position. I was able to pay my folks the $7 a week needed for room and board, which left me a little to spend.

Pumping gas to the occasional customer was about the extent to which I worked. The commission promised for tire or other sales never materialized. When summer came, I made screens to snap into the open car windows of my Ford coupe to keep the mosquitoes out while I watched the service station. After six or more months and the heat of the summer subsiding a bit, I felt it was time to look for another job.

Having now established myself, several jobs or positions in 1940 and 1941 were obtained, each one better than the one before. The last one, before enlisting in the Air Corps, was superintendent of service at a Colliers Hotel, the tallest building in Sarasota at that time. I taught a state vocational course in "Uniformed Hotel Help" at $45 a week on the side. I helped place many students who took this course.

Another position required driving throughout central Florida where over 25,000 miles were put on a car in less than 5 months. This was for a firm in Tampa who gave me a new Studebaker Dictator to use, not only for business but for my own use on weekends or any time off. It had an overdrive which was extremely useful in covering the long coast to coast distances.

While I had this Studebaker my sister was using my 1939 Ford, which I had put in excellent shape while working at the specialized service station. Part of my time off had been used to take the motor completely apart, install new bearings and piston rings, and have the valves ground.

When I entered the Armed Forces December 31, 1941, I gave the newly conditioned Ford to my sister. After putting over 80,000 miles on my first new car, my use for it ended. This was after four second hand and two company cars.

Before enlisting, all four armed services were checked to try to ascertain where I would be of the most use. I selected the Air Corps, after turning down other options, such as taking charge of a large warehouse, at a much better starting rank. Going to work immediately in a finance office at MacDill Field in Tampa, I soon was fortunate enough to be placed on the initial roster of the Eighth Air Force, which had a very prominent part in the European Theatre of Operations.

Going overseas with the personnel department, and then spending most of my three years overseas at the Headquarters of the Eighth Air Force in Bushy Park, a half hour from London, gave me a feeling of accomplishment.

In 1945 we were given a 30 day leave after returning to the United States, and then asked to report at a base in preparation to go to the Western Theatre of Operations, but after only a month or so we were discharged.

Recuperating in Florida during the remaining fall and winter of 1945, I was able to use my parents' Ford. I worked at the John Ringling Hotel, open for guests from January 15 to March 15 in 1946. I came north after that and got work in NYC. I was working for a hotel and restaurant CPA firm when my future wife appeared on the horizon. We decided to get married and shortly thereafter I was offered a position with considerably more potential.

This was 1947. We were married June 25th. Frances Judge Kurzhals became Mrs. Conwell Worden Abbott. We were given a 1929 DeSoto by my father-in-law. This would be my fifth and last second hand car, as we had already put $25 down for a new Ford. No new cars were available after the war, and would not be until the factories had converted from making war needed materials to the peacetime construction of new automobiles. This took time.

We were very fortunate to have this 1929 DeSoto since our local Ford dealer, in accepting our $25 deposit, told us we were 125th on the list and he had no idea when deliveries would start.

Called "Sally," this old car had a lot of life left. After local use in early 1948, we took a trip to Virginia Beach, stopping overnight at Baltimore. During our weeks stay there, Sally needed attention. The mechanic we left her with for the day, we later found out, had driven Sally all around Virginia Beach showing her off. This really amused us.

In August of the same year we were on the newly finished Maine Turnpike, going so fast the speedometer, darkened with age, showed white. I believe we were up to 60 mph when we suddenly realized there were no facilities for 50 or more miles. Rather scary.

We went to visit my wife's cousin, who had been the youngest captain in the Merchant Marines during World War II, and his wife from South Africa. He had purchased and ran the largest excursion boat on Lake Sebago in Maine. We fully enjoyed their company and the beauties of that area as seen from the boat on its daily trip around the lake and its locks.

Many shorter trips were taken this year, such as one to Lake Wannaksink where I capsized a sailboat with its owner. This boat was easily righted. This trip was remembered specially since old Sally caught on fire while we were driving up there. My wife was sitting in the back seat because Joe, husband of the owner of the sailboat, was in front with me. As soon as I smelled the smoke and before the fire was seen coming up through the floorboards around the emergency brake, I swung off the road to a grassy spot. Fran, in the back seat, saw the fire coming up between Joe and me. I grabbed a fire extinguisher kept in a bracket by the drivers seat for just such an emergency, rolled under the car, and extinguished the fire. Joe, in the meantime, persuaded Fran to get out of the car. She had smelled smoke some time before this but we had convinced her that it must have been joe, who was smoking a pipe. Later we realized that the mechanic, working on our brakes just before this trip, had bent some metal just enough to rub against the brake lining. The lining had eventually caught on fire from the friction this caused.

With regret and the remembrance of many good times, we gave Sally to a cousin of Fran's when our 1949 Ford replaced her.

The rest is the main story:

2009-08-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY

EDUCATION

AT AGE

3-6 Taught at home in Rye, New York and Stamford, Vermont

6-7 Grades one through four in Stamford, Vermont

7-8 Fifth Grade in Stamford, Vermont

8-9 Sixth Grade at Hallock School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts

9-10 Seventh Grade in Statford, Connecticut

10-11 Eighth Grade in North Ferrisburg, Vermont

11-13 High School in Vergennes, Vermont

13 High School in Elizabethtown, New York (-May- '23)

13-16 High School in Rye, New York - Graduating in 1926

16-20 College in Middlebury, Vermont - Graduating in 1930

After World War II - Pace College in New York City - two years night school

Table of Contents

Preface - by an assistant pastor of the Triumphant Cross Lutheran Church, Salem, NH

Chapter 1 - The Man Who Almost Wasn't Born

Chapter 2 - Rye, NY

Chapter 3 - Early Years

Chapter 4 - In Between

Chapter 5 - Early Teens

Chapter 6 - College

Chapter 7 - The 1930s

Chronological Summary of Events

Chapter 8 - Florida/England

Chapter 9 - Meeting Fran

Chapter 10 - Work

Chapter 11 - Family

Chapter 12 - Early Marriage

Chapter 13 - School

Chapter 14 - Peekskill

Chapter 15 - Music

Chapter 16 - Finances

Chapter 17 - Travel

Chapter 18 - Activities

Chapter 19 - Sidelights

Chapter 20 - Retirement

Chapter 21 - Relocating

Chapter 22 - Windham

Chapter 23 - Turning 90

Chapter 24 - Final Chapter

Preface – Intro

I received a call from my pastor during the fall of 2005 regarding one of our parishioners, Conwell Abbott. “Deke” (nicknamed that because his father was a pastor) had lost his wife Fran the previous year after being married for 57 years and I suppose the combination of her absence, some ill health Deke was having at the time, and the gray dullness of the season around these parts led to the concern that he might be a little down in spirit. Pastor Yasenka thought that a Stephen Ministry caring relationship might be needed in Deke’s life at that moment. So another Stephen Leader, Karen Foulke, and I, went to visit Deke and assess the situation.

I had no idea what to expect. I had known Deke since I started attending our church in 1994 and he was already a bit of a legend. He was the person we all hoped we would be if we were blessed with a life as long as his. Deke was known to outplay people a few decades younger than himself on the golf course. He drove wherever he pleased until he was into his nineties. He had his health and his mind was still as sharp as anyone’s. He and Fran raised two great kids who went on to raise great kids of their own and he was greatly loved by all in his family and regularly spent time with them either at his home or theirs and even took trips together on occasion.

Most impressive to me was that he still had a deep love for the Lord. I remember him and Fran being at church on his 94th birthday and it struck me that despite the length of his life the Gospel still had relevance and importance to him. And that should be a rebuke to us “young people” who in our contemporary wisdom have lost touch with the gift it is to be able to worship and commune with others on a regular basis without fear or “cost”.

When we arrived at Deke’s house I remember him being relaxed and focused. I recall thinking to myself that he had himself more together than people my age. We decided that while he didn’t need a Stephen Minister I would visit with him at least once a month just to provide a little company and perhaps bring him communion if the weather didn’t permit him to make it to church on a given week. It was around my 2nd or 3rd visit when it occurred to me that Deke had lived an extraordinary life. Everything that he saw first hand was history to me. Here was a man who grew up in an age where horse and buggies were still common and radio and television, let alone the internet were years away. He lived through 2 World Wars, saw the Great Depression, and experienced many changes in everything from business, technology, and sports, to social changes, economics and politics.

I realized that instead of me being a help to Deke, God had given me an opportunity to spend time with a person unique in age, experience, and outlook. I had to make a record of this in some way, so I pitched the idea of an autobiography to Deke and he agreed. What you are about to read is that record and hope you enjoy it as a blessing as I have. Deke says these stories are authentic as he remembers them.

Chapter 1 – The Man Who Almost Wasn’t Born

My wife, Fran, and I both liked to travel, visit different places, see different sights. Fran had wanted to drive through that famous giant Californian Redwood tree ever since she saw it pictured in a history book. Unfortunately it fell down several years before we were able to do it.

We traveled extensively within the United States and eventually decided to go abroad. Of course, we needed passports. My wife got hers easily, but when I tried to get the required birth certificate it was not available. In fact there was no record of my birth in Schohaire County or in Clifton Park, New York, where I was presumably born. I could not get a passport. I was not born. After letters and phone calls I found that there was a note of my birth on the inside cover of my father’s large family bible, which he had in Sarasota, Florida. He had retired there after age 70. Affidavits and a baby book kept by my aunt Evelyn finally got me a passport. I was born at last.

My mother died of pneumonia shortly after the birth of my sister Dorothy on July 31, 1911. I was almost two at that time having been born on October 8, 1909. As a result my sister and I were moved to my mother’s family in Rye, NY, while my father tried to put his life back together.

The head of the house was Charles Worden, a retired contractor who was my mother’s father and my grandfather. They had three daughters, my mother’s sisters, and a husband of one living there when my sister and I moved in. Florence, Lucinda, and Evelyn and her spouse, Frank Odell, made seven of us in the three-story house. Three of my mother’s brothers had moved out a while back.

Chapter 2 – Rye, New York

We called it the Boston Post Road, US route #1 from New York to Boston. Route one went through Rye turning upward to the right before the center of Rye. Having run alongside and crossed trolley tracks going through Rye’s center it continued on over the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad tracks. In the other direction, trolley tracks went to New York City, branching off to Rye Beach.

Going almost straight ahead while branching off Post Road, was the main road through the center of Rye with a half dozen or so side streets. The second side street going north on the left was Elm Place. An old two story police station on the east side of the street was directly across from 11 Elm Place where the large three story house, complete with attic and cold cellar, had been built by my grandfather. He had been a general contractor and anticipated a large family.

I called 11 Elm Place my home until I married because I spent more time there than any other place. It was my mother’s birthplace. In those days most people were birthed at home as opposed to in a hospital. Just a few houses off Main Street and the center of Rye, a neighbor’s chicken wire fence outlined our property. From the road, a curb, sidewalk, and cement fence was on both sides of our entrance walk to steps leading to a large front porch with a hammock.

A narrow brick walk between the chicken wire fence and the house sloped downward to the floor below. After passing a small window overlooking stairs and the kitchen window on the right, this walk turned the corner to the back door and yard. At the corner was a settee and arbor.

Going out the back door after crossing the short patio, the brick path continued on past a two-story workshop on the left to a double barn and carriage stall where horses had been kept. To the right of the brick path a large apple tree centered the back yard. A driveway further right ran along the edge of the property to the old carriage house or garage. This was held in place at the lower backyard end by a retaining wall starting at the back of our neighbor’s house.

From the street our next-door neighbor’s house edged the driveway going down to the heavy stone-wall just beyond our driveway. This wall dropped down several feet or more as his backyard sloped downward to a brook. Aptly named, Blind Brook flowed several yards below the back corner of our barn and bordered our neighbor’s backyard. For years I used this short address:

C.W. Abbott

Rye, NY.

Chapter 3 – Early Years

As soon as my father was able to, he arranged for me to come to his new parish in Stamford, Vermont. He had remarried and I had a half brother, Alvin.

His wife was formerly Olive Spaulding, of the Spaulding family in Suffield, CT. The family owned several greenhouses in Suffield and supplied flowers for their own and other flower shops in Springfield, MA, six miles to the north. Unmarried Uncle John was the oldest member of the family and later on over a hundred people were invited to his 100th birthday. Quite a party.

Stamford, Vermont was a small community, primarily farming, nestled between hills on either side. Single roads went north and south from on oval three-mile loop that held the main buildings and farms. Another road went west from an entrance across from the General Store, which included the Post Office. The town had a constable who was barely needed.

We lived in the parsonage next to our church. In between and sitting back a bit was a shed at the end of a wide driveway, where wood was stored and large ice cubes. The partition holding the ice cubes was thoroughly covered by sawdust, which insulated all sides as well. There was also room for a horse stable.

Travel was by horse and buggy. There was lots of space for hunting, fishing, timber cutting, berry picking, hiking etc. I walked either part way or all the way around the three mile loop many times; going to the store, visiting friends, or just hiking.

A brook came down from the hills and left us going south. My father would leave in the morning, fish upstream all day, and return in time to clean and cook a delicious meal of brook trout. Other days we all would go berry picking, taking our lunch and a washbasin with pails. Hiking up the hill, we would pick and fill our washbasin with blueberries or huckleberries. I remember helping carry the washbasin, which had two handles, down home. In the winter, occasionally I would spend all morning going uphill to get a long ride down on my Flexible Flier sled. The road had been well packed down by horse drawn lumber sleds bringing logs down, and I would go so fast I would fly off the road into the soft snow in the side. I took my first date to an evening service at church. I climbed trees picking apples, tried to shoot squirrels with a BB gun and missing. And finally I started school.

My parents taught me a lot. Reading. Playing games. Checkers. Chess. So when I started school in the two-room schoolhouse with four grades and a pot bellied stove in each room, I had a good background. Being born in October, I started later in age than most others. But with one teacher teaching four grades I went through them in one year, and was able to start grade five in my second year.

Our next-door neighbor was a bank president in North Adams, Massachusetts, six miles south of Stamford, Vermont. He was so impressed with my progress that he offered to send me to a private school. I became the youngest student at Hallock School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and enjoyed it.

Chapter 4 – In Between

Suddenly I was in Stratford, Connecticut, my time at Hallock School having expired. My grandmother Abbott needed someone to help her. She was old and feeble. We occupied the ground floor of a three-story house. Each of the upper floors was occupied by a different family. Front and back staircases provided access, the back one required to cover fire regulations. A bank took care of the rent and repairs. Owned by my father, I inherited it years later.

Stratford was a big city alongside Bridgeport. It was much different from the rural life I’d been used to. If I had friends, they were few and far between. During the summer, it was determined that I enter the seventh grade in the big half graded school. There was an excellent Library in Stratford where I spent time, but it was lonely in this big city.

My grandmother Abbott died while I was close to finishing the seventh grade, and my Aunts from Rye came immediately. My father had left Stamford and now had a parish in North Ferrisburgh, Vermont, which is where I landed. Finishing up my school year there, I started High School in the fall at Vergennes, over six miles to the south. Travel to school was by bicycle, horse and buggy, and in the winter by six mile train rides with a mile (more or less) walk at either end. Often I caught rides with the mail carrier on his way to pick up the mail at the station.

There was plenty of activity in North Ferrisburgh. I bicycled, fished, sledded and skated on Lake Champlain, to name a few. I also spent time hoeing potatoes (gardens were everywhere) went to church functions and parties such as a sugaring off at the church where strips of maple syrup were laid on fresh snow to eat, often followed by pickles to kill the sweetness.

In the spring of my second year at Vergennes High School, my father was transferred to Elizabethtown, New York, where I had to take the required New York State Regents, which I failed miserably at the end of the school year. Due to this, it was decided that I should get my scholastic training at only one school from then on.

Elizabethtown was quite a change being a resort or vacation spot for many during the summer. My father, at the age of 50, took up golf there, actually winning silver cups as trophies on occasion. Weekly handicapped tournaments were provided by the Club. One such trophy is in a showcase at my son’s CPA office in Plattsburgh, New York. He is an avid golfer as are my two grandsons.

I learned to caddy, getting $1.00 for the nine holes at the local golf course played twice. One vacationer liked me, asked for me, and would give me a 25-cent tip regularly. I spent many summers there and at Schroon Lake, New York, where my uncle had a camp across the lake from the village. I took up golf as a result, eventually acquiring my own set of golf clubs and playing many times after.

I’ve heard that the nine-hole Cobble Hill Golf Course I had played and caddied on is now eighteen holes. I have played on many courses since Cobble Hill. Courses in Hawaii, Florida and in between. It is nice to be outdoors exercising that way; and enjoying the weather and scenery. One course in Hawaii made a particular impression on me. Lava, like big hunks of coal, lined several fairways acting as rough, But your ball was gone if you got in this rough, unless you got a very good bounce on hitting the lava. There was also an outhouse on the course made completely from lava used like stones in a stone-wall or fireplace.

Chapter 5 – Early Teens

I was going to finish high school in Rye where my future schooling would not be interrupted. My two years of high school evolved into one after failing so many Regents exams on entering New York state. However I was allowed to take intermediate Algebra even though I had failed it at the elementary level. I had to repeat most of the other subjects. Since I skipped the elementary Algebra my grades in the intermediate class counted for a year and a half worth of work. I’m proud to say that I scored a 100 in that course and that brought me up to being the third highest in the Rye High School class of 1926. (The passing mark on this exam was lowered from 65 to 60 by the New York State Board of Regents so I passed by a very comfortable margin.) Ultimately, although all my studies in Rye comprised five years of high school education, I was able to graduate at the age of 16.

My sister Dorothy also lived at Rye and was there with me for the year before she went to college at Syracuse. My father told her that he would pay for one year but that was all. She earned her room and board by handling a much needed babysitting job. This carried her through the three remaining years. She graduated in 1930, the only woman majoring in transportation, with a Bachelors of Science degree.

Being a teenager in this environment was a wonderful experience. Bicycles were used by most of us to get from place to place. Most everyone had one. I was given one on my birthday. I’m sure this was quite a sacrifice for my family who did not have much income, although just about everyone had a job except my Aunt Florence, who was not able to work due to her health.

My Aunt Lucinda taught school and was the biggest breadwinner. Aunt Evelyn worked at the high school cafeteria. Uncle Frank was one of the many salesmen in those days that took orders and even delivered products on occasion. My grandfather Worden had been a contractor in and around the Rye area building many homes including his own. But the last place he built was the largest. It was the Milton Point Yacht Club, which rose majestically off the shore just south of Rye and the Oakland Beach. Unfortunately, as can happen even today, he was never paid for the final installment due him for his labor and he lost all his remaining funds and resources in the process. In those days your word was your bond and that’s how he did business. However, because there was no writeen contract for the yacht club he had no legal basis to petition for what he was owed. Giving up construction after this he still lived a long and perhaps less stressful life to the age of 94 when he passed away in his sleep. I still recall him walking down to the firehouse and playing checkers with the fellows there when the chance presented itself.

After joining the Rye Methodist Church, the pastor asked me and two other members to start a Youth Club, which we did. The three of us set up monthly gatherings, which I led. We used the church’s gym as a meeting place and grew until we had over 40 members by the time I finished high school. Over time, committees of three ran each meeting. We played games, held scavenger hunts around town, and did other activities. We also raised money for the church by having dinners. Many joined us from outside the church once we really got things going.

Going to Rye and Oakland Beach was always a pleasure. Oakland had a slight advantage for me in that it was a bit less crowded and also had nicer swimming. One could walk out to a big rock that separated the two beaches at low tide. The old Rye Beach Park where trolleys ran right up to the huge gateway entrance was always very popular. One of the main attractions was the Blue Streak roller coaster which had 4 big “ups and downs.” Each hill, so to speak, was a little less high than the previous one but the first one was REALLY high! After the last one the coaster turned back at the high metal fence surrounding the park. A new Playland replaced the old park in almost no time before one season ended. Four of us spent a day there going on most of the rides and then never went back again as far as I can recall.

A much-used library on a large plot sat at the top of a half circle wide walk that joined the sidewalk running along Main Street. A memorial and well-kept lawn were inside the half circle. The Rye Playhouse (movie theatre) was just south of the library. Movie celebrities occasionally came to the matinee here to watch previews of movies before they were released. I remember seeing “The Merry Widow” at one of these matinees, and “Flaming Youth” at another.

There were many shops on both sides of Main Street and the Rye National Bank toward the northeastern end just before the Railroad Station entrance. I remember that on one 4th of July, so many five inch salutes (a pretty good sized firecracker) were lit that a section of Main Street was covered by the wrappers to the point where little or none of the pavement could be seen at all.

The Easter vacation before graduation, it was suggested that I go to college. My Uncle Herbert had been a Phi Beta Kappa at Middlebury College, graduating with the class of 1910. So I applied, was accepted, and ready to move on.

Chapter 6 – College

During the fall of 1926 I arrived with my father in our 1922 Ford (our first car) at Middlebury College in Vermont and started my four years of higher learning. I went through all the usual tasks of entering; registration, paying the tuition, buying the books for my selected courses, and finding my assigned dorm room. The college had three dorms as well as several fraternity houses to accommodate students. A United States 20-cent postcard was actually issued in the 90s showing pictures of Starr and Hepburn Hall as part of the “Old Stone Row.” My dorm room was at Starr, the cheapest one at $70 per year. The rooms at the nicer Hepburn Hall ranged from $90 to $150 a year.

I choose Math as my major with minors in English and Economics. Later I added Physics as a second major. Having an absolute minimum language requirement, namely two years of Latin, I was required to take a double course in French to make up for it. My first semester ended with my failing English and getting a D (called a “condition” back then) in French. I teamed up with a football player who was also failing French with me and together we paid our professor to tutor us at the French Chateau where only French was spoken. We both barely passed for the year but I still failed English and had to repeat one semester. Tutoring was at $20 a session.

My other subjects were no problem. I liked Physics so much that it became a second major. One of the two As I received was in what was considered the most difficult course in college, Analytical Mechanics. The other was in practice teaching.

After the first year, the second was much better. Bringing my grades up to a B average enabled me to have unlimited cuts (excused absences from class – except weekends) for my last 2 years. I took full advantage of this. I would get far enough ahead in my studies to miss some sessions here and there. During my senior year my roommate was the freshman class president and we were both taking chemistry. I was able to get all the course information that I needed from him and in a much shorter time than it would have taken attending classes. I still had to attend most lab sessions.

My father sent me what money he could, but I had to earn any extras and sometimes pay for my board on my own. All the freshmen ate together in the common dining hall, but you were on your own for anything beyond that. Sometimes I could afford about $5 a week to pay for meals at a nearby boarding house where you could easily purchase home-cooked meals if you wanted a change of pace from the cafeteria.

During my third year at Middlebury I had milk delivered on my windowsill. I put my name on a school roster for work and was able to earn money by doing tasks such as mopping the glass library floors after closing time. Summers I caddied or painted (outside walls). I also worked at the Rye Post Office during Christmas vacations. I was able to get my meals and 50 cents a day for 4 hours of work at the Middlebury Inn coffee shop, which helped for a time. My last year, besides being able to borrow from the college fund, I taught Physics for a semester at Middlebury High School. The regular teacher had an operation and was told to take a semester off and I took his place. This became my student teaching course assignment as well. So, in addition to getting paid for this, I received a grade of A.

A little time remained for gym and sports. I made the golf team as a substitute. I did not join a fraternity although I did receive an invitation. Instead I attended many fraternity sponsored social functions as a neutral representative. I rode to Montreal with a couple of fellows for a night out. I spent an Easter vacation with a fellow classmate who invited me to visit his family’s large farm.

Christmas vacation before graduation an AT&T interviewer offered me a job managing an office. This would require a training course after I graduated. So I seemed set for a life at AT&T, considered one of the best outfits to work for.

My father picked me up in the morning after going to the final graduation dance ceremony.

Chapter 7 – The 1930s

Reporting for my expected AT&T position in New York City as instructed, I was told that AT&T was not only not hiring anyone, but was letting employees go. Sorry, no job. Having lost my first real job before starting it was quite a blow.

This was in 1930 when most firms were starting to cut back on expenses. Very few, if any, positions were available. Applying for a teaching job, I was told that I lacked a History of Education course that was a requisite for teaching required by New York State.

My Uncle Herbert had an apartment on 33rd street in New York City just east of 3rd Avenue. Deciding to stay with him, I checked ads for work and took a job selling Eureka vacuum cleaners. With the help of my boss or trainer (he was a part time ambulance driver) sales were made. Finally I made one all by myself, and decided door-to-door canvassing was not for me.

My uncle was an expert in his field relating to the publishing business. He was also a scoutmaster having a troop on 23rd street with a Guy Rowney as assistant. He roped me in as a second assistant. After several meetings we, as a troop, decided to put up our own cabin at Kanes Open, a 200-acre recreational facility owned by the Boy Scouts of Manhattan. A special one-dollar round trip fare between Tallsmans (a 1/2 mile from Kanes Open) and New York City helped many Manhattan scouts spend an enjoyable weekend or holiday there. The rail station at Tallmans was between the cities of Nyack and Suffern, NY.

Permission was asked and received. A plot was chosen and plans made for the cabin. There were a half dozen or so other cabins on this property, and tents were available for the asking. Some holidays and weekends as many as four or five hundred scouts and leaders were accommodated.

The ground sloped down from the entrance to the back of a 100 foot long building containing a kitchen, large dining area, crafts shop, meeting space and two private rooms at the back. A hallway between the rooms led to stairs dropping to the ground around six feet below. The front of the building being on the level with the ground led to lots of storage space under the building. Tents and equipment were stored there.

This was in early 1931. After several weekends spent laying the foundation for our cabin, Guy and I moved to the site to finish it. The spring days were warm but the nights quite cool. We pitched a tent with a pot-bellied stove placed near the center of the doorway. The fire would last well into the night and we would sleep soundly until the sun warmed us up in the morning, generally around ten o’clock. Working until dusk, we finished the cabin before summer. At the point of nailing the roof beam down, Guy insisted on walking across it to be sure it was solid.

The camp director had been watching us and applied for an assistant after asking if I would take the job. I was delighted to get steady work and moved myself into one of the two private rooms opposite the camp director’s room.

I was put in charge of the crafts shop immediately and asked to be lifeguard at the 60 foot swimming pool. I made all my X-mas presents at the crafts shop that year. I passed out tents, gave all kinds of advice, got scouts to help keep the 200 acres clean and delegated jobs as necessary. The camp director had felt pretty well tied down before I came on board. Now he could take off, leaving me in charge.

Guy was a motorcycle nut. He had one with a side-car, seldom used. Going visiting on one of my Sundays off, we had an accident. It was a misty day. The roads were wet. All was fine until we hit a freshly painted white line in the center of a curve in the road. His motorcycle slipped and buckled under the side-car where I was riding. This was instantaneous. In falling off the motorcycle, he inadvertently turned the gas handle on. As he left the motorcycle, I shot ahead on the attached sidecar, grabbed the rounded top and spun out as I left it. The motorcycle and side-car continued on across the road, hitting a tree. I was fine, having somersaulted out and landed softly in the road. Guy, behind me on the road yelled, “Are you all right?” I answered, “I’m fine.” We got up and walked to the nearest store to ask for help. It happened to be a drug store not too far down the road. While waiting for Guy to call, my sock above my left shoe felt damp. Finding I had cut my leg and blood had run down, getting my sock wet, we got a bandage and found a doctor.

I had cut the very thin skin and scraped the bone on the front of my leg. Apparently the tip of the side-car had caught my leg, but not badly enough so I noticed or felt it. But I spent several weeks sitting in the middle of a very active scout camp, with my leg up on a stool while it healed. I had to be careful not to jar the wound or it would reopen. The inactivity was the worst ever felt.

Later on in the spring of the next year, I saw a car for sale by the owner of a store at the whistle stop where I met the scouts getting off the train. He wanted to sell his Star car because the tires wore out so fast. So I bought my first car for $12.50. It ran well and the tires all held air. I drove it back to camp with scouts all over it, fixed the front tie rod so the tires wouldn’t wear out, and had my first car.

After driving this car all summer, I saw a car auction advertised in the fall in Suffern. They would allow me $35.00 on my Star car if I bought another car at the auction. I finally was able to get a Chevy, which had had only one owner, for a bid of $60.00, costing me $25.00 and my car. My second car.

The donations to the Boy Scouts of Manhattan had been decreasing, and after just over a year, I was told they had to cut my job. So in late 1932 I was again out of work. But I had acquired a car and a little cash. Somewhere along the way, I had gotten a Texaco credit card and had learned the value of having good credit. This card enabled me to change tires, buy gas, etc. and get money if I needed it. Before borrowing I made sure it could be paid back on time. After day or weekend jobs at gas stations, I went to visit my Uncle Herbert again. He had decided to open a Harley store on a new highway in Eatontown, New Jersey, so I helped him get the shop in order, cleaning and painting the front of the building.

My second car, which I had for over two years, was beginning to fall apart and would need extensive repairs. Having no money for anything like that, I managed to trade it, along with $10.00, for a plush old Victorian sedan that was in fair shape. My threes cars cost less that $50.00. (By the way, the Chevy just traded in cost me less than 2-cents a mile to run. I had kept detailed track of expenses including all costs and license plates. Seems impossible today.)

More gas station jobs ended in my finally getting a permanent job at a new nearby gas station being run by myself and another man taking turns keeping it open. One day a supervisor of the gasoline company owning the gas station came by and, after watching me, asked if I would like to own the station. Declining the offer, the station was sold soon after to someone else.

Eventually I was working part time for a prominent butcher, driving a delivery truck, generally around noon. Making many quick deliveries took a toll on the light delivery truck tires.

It was on one of these stops at a fenced in estate on Long Island Sound that I met C. N. Edge, a member of the New York Stock Exchange. Conversing after handing him his meat order, I mentioned that I was looking for work. He thought a minute and said he needed someone and could use me in his New York City office. When could I report to work at $16.00 a week. He had a direct wire to his office and had to phone them to get directions for me to use when I reported for work. Needless to say, I was delighted.

So I started working for C. N. Edge & Co. in an office consisting of one speculator and one lawyer/accountant. I was a third member and did all the other jobs done in a small office including reading the ticker tape to Mr. Edge over his direct wire. We had a runner on the floor of the stock exchange and we would receive and relay orders to buy or well stock from Mr. Edge.

My job there did not last long because of stock legislation put through a month or two after I started. This slowed down speculation to the point where we would call our stock exchange runner to come up afternoons to make a fourth for bridge. The firm operated what we call mutual funds today. After a week or so of bridge a good part of the day I was given notice, but with an excellent recommendation.

Finally I settled on a position as an outside adjustor with General Electric Contracts Corporation. I became employed again at $25.00 a week salary and a 6-cent a mile car allowance. I called on dealers, checking G. E. appliances loaned them on floor plans, settled delinquent accounts by extension or repossession, traced skips and did whatever else was required of an outside adjustor. Every week or so I would check in at the office in New York City to dictate letters and catch up on my work, which was handled mainly by mailed in nightly reports.

To start I was given part of Westchester County to cover. As I cleaned it up, all of Westchester was added, and then the territory up to Poughkeepsie and Bridgeport, CT. Finally I was covering the upper half of the Bronx as well. I did purchase a new 1939 Ford Coupe which increased my car allowance to 8-cents a mile, but was told only cost of living raises were eminent.

After over two years, and with my $595.00 Ford almost completely paid for, I gave them four weeks notice, as I could see no future by staying. They asked me to stay an extra week while they could find a replacement, which I did.

My sister had been working at the two Spaulding owned flower shops in Springfield, MA for some time, and had acquired some very nice furniture for the apartment she was renting with Irene. She and Irene had become very close friends and did a lot together. Dot had even studied the Catholic religion with Irene’s help. Dot had met Barry Aloysius Martin, a salesman who claimed to have been a catcher on a major ball team.

Shortly after I left G.E.C.C. I went to Springfield to look for work and stay with Dot and Irene at their invitation. I found a job right away with a Dockerell & Co. selling life insurance stock. It was very pleasant work but they would not carry me forever unless I made a lot of sales. I played golf evenings at the municipal golf course. Rates for a round of golf were reduced to 50-cents after 5pm and 25-cents after 6:30pm. I was careful not to get any of my dates pregnant after learning that my sister had become pregnant. Her boyfriend Barry was a heavy drinker, eventually ending up in an institution.

Dot wanted to get away from Barry and finally asked me to take over her share of the apartment. She went to visit the Wilsons in Port Monmouth, New Jersey, very close friends of ours. Barry Dudley was born at a New Jersey City hospital on July 18, 1939.

In the meantime, since my job was not working out, I sold Dot’s furniture, closed her equity in the apartment, and took a job in Hartford, CT helping a CPA who was selling an accounting course on the side. I learned what hiteing checks was. My CPA, whenever he ran out of money, would write a check for cash or to cover another outstanding check before it cleared. This meant every three or four days until he received payment for work done. Again seeing no future here, I left for Rye in time for Christmas. Dot was already there.

My father had retired and purchased a double family house in the center of Sarasota, Florida for $3,000. It had been slightly fire damaged when a neighboring house caught on fire, but was easily repaired. After spending Christmas in Rye, Dot and I decided to spend some time with our father. We left for Florida in 1940 with her newborn son.

Chronological EVENTS and/or Locations by age and season

Age Year Season Event and/or Location

0 1909 fall Born in Clifton Park, New York

1 1911 summer 11 Elm Place, Rye, New York

4 ? Moved to Stamford, Vermont

6 1916 summer Started school in Stamford, Vermont

7 1917 end of school year Finished first four grades

7 1917 summer Grade five in Stamford, Vermont

8 1918 summer Grade six at Hallock School, Great Barrington, MA

9 1919 summer Grade seven Stratford, CT

10 1920 spring Left seventh grade at Stratford, CT

11 1921 spring Finished 8th grade at North Ferrisburgh, VT

11 1921 summer High School in Vergennes, VT

13 1923 spring High School in Elizabethtown, NY

13 1923 summer Started 2nd year HS in Rye, NY

16 1926 end of school year Graduated from Rye High School

16 1926 summer Started college at Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT

20 1930 end of school year B.S. degree from Middlebury College

21 1930 fall To 33 St. near 3rd Ave. in NYC

21 1931 spring To Kanes Open Scout Camp, Tallsmans, NY

22 1932 fall To Rye, NY

23-4-5 1933-4-5 In Rye, NY and Etontown, NJ

26 1936 Rye, NY and vicinity

27 1936 fall Rye, NY job with C. N. Edge & Co. in NYC

27 1937 Rye, NY job with G.E. C. C. in NYC

29 1939 summer Springfield, MA

30 1939 fall Hartford, CT

30 1940 Rye, NY

30 1940 Drove to Sarasota, Florida

30 1940 Job at Cutlers in Sarasota, FL

30 1940 fall Job at Dress Shop in Sarasota

30 1940 fall Job at Orange Blossom Hotel

31 1941 Job at Lyons Fertilizer in Tampa, FL

32 1941 fall Job at Sarasota Terrace Hotel, Sarasota

32 1941 fall Job teaching

32 1942 Army Air Corp, MacDill Field, Tampa, FL

32 1942 spring 8th Air Force HQ, Bushy Park, England

35 1945 summer Months Terminal Leave – Sarasota & Rye

35 1945 summer Army Air Force in Georgia

36 1945 fall Discharged – Sarasota, FL 10/12/45

37 1946 Job J.R. Hotel, Sarasota, FL

37 1946 spring to 11 Elm Place, Rye, NY

Chapter 8 – Florida/England

Not having seen our father for some time, my sister Dot and I decided to go to Florida with baby. We arrived in Sarasota and were given use of half the double house owned by my father. This was ideal for us. Our parents had made use of all available space for renters, including a room in their part of the house that had a door to the front porch; and several garage apartments. They had planned this for us and were delighted to have us close by for a while, even baby-sitting for us.

Eventually I moved to one of the garage apartments on the street behind the house. Dad and my stepmother had renovated it for me after the tenant had left. Dot established herself in town and found another apartment nearby with a girlfriend. I was able to pay my folks $7.00 a week for room and board as soon as I found work.

Jobs were available, but employers were very skeptical about hiring people who came down from the north. References meant nothing. Finally I got a night job at a specialized service station. I was alone there from eight in the evening to eight A. M. Generally I stayed in my car (not in the office) by the gas pumps. In the summer mosquitoes were often quite heavy, especially when the wind was blowing in from the marshes. One late afternoon the city hired a small plane to spray – going down each street and back between the streets. Making a screen with a soddered copper wire frame kept them out of the car. I could snap the screens in place in the open windows of my coupe.

I was paid $12.00 a week for the 84 hours plus a commission on accessories, such as tires. I never sold any. My Ford 90 coupe now had 80,000 miles on it and was using a lot of oil. So in the fall, I was able to take the motor completely apart, install new bearings and piston rings, have the valves ground and end up with a new car. I also had time to spend at the beach and play shuffleboard with parents and friends before my eight o’clock job. Less sleep was needed in the hot weather. Some days I would have several dates.

Later on in the fall I found another job paying $15 a week. A young girl, recently graduated from High School, had opened a dress shop selling dresses for as little as $2. She had a big colored trade and needed someone to collect the payments for dresses sold with small amounts down. Most paid on time, but there were always some that did not. I thought nothing of going blocks into a completely colored section of Sarasota on a pay day night to collect.

This job petered out, and I went to work at the Orange Blossom Hotel, where I had to be fingerprinted for the first time. While working there, I answered an ad for a job I felt qualified for. The job was in Tampa, sixty miles north of Sarasota. I went to Tampa, was interviewed and accepted and started working for Lyons Fertilizer Company.

The job was an outside job a bit similar to my prior work with G.E. C.C. I was given a car so I let my sister have my renovated Ford. Calling on dealers and collecting delinquent accounts throughout central Florida to Dania on the east coast kept me busy. The 60 mile commute from my place in Sarasota was a bit much so I finally moved to Tampa, selecting a nice garden apartment where all items seemed to be fairly handy. I still spent weekends in Sarasota.

The car I was given had been turned in for a $300 debt owed by a farmer, so was no bargain. A front tire blew on me while returning to the office one day. It was on a very lightly traveled macadam road sloping down slightly on each side for drainage to a wide side area. No cars in sight. The car started weaving so I knew I could not hold it on the road. So I turned off the ignition and curled up on the front seat. The car crossed the road and came bottom side up in the ditch. The windows were open so I crawled out with no damage but a slight bruise where I hit the dashboard.

The firm was very happy as they collected more insurance than the car was worth. They gave me a new Studebaker Dictator with overdrive to use as my own. I put 25,000 miles on it in less than 5 months. Things slowed up in the fall and I was let go.

I went back to Sarasota with a Superintendent of Service position at the Sarasota Terrace Hotel. This led me to getting a job teaching a state sponsored course in the Uniformed Hotel help at $45 a week, given at the hotel. This was in addition to my position there. I had arranged to work at another Collins hotel in New Jersey in the summer. Both seasons would be short with time off between. The winter season hadn’t really started yet and I taught a dozen or more students, actually helping some get jobs in Florida hotels.

On December 7th I was crossing the main street of Sarasota when a car stopped me and the driver said, “listen to the radio.” Having been deferred from the draft because I was working for an essential industry (fertilizer), I knew I would be called soon, so I decided to enlist.

There were four recruiting booths at MacDill field in Tampa. I talked at length to all four to see where I could fit in the best. Marines offered me a Sargeant’s rating to manage a warehouse in the US. I don’t remember the Army or Navy discussion, but I settled on enlisting in the Air Force with overseas duty to come. Wanting to start in 1941, I enlisted to report for duty Dec. 31, 1941. I signed in the evening of New Years, and was working in an office the following morning.

A few weeks later, the unit I was assigned to was transferred to get shots and then stationed at a deportation port. It was spring before we left for England in a convoy with two cruisers and a battleship. A sub following us was sunk with depth charges.

The eight day overseas journey in a converted multi bunk Liberty ship was not very pleasant and curtailed any desire I might have in the future for a vacation cruise.

Landing in the northern British Isles, we boarded a train for London. It was still daylight at 2 a.m. Morning found us at the Eighth Air Force headquarters in Bushy Park.

My understanding was that our unit had come overseas as a personnel unit of the HQ squadron, and we were the last unit to get assigned. Anyway, I ended up working in the main finance office of the Eighth Air Force, and was put in charge of the books. I had my own office with a secretary that was primarily mine, and reported to the person who received our financing from the US. The hardest part of my job was keeping everything in both dollars and sterling, since all we had was sterling adding machines to balance bank statements. We were paid in British currency.

We were 30 minutes from London, so saw a lot of it. We had USO dances and I was able to travel a bit on short leaves granted on weekends. I visited Blackpool, Torque with a date. It was on the seacoast, and I learned that the movies in England are the “flix.” Another very interesting item was the pilots that had been shot down and returned to England by the underground. They had to go through our office to get reinstated and receive their back pay.

“D” day finally came with the sky covered with planes coming and going. A 9th Air Force was formed for Europe and the 8th was being split up. We started to deal in other currencies. My three-year tour of duty came up. I was entitled to a months terminal leave and came back to the US, being told that at the end of my vacation I would report back for duty in the Pacific.

On my leave, which was in the early summer, I spent time between Sarasota and Rye. Returning after my leave, I found myself in Alabama waiting to be shipped to the Pacific arena. The Atom bomb came, and the war was over. Going to be discharged, I realized that I had lost the hearing in my left ear, probably when I had strep throat and had been hospitalized for a day or so in England. So I put in for and got disability, which deferred my discharge for several days. I was given a check for over $500 for unused vacation time. Having $75 a month transferred to the bank from my pay since I became M-Sgt. Gave me a little to start again on.

My father picked me up at discharge from MacDill field in Tampa and I was a civilian again, set to relax and recuperate for a while. However, I had not been home long when the manager of the John Ringling hotel called on me. I was sitting on our front porch when he came up and offered me a job as night clerk for the season at the John Ringling Hotel.

The season was from Jan. 15 to March 15, and I worked from a week before to a week after. A little more time off and I decided to go into the hotel business and went to New York City to get an accounting and management background. My first job keeping books at a large hotel was a disaster and I got a second job working for a hotel and restaurant accounting firm, Harris Kerr Foster CPA firm, auditing. We worked in the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn, Westchester Biltmore in Harrison, NY and had a suite for a week in the Astor Hotel on the second floor overlooking Broadway, to mention a few places. Good jobs for experience.

Chapter 9 – Meeting Fran

On a weekend in Rye visiting Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Frank, who had a new house and a grown up boy and girl at this point, Fran appeared. She had been invited by my cousin Wini. They were buddies, both teaching in Chappaqua, New York. Wini had told me she was having company, and told Fran a cousin would be visiting. We both were surprised. It was on a Saturday. We all went to Oakland Beach that afternoon. Fran and I spent what seemed like hours conversing on the beach, being pretty much left alone. I invited Fran to visit Coney Island with me if she would like to. Just give me a ring anytime.

Of course she never did, and the summer went on. I spent time at our summer camp on Schroon Lake. Fran was already there. But when she heard I was coming up with another girl, she immediately left. I met her again in the fall in Rye and took her to a YMCA dance. She wore a dress with spangles that sparkled. We all went to church on Sunday. She invited me to visit her in Peekskill. In the spring we went picnicking with Wini and her boyfriend Bob.

Fran was taking a graduate course at Columbia University in New York City and we would meet in Grand Central Station on a Friday to go to either Peekskill or Rye. I proposed around Valentine’s Day and later made it official with a ring presented at the top of the Empire State Building. I asked her father’s approval. With only $90 in the bank, I had purchased a diamond ring at a sporting goods store for $75.

We had known each other a year and a day, and been engaged a month and a day, when we were married on June 25, 1947, after the school year ended. I had set the date as half way between Christmas and Christmas – easy to remember. Fran told me she had told her mother after she met me that she had met the man she was going to marry, but she couldn’t remember my name. A Catholic Priest relative of the family stopped by the night before and blessed our marriage.

A simple ceremony was held in front of the stone fireplace at home as requested by her parents, who both had heart conditions. The reception followed at the house. About 50 people attended. We left in a waiting car, tin cans rattling, amid a shower of rice and good wishes.

Shortly before this I had changed jobs. My work with the CPA firm had been getting more and more demanding. An entire weekend was coming up where an inventory check of a warehouse would take place. I was called by the agency that had placed me with the accounting firm and asked to report one lunch hour for an interview with an advertising firm looking for a career man. It did not sound like very much, but when I left the interview I had signed up for a much more interesting job with immense possibilities. The offer of $35 a week to start was much better than the $25 a week I was making. It was a real opportunity and I missed the weekend of work with the CPA firm. Starting in the lowest rung of the ladder, the checking department, I did nicely.

Being able to get time off before a weekend helped me plan a very short honeymoon. Our marriage was set for late afternoon, but was delayed a bit by the pastor, who had been in Connecticut all day. It was evening when we arrived at the Hotel Saint Francis in New York City where I had made reservations. We went by train the next day to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to the hotel I had picked out just off the boardwalk. Fran got a bit of sunburn, some seafood disagreed with her, but we had several nice days before taking the train home to Peekskill. I returned to work.

Chapter 10 – Work

After our short honeymoon, we returned to 701 Nelson Avenue where Fran’s parents had asked for our help. They both had heart conditions. We agreed to stay with them. Uncle Warren, Fran’s mother’s brother, who we called “Unk,” also lived with them. His wife had died. He worked for a bakery in Brooklyn, a two-hour commute, so was not much help. Fran went back to teaching in Peekskill, having transferred from an excellent teaching job in Chappaqua.

I found out that I had received the first of many promotions I would be given at Kenyon and Eckhardt. I had started there in the checking department, which is the bottom rung of an advertising agency. I spent several weeks in each of the following departments: newspaper, magazines, radio-TV and production billing. After a few months, I was put in charge of the billing department, which included a machine room where all the bills were originated and sent out.

The former head of the billing department had continually hired more help to cover all the work, so, when I was put in charge, I had a staff of eighty-four people. During the five plus years that I held this position, I was able to reduce the overall staff, as requested, down to under sixty.

I never fired anyone. I just told them truthfully that they had no future at the company based on their performance. Good workers got $5 raises and the better ones received $10 once or twice a year. One year no raises were given and management took temporary cuts in salary to make up for what we lost in business. In another lean year, we made more money on subletting to several tenants (on our five floors with long-term leases) than we made on our client business. There were great times as well and interesting perks from time to time. When we had an account with Kellogg’s most of the employees received 14 packs of cereals for Christmas. Advertising was a fast moving business and very competitive. K & E had the sponsors for over half of the major TV shows at one time, including the Ed Sullivan Show.

Chapter 11 – Family

Having moved in with the head of a family of seven children, I lived as one of them. Most of the seven children worked in Kurzhals Brothers Hardware store owned and operated by Gus, Fran’s father. He had purchased the store after being a very successful salesman, and was taking care of his four brothers and two sisters. The second floor of the store was completely stocked with toys and the third floor was sort of an attic, rarely used. The ground floor was centered in the back by a raised office with a cash register. Several wires went from this office to various parts of the store. There were containers to carry cash to the cashier attached to the wires. A hand pulley sent these containers flying along the wires. They were received by the cashier and returned with change and/or receipts. The Christmas season was exceptionally busy and I was recruited to help at the store on weekends.

After a couple of years of very pleasant living, Fran came home from teaching school one day to find her mother had died while trying to reach some nitroglycerine pills that she kept for emergency use. This shook us up considerably since Fran would now have to assume the responsibility of caring for her father. Out of necessity, my wife managed to take her mother’s place very quickly although the routine was changed somewhat because she was still teaching.

Less than a year later, while Gus’s brothers were helping to install a new gas stove, Gus tried to help and had a heart attack and died leaving Fran with only two men to take care of.

Fran inherited the family residence while Gus’s brothers and sisters inherited the store and business.

Fran had a cousin Ritchie, who at the time, was the youngest captain in the Merchant Marines and traveled extensively. He met a girl in South Africa whom he liked and decided to marry. We were all invited to the wedding ceremony. He had several cases of South African champagne for the wedding, which we all enjoyed. Later on, we spent a week with Ritchie, who had bought an excursion boat on lake Sebago in Maine. The excursion boat traveled the length of the lake and back. The trip took several hours. We had a very enjoyable week visiting with Ritchie.

Ritchie’s brother Cameron Judge lived in Charlottesville, VA and we visited him occasionally as well. Their sister Betty lived with her family on Long Island. These were the children of “Unk” and cousins Fran enjoyed visiting throughout her childhood. Cousins on her father’s side lived nearer by in Peekskill.

Chapter 12 – Early Marriage

Before we got married, Fran told me that three different doctors had told her she could never have children, so we were both surprised when she got pregnant after being married four years. When Fran became pregnant the school system told her she would have to stop teaching. However, she was called on to substitute teach once or twice.

Fran woke me up around 5:00 AM one morning and said, “My water just broke.” I, being half asleep, said “Has one of the rusty pipes in the cellar given way?” We went to the hospital right away. Fran’s cousin Eleanor, a nurse there, admitted her and told me to go home and wait for a while. Some hours later I got the call that our baby had been born. I found a silver dollar on the way to the hospital to see our new baby. Ruth Evelyn was born July 17, 1951 and was a very healthy baby.

We were very happy watching Ruth develop. Her first steps were on my birthday giving me a nice present. Four years later our Ruth had a brother born on March 11, 1955 whom we named James Cameron. Jim was jaundiced and gave us some scary moments until things got straightened out. When he finally came home I hired someone to help my wife with the two children.

We had to cope with our daughter being jealous of our son when he began taking center stage. Things smoothed out after a while with the help of our animals. We had a cat named Joe who was given to us by the butcher. He had been after my wife to take one of the many kittens. This one was multi-colored and had a bobbed tail. Fran carried Joe across the street to the hardware store where she replaced the paper bag with a box to carry the kitten home in.

Joe used to curl up in Ruth’s crib when she was sleeping. He was a very contented cat. He later became an excellent mouser, killing all the mice within a 10 to 20 foot radius of the house. We had a real commotion one day when Joe brought a live mouse into the house and dropped it in the living room. Joe was playing with the mouse, batting it around, until we were able to get them both outside.

Later on, after Jim was born, we got a dog. When we brought him home, Joe jumped up on the windowsill and spat at the dog. We finally got them to tolerate each other, and Joe outlasted several dogs we had acquired over the years. We remember Joe would be away from the house for several nights at a time. He could swing like a monkey from tree branch to tree branch. We had Joe for about 17 years when we had to put him down.

Chapter 13 – School

The line dividing two school districts ran through our house. By using the back door as our address, we could send our children to a more desirable school.

Our Ruth started school and was not doing very well until it was discovered that she had astigmatism in her eyes and needed glasses. We were all surprised and delighted when she told me “I can really see the leaves on the trees now.” We were very sorry we hadn’t caught this sooner.

She did very well in school graduating from high school near the top of her class. An interesting highlight of her high school experiences was when Ruth had purchased a male hamster as part of a sciece project. One morning she came running in from the kitchen where the hamster was kept and said “Mommy, my male hamster is having babies.” She attended Chatham College in Pittsburgh, PA. I remember being on the phone with her when the Pirates won the World Series and hearing the horns on 5th Avenue below her apartment.

At a high school function honoring top students, Ruth met a Dan Clark, a top student from a neighboring high school. They started dating and after finishing their undergraduate degrees at Chatham and MIT were ready to marry. We were able to give them a big wedding and reception at the Garrison Country Club located a short distance from Peekskill. There was a gazebo there where many pictures were taken leaving us with many fond memories of the day. There was a band, champagne and an open bar along with a prime rib dinner. Ninety-six people attended. Dinner was $12 a plate and we spent about $1800 for the entire reception.

Jim also did well in school. However, we were asked to meet with the high school guidance counselor who asked us why we were influencing our son in choosing a career in accounting. He wanted to be an accountant and we had to assure the counselor that we had not influenced him at all. He got a CPA degree after graduating from Clarkson College in Potsdam, NY.

I attended Pace College in NYC under the GI Bill of Rights working towards a CPA degree, but had to quit after my life became more demanding with the pregnancy of our first child. I stopped after finishing the cost accounting course.

Chapter 14 – Peekskill, NY

Peekskill, NY is the northernmost city in Westchester County and at one time was the smallest city in the USA. It is located on the Hudson River and the New York Central Railroad line. The McGregor Brook divided Peekskill into two parts. The brook ran underground after the city was built up, but emerged about one hundred yards before entering the Hudson River. A road to the railroad station ran alongside the brook after it emerged from under the city.

We lived on the corner of Liberty St. and Nelson Ave., a little over a mile from the railroad station. When I first started my commute, an over forty-mile trip to NYC, a bus stopped at our corner and took me to the railroad station. The arrangement didn’t last very long. I then was driven to the station or had to walk.

The train ride was always very pleasant. We stopped only once in Harmon to change from a diesel engine to an electric one. The last car on the train was sort of a club car where the conductor set up half a dozen or so public seats and placed a card table with a deck of cards on each. We gave him a dollar which cost each one of us a quarter. Our foursome played bridge for one tenth of a cent per point. We were often the last ones off the train when we reached our destination and our wives would be waiting anxiously in their cars for us. One year, while celebrating Christmas, the club car was fully decked out by the conductor and a New York Post photographer took several pictures and put one of our group on the cover page of their newspaper.

There was a Methodist church on each side of the brook. Both churches were about equal distance from our residence on 701 Nelson Avenue. My wife and I joined the church on the southern side of the brook, but shortly thereafter the two churches joined and became one. Fran and I donated about one percent of the amount necessary to cover the additional cost of the new church. Fran and I were both active in the church and I became the treasurer, eventually, a position I held until we left Peekskill some ten years later.

I remember passing out bibles to the graduating class one year. We had three day school teachers. We leased out the large dining room to a Veterans Home who served lunches to the Veterans.

We were also quite active in politics, getting out votes, etc. Usually our candidates were elected.

Chapter 15 – Music

While in high school, three of us started an amateur orchestra, a fourth, a piano player, was enlisted at times. We played at church dinners, birthday parties and so forth. I played a banjo mandolin. Some of the songs I remember playing were: “Susie,” “My Gaol Sal,” “All Alone by the Telephone,” and “Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals.” The later I remember distinctly because of a nostalgic parody that went along with it as follow:

“Gentlemen of the jury” the Judge’s speech began.

The scene was a crowded courtroom, the judge a stern old man.

“The lady before you is a social enemy, a lady of the evening.

You know the penalty.

Don’t let her beauty sway you.

Don’t mind her ready tears.

Don’t let her youth mislead you.

She’s wise beyond her years.

This girl is my own daughter.

The case is in your hands.”

Fran was given piano lessons as well, but for a much longer time. She was very interested in music, playing the violin in the high school orchestra. Fran wanted to go to the New York State University at Potsdam where she could major in music. Her parents didn’t want the expense and wanted her nearer home. Instead she went to the State College at New Paltz.

Being chairwoman of the cultural enrichment program sponsored by the school system gave her a lot of pleasure. At one program she introduced the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra to a full audience. Our kids and I were in the theater balcony enjoying it.

Fran used the piano a lot while teaching first grade. To everyone’s amazement, she was able to control the class by striking chords on the piano. She also created musical plays with her classes.

Ruth’s husband Dan had taken a national exam given for potential law students. He scored so high on the test he decided to take up law and Ruth agreed to put him through Harvard Law School. She got a job teaching first grade in Massachusetts and they moved to a high-rise apartment in Boston. They lived there when their first child was born. Fran left her teaching job for a week to take care of Ruth when she and the baby came home from the hospital.

When Dan graduated from Harvard Law School he found work with a Boston Law firm. They purchased a house in Reading, MA where their children could get a good education As the family grew they moved several times to larger houses.

Not working while raising their four daughters, Ruth finally decided to give piano lessons. Dan bought Ruth a grand piano from the factory and soon Ruth was gving fifty half hour lessons every week. Her reputation caused the school system to enlist her as a teacher at North Reading where she still teaches music. She has had to drop all but a few of her former students but is now a full time teacher. Her four children also enjoy playing music.

Jim’s three children also studied piano and his two sons continue to play duets together. Jim’s youngest son is also very competent on the guitar. Jim had played the trombone in High School.

Chapter 16 – Finances

When we got married both of us had jobs. Our credit was top or A-1. We both had built our credit up over the years. Saying I would give fran half of my take home pay and pay for all automobiles purchased if she would cover all the other expenses was an agreeable arrangement. It worked out very well with the only exception being running out of gas several times while waiting for the other person to fill the tank. Fran also had a fairly heavy deduction from her pay to increase her retirement benefits.

Later on in our marriage, we took out life insurance on Fran to cover my loss should something happen to her. Eventually I ended up paying for the insurance.

My wife, Fran, would go into various clothing stores and charge the bill. She wanted to buy me a watch for my birthday and went to a well-known jewelry store and asked the jeweler to charge it. They refused. She asked why. They said, “You have no credit.” She said, “Call anybody in town.” They called a few merchants and came back and said, “You can have the store.”

We bought our first car, a Ford, on time and kept it thirteen years. We finally gave it to my Uncle Herbert to replace the motorcycle he was driving. We decided to purchase a second Ford. We liked the one on display at our Ford dealership and bought it. We only had this car a couple of years when we were hit on a bridge overlooking a 50 to 60 foot drop to a branch of the Hudson River by an out of control car crossing the line. We were pushed up on the sidewalk but not hurt much. We were taken home by the state trooper and missed a dinner at the nearby restaurant we were going to. The car was sold for $100. We collected insurance. The next day, renting a car, we went to our Ford dealership where only two unsold cars were available. We ended up buying a pretty blue Mustang convertible seen pictured in lots of ads.

Jim had bought himself a kayak, which we hung in the garage over our car. We would put the top down in order to carry the kayak when Jim wanted to go kayaking, arranging to pick him up at a certain time. He and one of his buddies found an aluminum canoe trapped in some rapids while kayaking, so we had a second boat.

With some difficulty and scholarships, we were able to help put our kids through college nicely. There were four years between, which helped. I finally paid back money borrowed for my own college long after we got married, when interest on it was forgiven.

After 5 years on my job, I was allowed to buy stock in our firm, which was completely owned and operated by the employees. Purchasing some stock helped increase my retirement money. I was also given a year’s salary when I retired at the age of 69. An interesting sidelight is the fact that I won a door prize at a Christmas party the year before I retired. The prize was a week vacation for two to Acapulco, Mexico. We extended this trip for several days to visit Mexico City and were there on Thanksgiving, staying at a centrally located hotel. From our hotel room we could see fourteen lanes of traffic and the million or so cars on the road. At that time traffic was so heavy they were only allowed to drive every other day. Cars with odd number license plates on one day and even number plates on the next.

We spent money carefully over the years. We took many trips and got a new car every few years.

Chapter 17 – Travel

Getting three weeks vacation after 5 years, we planned trips. One of the first was a two-week Grand Circle Tour to Hawaii. We added on an extra week in order to see more of the local atmosphere, staying at one of a half dozen vine covered cottages. Almost every day we would cross the main coastal road to a restaurant overlooking a fifty-foot drop to the ocean. We grew to love Kona coffee there.

Our next trip was with Tauck Tour, a fifteen-day trip to the Pacific Northwest, starting outside of San Francisco. My cousin Barry and his two children, who were really dressed up, met us.

We all went up on the hotel elevator to our room where the tour started. My wife, Fran, nearly fell through the floor when she turned around in the elevator and saw nothing but sky and the city below. Our tour took us up to Canada and then east. We had dinner in the rotating needle restaurant overlooking Seattle, Washington. The dining room made a full revolution every hour. Atop the Needle was quite a sight.

Many other interesting sights followed. We saw Victoria, British Columbia, where we went to the Butchart Gardens. We went to Vancouver and stayed overnight at Lake Louise. We were in the last bus of the season on the glacier tour as it began snowing heavily and soon travel would become impossible.

Later on, my vacation time was increased to four weeks and then to five weeks. I was getting five weeks when I retired. We considered the Tauck Tours very reasonable and took half dozen more over the years. They included free luggage carrying, excellent meals and top accommodations as well as many sight seeing tours.

We also have traveled by car to Canada, Florida and Gettysburg. We were very impressed with the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia and spent some time on prince Edward Island where we had all you can eat lobster dinners. The lobsters were brought out in barrels. We also played golf there. The winds were so strong they would occasionally blow the golf ball off the tee. Coming back from Canada, we visited our son Jim in Plattsburgh, NY.

We also took, almost yearly, trips to Florida, visiting my parents and doing quite a bit of sightseeing en route.

There were also many other weekend and longer nearby trips of several or more hundred miles.

Chapter 18 – Activities

As our children grew up, we became more and more involved in our community and government. Beside school activities such as Jim being on the school swim team, there were piano lessons for Ruth and Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts for Jim. Fred Smith, a neighbor, talked me into helping with Cub Scouts and I became pretty well involved in scouting. Fred had a son about Jim’s age. There was grass cutting and a small garden to take care of. We had a grape arbor near our patio and a tree house I built in our apple tree in the center of the backyard.

We curtailed our children considerably when it came to watching television. There was one show that really impressed me. The 50th Anniversary Ford TV Show. There were NO commercials and the show was spellbinding from start to finish.

I was an avid golfer, playing about every weekend, weather permitting. Fran took golf lessons one winter after seeing me golf with another couple she knew. She became a good golfer and we played together often in later years.

Peekskill had a nine-hole golf course, the Highland Country Club. Membership was well within our means, so we joined when the children were teenagers. Jim learned how to play golf. We kept our membership there for several years.

We played on many courses in the nearby area as well as courses in Florida and points in between.

We took a second trip to Hawaii, having enjoyed the first trip so much. This was a five-island trip and included thirteen flights and a helicopter ride in Maui. Having seen most of the tourist sights on our first trip, we arranged to play golf on four of the five islands. The fifth one, Oahu, we could not play on because one had to arrange a tee time at least two weeks in advance.

Our church was sponsoring a chaperoned summer vacation trip to Europe for teenagers. They would stay at hostels where they could work to partially pay for the trip. Our sixteen-year-old daughter Ruth begged us to go and said she would pay her own expenses if we would pay the airfare. After considerable consideration we agreed and I gave her a $500 check that could be cashed at any bank in case she needed it. She returned the check to us uncashed. She packed her clothes in a large suitcase and left for Europe staying at hostels in France, Italy and Germany. She sent us a picture of herself in a snowstorm on her seventeenth birthday. It was taken in the Italian Alps north of Torino on July 17th. She said the trip to look inside a volcano in Italy was scary. The roads were very narrow with rather steep sides.

My son Jim, after working several years, started his own CPA firm with several partners. His firm did well. They were very active in community affairs, even joining the Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh, NY. Then had their pictures displayed on the front page of the local newspapers. They became the largest firm in the Plattsburgh area, even getting business from Canada. The firm has a high minimum fee.

Jim spent a month in Russia on an exchange basis to help a large factory acquire modern accounting skills. He had to travel east three hundred miles from Moscow to the factory. He learned to drink vodka and bought us a Russian Nesting Doll he said it would cost a Russian laborer about a month’s salary to buy.

Chapter 19 – Sidelights

The advertising business has its ups and downs. In one of the up years, I was only able to take one week of my two week vacation time. The next year I was told I had to take the second week or lose it. This was in February and my wife had a week’s winter vacation coming up.

A firm of a close friend of mine had just finished putting a new airstrip in on the island of Tobago under his supervision and described the area to me. I had also seen on TV’s Wonderful World of Golf a description of the golf course there and liked the sound of it.

Having one week before my wife’s vacation, I made reservations at one of the hotels there. Anxiously awaiting the confirmation, which took three days, I was able to get satisfactory flights. Confirmation being made by phone through South America, we took a plane to Trinidad and then a small shuttle plane to Tobago, about twelve miles beyond Trinidad.

A Canadian couple, on the fifth week of their honeymoon tour of the islands, saw my golf bag and us. On the bus going to our hotel he asked if he could play golf with me. Needlass to say, I was delighted and we set a day and time as soon as we arrived at the hotel. Tobago is almost on the equator and the golf course was so hot the caddy would run for a shady tree every chance he got. Despite all of this, we had a good golf game, including a birdie I made on a 220-yard downhill hole.

We all enjoyed the week very much. The calypso band was good. We would make the frozen margaritas last at least an hour. We enjoyed watching the various, colorful fish.

Coming back we had to circle the airport for almost an hour due to inclement weather. The plane would drop five hundred to one thousand feet at a time until we were finally able to land around midnight. Our car was completely snowed in. Fran had to wait in the waiting room while I rescued the car. I returned a half hour later to find the waiting room had closed and she was in the vestibule along with our bags. We finally made it home.

On another occasion, we saw an ad for a vacation to Haiti including all you can drink all day long. This intrigued us as a casino, golf course and beaches were also included. We took our golf clubs and spent time golfing there. We also took a trip to another nearby island and gave the boatman $5 to dive for a conch shell. He brought up a pretty conch from the bottom of the lagoon. We also used the beaches. We brought home a very pretty waxed tapestry.

We also toured Europe landing in Amsterdam. Two story block long buildings contained flowers, some of which would be on sale in New York City the next morning. We traveled through Belgium, spent a day in Paris, and went on to Switzerland. We stopped in Munich where we bought cockoo clocks and mailed them to our kids. After taking a boat trip up the Rhine, we flew home from Frankfurt.

Being a top ranking person at our firm, on one very heavy snow day I had to let all the employees leave for home at 3:30pm to avoid getting snowed in. We were carpooling at the time due to a railroad strike. It was Dwight’s turn to drive so we gathered downstairs in the building. It took twenty or thirty minutes for them to locate his car and bring it down to us. We finally all got together shortly before 5:00pm and started home. Going up East Shore Drive we found the road blocked because of accidents due to slippery pavement and had to detour over the Triboro Bridge to get back on our road north. It was about 7:00pm when we finally found a bar open on the highway and stopped to phone our wives and tell them we would be late. We also bought food there. I called my wife and told her we were on the way and had stopped for dinner. She asked, “What are you having to eat?” We finally got back in the car and had to stop every few miles to clean off the windshield, which kept getting frosted.

In the meantime, my wife had called the other wives telling them we were on our way. We finally arrived at my house around midnight and Fran made some expresso coffee right away. Everybody called their wives assuring them they would be home shortly.

Dwight was the Advertising Sales Manager for Canada Dry International and was entertaining another employee from England. He wanted to know if he could call his wife. We said, “No way!” Dwight finally took everybody else home and got stuck going up the hill to his house. He had to leave the car on the side of the road and walk the rest of the way with his buddy.

I phoned him the next morning after watching the John F. Kennedy inauguration on television. He said that he dug his out and found a ticket on it. Needless to say no one went to work that day.

Chapter 20 – Retirement

In order to get the maximum retirement benefit, Fran had to teach twenty-five years. Teaching school was becoming more and more difficult. Parents were complaining about discipline. A new program was being introduced. Fran’s twenty-five years were approaching so she decided to retire and gave her notice. After Fran retired, she had trouble convincing the state retirement board that she had actually worked twenty-five years. She finally did convince them and she received the maximum pension allowed.

I had been working beyond my retirement age of sixty-five and was also considering retirement. Being stymied on salary, after negotiations, I retired January 31st of the year Fran was retiring.

Quitting my job on January 31, 1979 left me several months before Fran would be quitting in June. I took a position with H&R Block until tax season was over and then signed up with a local realtor, selling houses on commission. Fran enjoyed activities such as crewelwork and we played golf and traveled.

On one tour to the British Isles, I was able to have Fran meet the secretary I had while in the 8th Air Force. We flew to London and were driven to our first few nights stay at a hotel almost under London Bridge. Spending several days there as part of the tour, the Battys invited us for afternoon tea. Getting off the train at their station, my former secretary’s husband greeted Fran with open arms. We had an English Tea and a delightful dinner at a nearby restaurant with the family. Their son drove us back to our hotel stopping under the Big Ben Clock at midnight. It was quite a thrill to hear the chimes so close. Our tour took us to many famous places in England and Scotland ending in Edinburgh. We went to Ireland and toured pretty much in the rain. I bought an Irish cap which I still have.

Chapter 21 – Relocating

After a while, the house seemed rather large with just the two of us so we decided to move closer to our children, but not too close. We decided to move early in 1986. Our many friends and church members tried to talk us out of moving.

Fran checked with a local realtor. He appraised our Dutch Colonial home at $125,000. Fran said that was ridiculously cheap. The realtor said that we couldn’t get more than that. She told him to get lost. He tried to charge her $25 for the appraisal.

Working in real estate, I had sold one house and had several prospects, so Fran finally decided, after discussing it, to give the firm I was working for the listing. After several months we found a buyer that would pay around $35,000 over our former appraisal price. With difficulty, our lawyer arranged for a future sale giving us time to pack and move out.

In the meantime we checked possible buying opportunities with our daughter in Massachusetts. We visited a condo on a golf course with golf privileges. Everything seemed expensive. Our son said, “Why don’t you try New Hampshire?” Finding a national realty outfit, we checked quite a few places in New Hampshire and finally found a new development in Windham that we liked very much.

A builder was constructing eighty-four condos, all but one having six units. He was selling the condos starting at $99,000 and increasing in price as each unit was started. We were able to purchase one for around $140,000, but had to change this one to accommodate the buyers of our house in Peekskill.

We were able to purchase another corner condo being built with only the cement foundation. This we could close on after the sale of our house. We were able to order all the interior furnishings to our liking. By cutting small pieces of paper to scale, we had been able to place all the furniture we moved.

It was quite a job to move. We had to place our dog in a kennel. On August 5th our neighbor gave us breakfast. After breakfast, we oversaw our furniture being packed into the moving van. Finally leaving the house, we drove to the Peekskill Motor Inn where we had reservations. We had dinner that night and breakfast the following morning. The moving van had stayed overnight and had left for Windham and arrived there shortly after we did. We found them just finishing up our condo and we had to wait while they cleaned up. We had next-door neighbors who had moved in the day before. We had no water so we asked the builder to put us up in a motel overnight. We finally got water at 10:00pm that night so we didn’t have to leave and go to a motel. In the meantime, our furniture had been delivered to the back door and placed in the condo. Our front door had a pile of dirt in front of it. We were in our new location.

Chapter 22 – Windham

Windham is off Exit 3 as you enter New Hampshire on Route 93. It is also on Route 111, which is really the main street in Windham. Going east on Route 111 for about 30 miles, one comes to the Atlantic Ocean. We enjoyed this scenic drive many times. One can dine at Saunders Restaurant by Rye Harbor and/or go to one of the many beaches on the coast.

Windham seemed to be an ideal spot between our two children. It was several hours from our son, Jim, but only 30 minutes from our daughter, Ruth. We did not realize how nice it was until we moved in. We had a half-acre of land. There were eighty-four condos on forty-five acres with two wells and it’s own water tanks.

There was only one traffic light. It seemed like a very comfortable rural community. A firehouse, town hall and library were all in a row on a side street opposite a church and community center. The police station was on Route 111, the main road running east and west through Windham.

They had a very active newcomers group which we joined. We went to a Methodist church in Salem. We joined bridge groups and Fran joined the Women’s Club. We enjoyed the beaches and mountains. We played golf on over a dozen nearby courses.

Being new to the area, I took a job taking census in 1988 and 1989 to get better acquainted with the area. This consisted primarily of locating new roads and homes. I quit in 1990 because it would entail a lot of night work.

We enjoyed the novelty of a wood fireplace in our condo for several years. We stopped using it because it seemed to take heat out of the condo. We settled in very nicely, but were getting bored with the long cold winters.

Friends of ours talked us into going to Florida. They went down every year and rented a house in Homosassa. They said they would find a nice place for us if we would come down. They found a very nice, fully equipped fisherman’s cottage five miles west of the main road in Homosassa on a slight rise of land. We enjoyed the lifestyle and playing golf nearby and visiting our friends.

A short time before we had to leave, a storm was forecast one evening. By morning the radio said a twelve-foot tidal wave was coming. Trees had been blown down and roads were blocked. We were able to phone our friends before the phone went dead. We moved our car to the highest spot. By noon the water was up to the the hubcaps of the car and was only one or two inches from the floor of our cottage. A neighbor came by in a boat and asked if we needed help. He said he would send help. We were picked up by a fisherman’s boat carrying other stranded people in the late afternoon. We took a small suitcase with essentials for a three day stay. Traveling a mile or so by boat we were able to land near a road where a bus was waiting to take us to town. We had to wade through the water to reach the bus. Our friends met us in town. We were able to shower before dinner. It was three days before things were cleared up and we could return to our cottage.

Many people lost everything they had. Over 80 percent of Homosassa was under some water. Many cars were ruined. One dealership lost everything. Our car was all right as the water had only come up to the hubcaps. It was quite an experience.

We liked Florida in the winter season and for four more years left Windham in early January to spend three months in Sarasota. We had our car shipped down by auto carrier generally arriving the same time we did. We stayed near the center of town almost across the street from a nine-hole golf course, which we enjoyed playing. We made friends, joined in senior activities, ate in numerous restaurants and enjoyed our stay each year. The last year we took a cottage on one of the tees to be closer to the beach. However, we were getting older and tired of traveling after five winters.

Chapter 23 – Turning 90

We had a big celebration on my 90th birthday with the entire family and many friends gathering at the Triumphant Cross Lutheran Church. A time line hanging on the wall told about happenings of each century and pictures were displayed around the large assembly room.

The summer of the year 2000 my entire family of 12 celebrated my 70th class reunion at Middlebury College. This was an outstanding event because Middlebury College was celebrating its 200th anniversary at the same time.

We came to Windham in pretty good health, all things considered. We had pretty much quit bad habits formed over the years. Still, we were getting old. Fran had her right hip replaced in 1987. The replacement left her leg 3/8 of an inch shorter, which bothered her considerably. This was corrected when she had her left hip done in 1997. She was walking well again.

In the meantime she had a heart operation in 1992, a sigmoid section in 1991 and spinal stenosis in 1999. Heart passages had been clogged up to 90%. Fran needed surgery, which was done at CMC by an excellent pair of recently graduated doctors. Her heart had been removed while they cleared up the clogged arteries. It was serval days before she recovered from the operation, which turned out very successfully. At another point she was treated for hemochromatosis, a condition involving high levels of iron in the blood requiring blood letting. After the heart operation she got a new doctor and told him she wanted to live a high quality life for as long as possible. This meant taking over 20 pills a day at one point. She outlived her parents by quite a few years and died in the fall of 2004. She had a car accident while driving out from a shaded side road onto Route 111 earlier that year.

Chapter 24 – Final Chapter

After Fran wrecked her pretty red Toyota Corolla, they stopped advertising that every Toyota car built was still on the road. So it goes.

I fell completely apart when Fran died. Without a car as well as a wife, I needed a lot of help. Fortunately I got it. My son Jim got me meals on wheels. He was also able to arrange for me, as a disabled WW II Veteran, mail delivery to my door. I had declined a golf cart. Dave, my pastor, gave me a list of people to help in every way. He also got me on the “Stephen Ministry” Program, a sort of mental rehabilitation. I also got much needed help from friends and family. I continued going to church and playing bridge with our bridge group.

To help me get on my feet, it was suggested I write a story depicting an age most people knew little about. This turned into what you are now reading….

Recent highlights are primarily watching my grandchildren finish school, get jobs to their liking, or just growing up.

At the age of 100 I have two children, seven grandchildren and two great grand daughters. God Bless.