The services for my mother are set for Wednesday morning. The funeral home that has taken care of things posted an announcement about her life (it's the 4th name down from the top, Clisham):
http://www.cartwrightfuneral.com/obituaries.php
After reading it, I started thinking about all the things that weren't in it. She was born in 1911. She was the youngest of six children. One of her older brothers was someone who liked to tinker with things. He was one of the first people to have a crystal radio receiver. Growing up with her 3 sisters and 2 brothers, she told me that for fun on a Sunday they would sit out on the front porch of their house and count the number of cars that passed by. She lived through the first World War.
In 1918, when she was 7 years old, she says her father took her to the final game of the World Series. It was the last time the Boston Red Sox won the fall classic. Her and her family were able to avoid the numerous diseases that took so many in those days like polio.
During the most of the roaring twenties she was a teenager. During the great depression she was a young woman. Sometimes with her friends and sometimes with the new love in her life, the man who eventually became my father, she would go into Boston and partake of the nightlife. They would go to Speak Easys and have a drink. Other times they would go to a burlesque show in Sculley Square. She saw Frank Sinatra in person on several occasions.
She worked for the Boston Gas Company at this time. One day her boss invited everyone one to go to the roof of the building. Around noon time the great air ship, Hindenburg, passed over the Boston skyline.
In 1938 she left work for the ride home. There was a terrible storm going on. A friend of her's was driving and was suppose to take her and another girl home. When they got to the other girl's street, they could go no further. Every tree on the street was laying across the road. The terrible storm they were in in now known as the great hurricane of 1938.
She dated my father for seven years. Jobs were few and hard to find. They married in 1940 and my brother was born in 1941. Less than 6 months later, World War II began.
In 1948 she and my father thought their family was complete. Unlike today, most women had their children when they were young and my mother was now 37. But the powers that be had different plans and I was born in September.
In the early 1950's we got our first television. In the mid 1960's we were one of the first people to get a Color TV.
She was always on the go. In her 20's and 30's she directed variety shows. In her 50's she did the make up for the big recitals in Boston. She was a waitress in many of the local restaurants.
In the late 1960's with me finally out of school, her and my father traveled. They went to Vegas, Bermuda, Europe and even to Disney World a few years after it opened in the early 70's.
My father passed on in 1981 and it was terrible blow to my mother. They were devoted to one another and had been married for 40 years. But she made new friends and always had something to do.
And that's the way she lived the rest of her life. She was always doing something right up until the end. She had flown a small plane when she was younger. She started driving when she was in her EARLY teens and continued to do so until she was 92!! She loved the Patriots and the Red Sox and especially candlepin bowling, not only to watch but to do herself. She survived two major health events, an ulcer and an aneurysm. William Taft was President when she was born.
Even after two wars, the assasination of John Kennedy and many personal tragedies, she said the worst thing she ever saw was 9/11.
From the beginnings of radio to finally using a computer in her 90's, she had seen all the modern day tools that any of us have ever seen.
She was a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
I hope you've enjoyed reading about my mother. For me it is truly the end of an era, the end of a way of life that now lives only in memory. What an interesting life it was!
Roberta
http://www.cartwrightfuneral.com/obituaries.php
After reading it, I started thinking about all the things that weren't in it. She was born in 1911. She was the youngest of six children. One of her older brothers was someone who liked to tinker with things. He was one of the first people to have a crystal radio receiver. Growing up with her 3 sisters and 2 brothers, she told me that for fun on a Sunday they would sit out on the front porch of their house and count the number of cars that passed by. She lived through the first World War.
In 1918, when she was 7 years old, she says her father took her to the final game of the World Series. It was the last time the Boston Red Sox won the fall classic. Her and her family were able to avoid the numerous diseases that took so many in those days like polio.
During the most of the roaring twenties she was a teenager. During the great depression she was a young woman. Sometimes with her friends and sometimes with the new love in her life, the man who eventually became my father, she would go into Boston and partake of the nightlife. They would go to Speak Easys and have a drink. Other times they would go to a burlesque show in Sculley Square. She saw Frank Sinatra in person on several occasions.
She worked for the Boston Gas Company at this time. One day her boss invited everyone one to go to the roof of the building. Around noon time the great air ship, Hindenburg, passed over the Boston skyline.
In 1938 she left work for the ride home. There was a terrible storm going on. A friend of her's was driving and was suppose to take her and another girl home. When they got to the other girl's street, they could go no further. Every tree on the street was laying across the road. The terrible storm they were in in now known as the great hurricane of 1938.
She dated my father for seven years. Jobs were few and hard to find. They married in 1940 and my brother was born in 1941. Less than 6 months later, World War II began.
In 1948 she and my father thought their family was complete. Unlike today, most women had their children when they were young and my mother was now 37. But the powers that be had different plans and I was born in September.
In the early 1950's we got our first television. In the mid 1960's we were one of the first people to get a Color TV.
She was always on the go. In her 20's and 30's she directed variety shows. In her 50's she did the make up for the big recitals in Boston. She was a waitress in many of the local restaurants.
In the late 1960's with me finally out of school, her and my father traveled. They went to Vegas, Bermuda, Europe and even to Disney World a few years after it opened in the early 70's.
My father passed on in 1981 and it was terrible blow to my mother. They were devoted to one another and had been married for 40 years. But she made new friends and always had something to do.
And that's the way she lived the rest of her life. She was always doing something right up until the end. She had flown a small plane when she was younger. She started driving when she was in her EARLY teens and continued to do so until she was 92!! She loved the Patriots and the Red Sox and especially candlepin bowling, not only to watch but to do herself. She survived two major health events, an ulcer and an aneurysm. William Taft was President when she was born.
Even after two wars, the assasination of John Kennedy and many personal tragedies, she said the worst thing she ever saw was 9/11.
From the beginnings of radio to finally using a computer in her 90's, she had seen all the modern day tools that any of us have ever seen.
She was a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
I hope you've enjoyed reading about my mother. For me it is truly the end of an era, the end of a way of life that now lives only in memory. What an interesting life it was!
Roberta
