Throwback Thursday - Straw Hats

Summer of 1962.  My cousin Lynda (left) was 8 1/2, and I was almost 12.  We were at Misquamicut Beach.

Lynda and I saw these straw hats in the A&P grocery store just down the street from where I used to live in West Springfield.  We had to have those hats!!  I can remember begging my grandmother for them.  She just couldn't imagine why we wanted them, but we eventually wore her down.

We do look kind of cute in them, don't you think?

Throwback Thursday - Dot and Ettie's West Springfield High School Yearbook Pictures

A couple of days ago I got a text from Kristen with this picture attached.

To backtrack a little, Marley is on the Robotics Team at West Springfield High School, and Kristen is one of the business mentors for the team.  The faculty advisor for the team, Mr. Bernard, is also in charge of the school's yearbooks. Somehow, Kristen and her friend Joanie (the other business mentor) got talking with Mr. Bernard and they started looking at old yearbooks.  My Aunt Esther graduated from West Springfield High School in 1949.  I had never seen her yearbook. It was so weird to read the write-up about her.  I had never heard her referred to as Penny.  I also never heard of Henry, who she supposedly liked and was usually at home writing to, lol!

I have Dot's yearbook.  She graduated in 1942.  After seeing Esther's picture, I sent Kris a text picture of Dot in her yearbook.  Her yearbook is very interesting, with many references to the war.  Unlike Esther's write up, Dot's sounded just like her.

Coincidentally, Kristen's friend Joanie is married to a guy who graduated from West Springfield High School.  His last name is Welch.  They found Joanie's father-in-law on Esther's yearbook page, and his brother on Dot's page.  Small world!

I find it so interesting to see these little glimpses into my aunts' high school years.

October 2017 Scrapbook Pages

Miriam's first Barbie doll.

Throwback Thursday - Gilbert and Barker Days at Mountain Park

When I was young, my Aunt Dot worked at Gilbert & Barker Manufacturing Co. in West Springfield.   Every year they had "Gilbert & Barker Day" at Mountain Park.  It was a day where employees could bring their friends and family to spend a day at Mountain Park free of charge.  I remember it as being one of the best days of the summer.

These are pictures that Dot took over the years at Gilbert and Barker Day.

1957 - Deb, Maureen and Linda Lockerby

1957 - Dot with her friend Jane Starzyk (who also worked at Gilbert and Barker).

1962 - Bob and Don Lundstrom in first boat

Lynda Lundstrom and Deb in second boat

1962 - Left to right Bob Lundstrom, Donna and Debbie Waite, Don and Lynda Lundstrom

1962 - Left to right Bob and Lynda Lundstrom, Donna Waite, Don Lundstrom

In 1965 Gilbert and Barker closed their factory in West Springfield and relocated their headquarters and US manufacturing facility to Greensboro, North Carolina.  As Dot did not want to relocate, she was out of a job.  She found a new job, also in West Springfield, at the John H. Breck, Inc.  They made Breck shampoo.  No more Gilbert and Barker Days at Mountain Park, but now we always had lots of different types of shampoo and hair products.  Dot worked there until she retired in March 1987.