***The Dog Days Of July-Musings On A 50th
Anniversary High School Reunion
The
Trials and Tribulations Of Sam Lowell
From
The Pen Of Frank Jackman
A
while back I wrote a couple of things about my old North Adamsville classmate
Sam Lowell and his short love affair with one of our classmates, Melinda
Loring, an affair that wrecked his
longtime relationship with his companion, Laura, and which has of now not
recovered. That relationship with Melinda flowered not in some act of youthful
hubris but very recently as part of his reaching out to fellow classmates to
get them to attend our 50th anniversary of graduation from high
school in 1964. Here is the germane part of the motivation for his getting
involved in the reunion organizing effort from one of those things I wrote
about the affair as a quick background note:
“….. Sam had been thinking about his 50th class
reunion at North Adamsville High School since he had received an invitation to
go to his 40th reunion back in 2004. At that time Sam had dismissed
the invitation with so much hubris because then he still thought that the bad
luck that had followed him for much of his life had been caused by his growing
up on “the wrong side of the tracks” in North Adamsville. He told me, a number
of times, that he had spent half a lifetime blaming that bad luck hometown
affiliation on everything from acne to wormwood.”
“Subsequently through some family-related deaths that took him
back to the old town Sam had reconciled himself with his roots and had
exhibited the first stirrings of a feeling that he might like to see some of
his old classmates. In late 2013, around Thanksgiving he, at least marginally
savvy on such user-friendly sites, created a Facebook event page in order
to see if anybody else on the planet knew of plans or was interested in making
plans for a 50th reunion. One day, a few days after setting up the
page, he got an inquiry asking what he knew about any upcoming plans. He answered in a short note his own limited
knowledge of any such plans but that his intention in setting up the page had
been to seek others to help out with organizing an event if nothing had been
established as yet….. ”
The
subsequent affair as we know didn’t work out and went out with a bang rather
than a whimper as I have also written about previously and which I am
thoroughly sick of writing about, and Sam is in describing. He mentioned to me
after the last blow-out between him and Melinda that at 16 or 68 (his current
age) relationships do not get any easier but let’s be done with that one. The
ever intrepid Sam though has continued to work on getting out the troops for
the reunion and as part of that effort has been writing what he calls “mood”
pieces about the old days in North Adamsville including pre-high school days on
the class website.
Those
pieces had elicited a little comment and some exchanges from fellow classmates and
Sam thought I could use the material provided to, get this, let the world know,
that the class of 1964, the generation of ’68 had not all gone to hell in a
hand basket. I, to appease him frankly, have agreed to try to make some sense
out of the exchanges. Personally, although at this point he has talked me into
going to the reunion unless a better offer comes along, I would have let it
rest, have let the old fogies who populate the site go discuss their
grandchildren or some such worthy endeavor. The “mood piece” subjects,
the July doldrums’ worthy subjects, included pieces on his childhood Fourth of
July neighborhood celebrations, the positive effect that going to the various
branches of the Timothy Clark Public Library in North Adamsville had on saving
his life (and alleviating his teenage angst and alienation), and a certain
childhood local bakery, Ida’s, that still brought ancient smells back to
memory.
From Sam:
Cindy-Thanks for remembering about that
store next to Harold’s- wasn’t it a club for the North Adamsville Associates or
whatever they called the group that ran the July 4th “time.” Also
thanks for memories of Adams Elementary School and May Day. [Planetary orb May
Day not the Red Square red scare Cold War best forgotten May Day.]- We did the
same thing at Adamsville South and got those crepe May baskets as a reward. Of
course May Day in Adamsville has always been associated with the wild boys and
girls, circa 1600s, who gathered round some rogue Puritan’s maypole, a guy who
believed in free love and free drinking on that day and others as well, and got
kicked out of town after a while-yeah, we know-the puritan ethic that has us
still in its grip as well-we created one in sixth grade I think.
Do you have any stories about Doc
Andrew’s drugstore you want to share? I have one about my first liquor purchase
(illegal) if anybody is interested in hearing it. I am being nice these days
and not filling up this Message Forum with my long postings which from now on
will be on my profile page. Although how would we have gotten to cutting up old
touches about the old days if I hadn’t written that piece on the old North
Adamsville Fourth of July. By the way (okay BTW) I noticed when I went on site
to the cyberspace Magnet to check
what activities you did in high school that you belonged to the nurses’ career
club. Did you go in the health field after graduation? You also mentioned
hospital around your late husband’s illness.
From Cindy:
Ah...Yes Doc Andrews
drugstore. My cousin lived upstairs over the store. We hung around there too
and played his jukebox every afternoon after school, on days when we had nickels,
dimes, and quarters. My brother, Billy, when he ran out of money from bottle
returns used to hit our mother’s pocketbook for loose change-without asking of
course. A venial sin which I hope he confessed up at Our Lady’s Church,
although knowing him probably not. He probably thought it was his just do in
order to keep those jukebox platters spinning.
I also remember being on
the safety patrol in front of the school [Adams Elementary] with Mrs. DeYoung
the Safety Officer? We went to "dirty Doc's" for a tonic or a candy
bar after school or on our way to Norfolk Downs.
As for my after high school
life, I retired early from Adamsville General Hospital. My last years were
spent working in the ER in administrative work, over seeing my phone operators,
co-coordinators and registration. Working directly with nurses and doctors
alike. There is nothing I haven't seen, from birth to death and in between. I
do miss it though. I was with AGH for 23 years. I worked the night shift the
entire time. My grandmother was my inspiration as she was an LPN at Mass
General and had owned a nursing home.
I remember the go-cart
races down Young Street in front of Doc's and sledding in the winter because
cars would use Kendall or Sagamore Streets as Young Street was too steep with
ice.
From Sam:
Cathy-short
note –If you can believe this I was a safety patrol guy complete with white
belt and a small badge down at Adamsville South School (where a number of other
NA64ers went including my much missed and wish he could be found friend Brad Badger,
the great trackman from our class.
Believe me my career (read: life story) took a very different path, a
very different path indeed, from the local kid cop who lorded it over the
non-safety patrol kids.
Yes, we use
to build box cars down Young Street which would stop about Coe Street. More
later.
How about
this thought- Let’s see how brave you were- Dave Vails reminded me of this a
few months ago. Down in the old Adamsville projects we would “skid-hop” mostly
the Eastern Mass buses because the driver couldn’t see us. You know we would
hang on the back bumper and get a free ride for a distance as long as snow was
on the ground. I did the same on Main Street too. Okay, girl, (you know I mean
woman, okay) how about you? BTW we did not do it on cars after one guy almost
killed us when he saw what we were doing and he sped up.
Finally- Cindy-
we are all adults here-and I address this to everybody who reads this as well.
How about some “‘now” photos. I have placed one on my profile page and would
put more if others would not stay stuck in the summer of 1963 when you went into
Boston to Bachrach’s to pose. Like I said we are adults here-oh BTW let’s avoid
the photo shop we know ages here-do we know ages.
From Sam:
Cindy -Greeting from Boston
on a wet July Fourth- Thanks for the added information about the old days. I
was just thinking about that summer rec program where we made those gimp
bracelets and stuff. I remember one time that I made one, there two kinds I
think the easy weave kind and square cross-over kind if you remember. I was
very shy about girls as a kid (what else is new in the world) but I did give
one of my first ones to a girl that used to sit on the picnic table. She
accepted it with a slight smile, or what I thought was a slight smile. Did a guy every give you a gimp bracelet back
then. I already told you, shy I might have been, but my whole purpose in making
the foolish things was to give to girls at Adamsville South and later Atlantic.
Like I said they all thought I was from Mars or something. Also on the rec
thing I use to make copper etchings or something like that from a kit they had.
Also we did archery but I don’t remember being very good at it. Okay that
settles the rec program for now. If you think of anything else let me know.
Thanks for the information
on your late husband and sorry for the mistake I made about him being our
classmate. Now that we are all of a certain age most of us have been through
some experience like you had caring for your husband. Still it requires a hats
off from your fellow classmates to keep him at home as long as you could. I
could never really do that although I have had my share of care-giving.
I agree the old Atlantic neighborhood
doesn’t have the feel like in the old days on the several occasions I have
returned over the last few years. The field is smaller and seems unused. Harry’s
and all the old name stores are gone. The Red Feather is gone, and on and on. I
think that part of it is the change in the groups who live there now, the
pressures of today’s life for young
families to interact, and the loss of the old time working class feeling
of everybody being poor as church mice and trying to help each other more. That
is just a snap sociological opinion.
That brings me to my next point –the
Midway and the Bargain Center-those pre-Walmart stores were where I (alright my
mother) got our clothes. You know plaid shirts when they were not in style,
some god awful pants. Yeah, that was the fate of the church mice poor. So you
know I was no GQ guy. Funny I think that other NA students worked at the
Bargain Center as well. I know my old friend and the great runner from our
class Brad Badger’s mother worked there.
I can’t believe that we did not know
each other back then (unless you were the girl I gave that foolish bracelet to)
because I used to go to the Post Office all the time looking for new stamps
(when stamp-collecting was a real hobby), used to love (and still do) the sound
of train whistles first heard I think for the Old Colony station. That was
really the way to go into Boston if you had the dough. Forget the Eastern Mass
buses. I would rather walk to the nearest subway stop over in Clintondale. And
of course I used to use the tunnel to cross from Hancock Street to get over to
Young Street where I would go frequently when home-life got to crazy and
grandma’s house was my refuge.
Funny too about Adamsville Beach which
I wrote about recently here. I think one of our classmates’ mothers gave
swimming lesson. I won’t even ask you about high school Adamsville Beach, day
or night unless you want the world to know about “parking” and “submarine
races” but I will ask you about that Newport Drive-In since you described it,
and I quote as a “ passion pit.” On second thought some classmates may have not
taken their high blood pressure medication and that kind of thing is best left
for another time and another way of communicating.
Finally, for now I guess, I ask you a
question that I put to Rita Brady (did you know her?)- “What I don’t see you
and Cindy Moore talking about in the tonic and ice cream scramble. Was that
crazed rush to grab every off-hand bottle of tonic and ice cream a guy thing. I
think they had the tables separated for boys and girls (what else was new).
Frankie did it in the 1950s. When we moved back to North Adamsville in 1959 I
know I did. Hell it was easier for me than Frankie since my grandparents’ house
on Young Street was closer than Frankie’s. I assume that when they went around
collecting dough they hit Bottoms Street. I don’t remember guys playing music
on the flatbed truck but they did have a bullhorn.”
What’s your take on the tonic and ice
cream scramble?
Later-glad that you are going to the
reunion and have taken care of business. Funny as Bob Curry said today we are
having the reunion in a place that used to be a Mecca for live dangerous
swimmers-Friendly regards-Sam
From Cindy:
Yes Sam, I did
collect my share of sodas and Hoodsies back in the day. [July 4th
when a group of residents organized a local celebration including a ton of
sodas and ice cream] And as there were 4 of us girls at the time we had a good
haul. My brother was only a baby then. Yes there were two lines as well [boys
and girls]. There was a vacant cobbler store I believe next to Harry’s Variety that
would showcase all the prizes leading up to the Fourth as well. I will have to
look in my hopeless chest to see if I still have that bracelet.
Sorry Sam, no such luck on
a picture [Sam had asked if Cindy had any photos from the period, from the
1950s]. But when I think that far back it comes to mind before the tennis
courts they had tents set up also. Each tent had a bunch of games. There were
about 6 or 8. Also before it was "Harry’s" the store it was called
Whelan’s. Operated by Betty Whelan and family as my mother worked there
part time. On the opposite corner was Stendell’s, a butcher shop with meats and
deli. Betty Leahy was the head waitress at the Feather [a local barroom when
all the fathers and older brothers did their drinking]. I did go to the summer
rec program every year. Made pot holders, worked a gimp bracelet as well as see-sawed
on those green ass splintered boards. They had 2 sets of swings too. Regular
and baby seat with the bars. At night we would stand up on them to see how high
we could go (fearless).
In the winter months the
North Adamsville Public Works Department plowed the roads and dumped the snow
on the ball field. [The field used for July 4th and for summer kid
recreational programs.] We used slide down the mounds. They also used to flood
the park to ice skate.
I remember the factory
across from the park as it made baby pacifiers among other things. The LeBlancs
lived in the corner house at Young St. The Madsens’ lived in the ranch, the
Gallaghers' lived across from the park on Young. Also in front of the Daley on
the corner of Kendall and Hancock used to be North Adamsville Cab.
Don't want to bore you with
much more.
From Sam:
Cindy -Thanks for all the great
information about the old days in Atlantic. And no, no way are you boring
anybody because look at the responses that are being generated. A couple of
things about those Whelans when Betty got married (I forgot her mother’s name
but she went to live with them) to a guy who worked at Duggan Brothers (now
long gone) and sold the store they moved over to my street, Maple Street, a few
doors down from us.
By the way when the store became Harry’s
and I used to hang there to play the pinball machine (illegally since I was not
sixteen) I found out that it was really a cover for a bookie joint. He had his
book right out there in front. I would see Adamsville cops coming in to make
their bets. Even my sainted grandmother knew about that operation before I did.
Such is life.
Speaking of grandparents mine, Daniel
and Anna Riley, lived at 78 Young Street.
Classmates Jim McNally lived on one side at one time and Gary Davis on
the other. Stendell’s is where I would go to get their meats since my
grandfather had a stroke and my grandmother was house-bound due to a crippling
injury in her 50s.
Amazing too we probably sat next to
each other in summer rec (I was the shy guy who maybe gave you a little glance)
because I made those gimp bracelets too. Reason: to give them to girls at
Atlantic (or earlier at Adamsville South)-I guess I was girl-addled even
then-but they dismissed me out of hand. I guess they wanted real bracelets like
I gave a girl from North Adamsville one time later.
From Sam again:
Cindy -If you get a photo I can walk you through the
process. I am not an IT wizard either -our super webmaster Donna walked me
through it. I know and learn enough tech stuff to survive on the
"information super-highway" and worry more about writing. The whole
process is infinitely easier than about twenty years ago when I would rather
use a typewriter than the world processor although some days I miss that old
beauty.
I have placed another photo on my profile page from
California last month to lure everybody else out.
Yes we have come a long way from the days long ago when, as
the English poet William Wordsworth said in one of his poems “to be young was
very heaven”, and we thought we were immortal, were going to live forever. If
you still have that winsome smile that you have on your class photo that will
please everybody. No wrinkles could erase that I am sure.
My favorite at Ida’s (beside the cupcakes now making a
culinary resurgence) was to go on Friday to get her oatmeal bread so I could
have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at my grandmother’s. Guess what- I
still like that kind of sandwich.
Thanks for the remembrance of the Timothy Clark Public
Library branch on Sagamore from early youth before it went to Appleton Street I
think, or was it Atlantic. The branch down at Adamsville South saved my life the summer of sixth grade, saved
me from the corner boy life that I was taking dead aim at until I realized that
I liked reading a lot more than the life of petty crime.
From Sam
[in response to memory postings by several classmates including Cindy]:
***The
Smells, Ah, The Smells Of Childhood- Ida's Bakery Over on Sagamore Street, For
Rosemary
There are many smells,
sounds, tastes on the memory trail in search of the old days in North Adamsville.
Of course one cannot dismiss that invigorating smell of the salt air blowing in
from Adamsville Bay when the wind was up. And that never to be forgotten
slightly oily, sulfuric smell at low tide down at Adamsville Beach, the time of
the clam diggers and their accomplices trying to eke a living or a feeding out
of that slimy mass. Or the smell of marsh weeds from up at the disfavored Montum
end of the beach. Or the sound of the ocean on those days when the usually
tepid splashing against the shoreline turned around and became a real ocean and
acted to calm a man’s (or kid’s) nerves in the frustrating struggle to understand
a world not of one’s own making.
I know I do not have to
stop very long to tell this crowd, the crowd that will read this piece, about
the tastes of that HoJo’s ice cream back in the days. Or those char-broiled hot
dogs and hamburgers from your backyard barbecue pit or the ones down at the
beach. But the smell that I am smelling today is closer to home, as a result of
a fellow classmate’s bringing this to my attention. (Although if the truth be
known I was already on the verge of “exploring" the subject). Ida’ Bakery
over on Sagamore Street, the next street over from my grandparents’ house on
Young Street across from the Welcome Young Field.
You, if
you are of a certain age and neighborhood, remember Ida’s, right? She ran a
bakery out of her living room in the 1950s and early 1960s (beyond that period
I do not know). Now I do not remember all the particulars about her, about her
operation, about what she made but I remember the smells of fresh oatmeal
bread. Or of those Lenten hot cross buns. Or of the 1001 other simple baked
goods that put my mother, my grandmother, your mother, your grandmother in the
shade. And that is at least half the point. You went over to Ida’s to get high
on those calorie-loaded goodies. And in those days that was okay. Believe me
it’s was okay. I swear I will never forget those glass-enclosed delights but I
need a little help here. I do not remember much about the woman, her life,
where she was from, or any of that. If you do, let me know. This I do know- in
this time of frenzied interest in all things culinary Ida's simple recipes and
her kid-maddening bakery smells still hold a place of honor.
And This Too
From Sam:
The Timothy
Clark Public Library
Recently Cindy Moore in
response to a sketch I wrote about Ida’s Bakery over on Sagamore Street
mentioned that she inevitably stopped by that shop after having been to the
library located almost next door if I recall. I remember that Thomas Crane
Public Library branch early on when I used to go visit my grandparents on Young
Street when I was in elementary school at Adamsville South. Later, after moving
back to North Adamsville in 7th grade, I used to go to the branch
when it was relocated on Atlantic Street (I think). And later when we were in
high school I went to the bigger branch when it was built across from Sacred
Heart Church. Needless to say I made a number of visits to the architecturally
magnificent main library “up the Square.”
Many fruitful hours reading
and research hours were spend in all those locations but today I wish to speak
of the branch which was attached to the Adamsville South School when I was
growing up (now located at the corner of Palmer and Sea Streets) and which
saved my life. In late fifth and almost all of sixth grade I was caught up in
the corner boy life of the “projects.” (And strangely was also a “cop” on the
school safety patrol-go figure the vagaries of tween-ness.) You know hanging
around with guys who were into petty crime. Mostly “clipping” stuff from the
stores “up the Square” and other misdemeanors. I got into some minor trouble,
mostly home trouble, a fair number of times but by the summer after sixth grade
I was enthralled by “the life.”
One very hot day that July
I went into the library to just cool off since we did not have AC at home and I
was uncomfortably hot. I picked out a book (who knows what it was, probably a
biography of Abigail Adams who I was crazy about then, except it was in the
children’s section since you couldn’t officially go in the adult section until
seventh grade) and started reading. Read that day until the place closed. And
went back there every day for the rest of the summer. See I finally figured out
that I liked reading a lot more than I liked fretting over the next criminal
caper. Many of my corner boys, as their later “careers” testified to, were not
so lucky. So a tip of the hat to the Timothy Clark.
Oh yeah, I know at least
one fellow classmate who sought refuge from teen angst and alienation and the
craziness of home life at the main library. And she turned out well. Who else
has a library story or for that matter has a special place refuge
("shelter from the storm") from the trials and tribulations of
youth story.
From Sam:
Once Again on the Timothy Clark Library Branch
Cindy- I am always ready to stand
corrected on a factual memory matter, or on any other. There have been many
classmates on this site ready, more than ready, to help me see the error of my
ways. I am therefore ready to defer to your memories. Almost. The reason I
think I remember that Atlantic Street branch as being later than the Sagamore location
was because in junior high I had a “crush” on a girl who used to go to that
branch and I would constantly be passing by to see if she was in there. Don’t
tell me I did all that walking and looking for nothing. Or worse, that my
memory has let me down so badly that I was in the wrong place. Maybe a third
party can help us out. Help! Later Sam
From Cindy:
Well Sam you got
on my facts being ass backwards. But I have an excuse. You see at this late
time in my life with children, grandchildren and even a great-grandchild along
with plans to attend the reunion, I am also getting married in 3 weeks. Plus I
am trying to get two of our classmates to join in our reunion. Sounds like they
are both planning to attend although they are not computer set up. I am
planning on driving from Fl. to Ma.
From
Sam:
Cindy -Thanks for note-You really had me going on the
library question. I checked with some independent third party sources who shall
remain anonymous since they have not been authorized to provide that
information (hey, that sounds like a governmental press agent would say doesn’t
it) and they have confirmed that Sagamore was first and then Atlantic Street.
So I did not walk that street and peek in that storefront library window for
that girl I had a crush on in junior high in vain (although doing so was since
I never got to first base but that is a separate question).
But with all you are up to these days I can understand the
memory overload. I am not sure if I will run out of cyberspace before I finish
but congratulations on each of your children. Each grandchild. The (for now)
great-grandchild. Special congratulations on your up-coming marriage and I wish
you and him well. Congratulations on your planned trek up to Ma from Fla and
good speed. Finally congratulations on trying to get some classmates to come to
the reunion as well although I am continually amazed at the number of people
from our class we have not been able to reach because they too are not on the
“information super-highway.”
E-mail
I am writing to ask 
9(MDAyNzUwMDI2MDEyNTA3MTU5NzcyNTQyNA004))