I wish I had learned earlier that the stories of
peoples’ lives were so much more important than filling in sheer facts of dates
and places on a form. But I’m thankful that I did ask my Gramie about how she
met my Grampa. I had been hesitant to ask, because he had passed away only a
few years earlier and I had a strong sense that she still missed him very much,
so I was hesitant to ask her for fear of bringing up painful feelings.
She seemed to enjoy talking about him and told me
that she met him when she was at work at the shank shop.
Her job was to tape
the metal shanks that became the arch supports for shoes. At that time (the
1930s) that area of Massachusetts was still a huge shoe-working center – think “Bostonian
Shoe.” It seemed ironic to me that they had met at the shank shop, since it was right up the street from their home and I had memories of hearing them talk about it all my life.
He was a truck driver, and delivered supplies to the factory.
She
said he would always wink at her when he came in, until finally, the red-headed
son of Irish immigrants asked the beautiful daughter of Italian immigrants for
a date.
They were married at the Holy Ghost Catholic Church
in Whitman on 27 November 1932 and remained together until his death in January
of 1971.
They had three sons, my dad, Edmund (front left), and my uncles Kevin (front right) and Shawn (the baby).
This is how I remember them best; the photo was taken at Uncle Kevin & Aunt Mary Lou's wedding. The gent on the left is my dad.
I love the story! Love looking at old photos. I live about a 3 minute walk from where Regal Shoe once stood! I'm interested in local history, and I've been insterested in local shoe factories since I started working in a building that once was one many years ago!
ReplyDeleteHi William,
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's ironic that since I sent my dad this post, he's insisting that they didn't meet here, but at a shoe factory in Avon. Not sure if I want to stir up that pot or not...but I got a lot of nice comments from the rest of the family. My Uncle George (Edmund's oldest brother) worked at the Regal, as did several of my other relatives. If you asked him how old he was, he'd say "83 summahs and a lot of hahd wintahs!" I love history!