GOT HISTORY?

Wishing everyone a good New Year as we say goodby to another one.  This blog is all about keeping memories alive, those memories that we who grew up in the 50's love to share.  There is a lot to learn from these posts for each of us.  It is remarkable how today, many neighborhoods in cities are getting a new lease on life.  People, especially younger ones with families, are seeking what we took for granted....a place where people interact with neighbors who become friends, where children can grow up with other children and feel safe on street, sidewalk, and backyards.  Where one can walk to the neighborhood shops and there are block parties.
 I know a young family in just such a place in the midwest.
Their neighborhood is a place where one can drop in anytime.
 Good for them.

                                                            

When I read that caption, it made me remember that the pile of laundry ready to go in the machine seemed never to diminish.  My Mom did not make a big thing of us getting dirty, somehow things got done and there were enough clean clothes to put on.  Life was more than being sparkly clean.

As I roam the roads of the internet, read facebook pages, stroll Google and other reminiscing blogs, it becomes more and more apparent that what we had, what still
lives in our hearts, 

many are seeking today.

A place where there were no such things as "family" rooms.  What you had was a kitchen and a living room and that is where it all happened, with emphasis of the kitchen
'round the kitchen table.
We did not have dining rooms....what for?

.......

Where everyone always knew where everyone was, you did not need a cell phone to find out.
You did not need a phone answering machine, either, someone was always home.

Where spontaneous outside games like Red Rover could happen anytime, anywhere.

Where baby and bridal showers were held in living rooms where a whole lot of
laughter could happen.
...........
Where a child's highlight of the day might be admiring a caterpillar, learning botany the real way.

......

Where there was only 1 T.V set,:you did not split up to watch alone.  It was more fun to watch Uncle Milty and Jerry Lewis and laugh together.

......

thanks to Pinterest and this website:enjoy the music,too.
http://heavens-gates.com/50s/50snostalgia/


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Stay tuned, a whole lot more posts are being planned.

If there is a topic you would like covered, let me know.

It is heartwarming to have received much sharing

via email and telephone that will be coming on posts.

O Holy Night

This is my last Christmas post.  True: there are so many more memories to ponder. But, it is time for me to get back to my own Christmas preparations. There is always next year.

                                                        Remember these little fellows?

This  Christmas post is about Midnight Mass at our St. Anthony's Church just at the edge of the Village.  I still call it the "new Church" even though I was about 12 when it replaced the old nearly subterranian  church I knew as a small child.

For midnight Mass, the new Church was brilliant with light and holiday attired parishioners.  Entering, they came in carrying with them the sharp tang of the evening cold, and perhaps whispers of snow flying about hats and coat shoulders.  I have always felt that this Church was quite unique in its beauty, but never so much as at Christmas.  The blue ceiling, the unique lights, and more, were unlike other churches in the area.

 Most beautiful of all, though, was the Nativity scene. Up on the altar, it covered nearly a quarter of the right side.  A huge scene, it was surrounded and topped with pine branches, and even small trees.
Warm and inviting it symbolized not only the love of our tiny God made man, but the love that each of our families had for the others in our Village.  I never thought about it that way until now.

Light- color- the fragrance of pine throughout the Church, and- finally-
 the music.

In all my growing up when I think of being at worship celebrations at St. Anthony's I hear the

wonder of the voice of Agnes Martin.  Soaring, clear, sweet as an angel, that was her voice.  If liturgical music is a ministry, which it is, then she was the high priestess of her time. We are so fortunate to have this photo of Mrs. Martin (mother to my Fuller classmate: Beverlyann Martin) and our intrepid organist Mrs. Clara Carvalho high up in their choir perch.

I remember the way we all sang in with the carols. Standing next to my friend Terry: how she loved the gloooooooooria.....in excelsis Deo.  We would compete with the warbling of our young voices.

                         Photo from the St. Anthony's Centennial Book, given by Arlene Gouveia
               

There is much reaching back into nostalgia these days. We are not the only ones, to be sure.

Is it because of the fear, the uncertainty of our days now that we harken back to times of warmth,

of closeness, of family and faith?  It was a time of tradition, of a slower, sweeter pace.  Media did not bombard us on every side.  There was time to think, to ponder, to appreciate
 the voice of angels.

                                                  A Sweet Merry Christmas to all

                                                                  Sandy

More about Christmas in Taunton

After posting the first blog about our Christmas Green display, I was delighted to receive more photos and information to share with everyone.

I felt it important enough to do a follow-up post. Thank you to Arlene Gouveia. Kathy Campanirio and Shelley Au for these lovely additions to our memory banks.

First, Arlene Gouveia has identified the friend with Aunt Alveda 

as Alice Emond, also from the Village. Arlene says that Alice was

a font of information about the Village.

Here is the photo once more.

                                 

Shelley Au has sent another batch of her Mom's

 photos and we know now that it was her Dad, my Uncle Ziggy who probably
took the photos of Aunt Al and Alice. 

Here is Ziggy and a friend....think they were double-dating?

These photos appear to be in the later 40's. After you read the
quotation below, you may agree with me that this was in 1945.
Arlene tells us that the memorial was one she read often. I recall
it so well, it is long gone and so, apparently, is the one
in City Hall.

Finally, Kathy Campanirio retreived an excerpt from

"From 80 Years of Christmas in Taunton-Candles on the Green"

by

Dr. William F. Hanna and Charles E. Crowley

"1942-1944 strict wartime blackout rules were in effect as war raged in Europe and
the Pacific so there were no lighted Christmas displays on Taunton Green,
the only time since 1914 there were no lights there.
In 1945, three months after the surrender of Japan a beautiful Christmas
display was then lighted on the Green.  At its center was the honor roll listing the names
of 4,900 Tauntonians who served their country during wartime. Atop a gold pedestal
topped by a gold star symbolizing those who had perished in the conflict. On two
sides of the Green stood ten foot high figures of Santa Claus and Uncle Sam, both
saluting the star. These were designed by Allison Macomber, a well known local sculpturer."

Amazingly, Shelley has shared this photo with us: Uncle Sam saluting
the brave fallen from Taunton.  My Uncle Ziggy must have felt
a special emotion as he had only recently served in Europe during the war.
Bless you, Shelley and Aunt Al for keeping this beautiful photo.

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This lovely little book pictures all of the Greens from 1922 to 1993
and was released in 1994.  I plan to find myself a copy.

Thanks again to Dr. Hanna and Charles Crowley for
helping the keep the history of Taunton alive.