“Again the lilac blossoms sway
Above the windowsills,
And every white and purple spray’
Exotic perfume spills.”
“Memories” by Mildred North
When I was teaching, my first graders used to bring lilacs to me. One time, there were so many lilacs in the bunch that I asked the child who brought them to school if we could share some of them with the other first grade teacher. The odor from the large bunch was overwhelming, so my friend Edith took some of them into her classroom. I love artificial lilacs. They have such beautiful shades of purple – and no smell.
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One of the nicest events we attend each year is the fundraising Meatloaf Dinner to help with the expenses of Dorchester Day activities. This year’s dinner was held on Thurs., March 26, in the First Parish Church atop Meetinghouse Hill. Hubby and I were very early so that we could get a parking spot. We pulled up just as our pal Eileen Burke arrived with her sister Lorraine. We saw Gerard and his crew unpacking the food. (His meatloaf is terrific.) Some of us early birds helped a little by putting the silverware at each seat.
The hall began filling quickly. Our friends Karen MacNutt and her friend Barbra were also helping to get ready. Our pal Regina was another who helped. In came our pals Loretta, Mary Shea, Ginny Biagiotti, and Pat O’Donnell. They were joined by our mutual friends, Joe and Carol Chaisson. Diane Zinck came by to greet us. We also saw Paul Nutting. Our friends Richard and Maureen McKinnon came, as always, with Richard’s sister Cathy Coleman. (We have a great photo of them.) One of Maureen’s students was delighted to see her at the dinner. Peter Woloschuk also greeted us. He had asked us a few days before if we knew the date of the dinner. He loves coming to it.
The co-chair of the dinner, Gretchen Geary, welcomed us to the annual event. We found out later that her co-chair/husband, Ed Geary, had to work but showed up later in the evening. She asked Rev. Art Lavoie, from First Parish Church, to say a prayer. Then it was time for dinner.
We were the second table called. The salad looked delicious. Gerard served the meatloaf himself. Then we were given mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots, and a roll and butter. The coffee was excellent. There was hardly a noise in the hall as people ate their dinner. I remembered that Mayor Menino loved coming to the dinner because he loved Gerard’s meatloaf. We didn’t get our dessert (vanilla ice cream, with strawberries; my favorite) until it was time for our entertainment. At the end of the meal, the Chaissons and Paul Nutting and Millie Rooney gave out the applications for tickets to the Parade of Seniors Salute, a Dorchester Day Celebration that this year will be held at Florian Hall on Thurs., May 14. Most of us made out our applications and gave them to Carol and Joe before the end of the evening.
The entertainment that evening was special. They were all kids, but very special kids from the Neighborhood Children’s Choir under the direction of Mrs. Michelle McCourt. Some of the children sang selections from “The Sound of Music,’ such as “Climb Every Mountain” and “The Sound of Music,” (“The Hills Are Alive.”). All the children sang the “National Anthem.” They have such nice voices. While they were performing on the stage, Friends of Cameron Charbonnier, a candidate for Mayor of Dorchester, sold bags of Cam’s Crunch, mostly pretzels with a white chocolate coating. (It was scrumptious so we bought two bags.) The proceeds from the crunch are to go to the Dorchester Day Parade. We helped a little to clean up at the end. It was such a nice evening, as always. Seeing so many friends made the evening terrific. Congratulations to Gretchen and Ed for a great time.
***
I was sorry to learn, from pal Eileen Burke that Eileen Mansfield had passed away. Eileen had lived in Neponset when her children attended St. Ann’s School with our kids. Many in Neponset join us in sending sympathy to her children: Michael and his wife Angela, Patti, Ron and his wife Christine, Debbie and her husband, Jim Conboy, Janet and her husband, Bill Fennelly, and Ed. Kathleen “Kiki” predeceased her mother.
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I received a call on Friday that made me very sad. Patty Smith, one of Agnes Smith’s daughters, called to tell me that Aggie, my friend of 63 years, had died of cancer on Apr. 24. I told Patty how Ag and I first met. It was the day in September 1952 when she and I signed up to attend State Teachers College at Boston. She was sitting next to me in the main hall as we filled out our applications. (Hubby was probably in the hall, also, but we did not know him then.) I noticed that Ag had written the “wrong” date on her application. 99 percent of us in the hall were born in 1934; she had written 1929. “I think you made a mistake on your year,” I said stupidly. “No,” she said, “I really was born in 1929.” I apologized profusely. She laughed and from that time on, we were fast friends.
We went through the four years of school together. We took music as an elective. We were in the elementary education program. We might have taken kindergarten education but neither of us could play the piano. It always amazed me how Agnes and her friend Therese could work full time for the phone company and keep up with their studies. It turned out that Agnes and Therese were second and third academically in our class. I worked three hours after school each weekday at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. I had much more time to study and wasn’t even close to their rank in our class.
While we were in college, Agnes and I joined St. Kevin’s Choir. Each Thursday we would practice with Fr. James Donahue and then go to the local coffee shop to reward ourselves.(I didn’t know until fairly recently that my pal Eileen Burke’s sister, Betty Sullivan, was the youngest of our choir members at St. Kevin’s.) Agnes and I also went to the Strand Theatre once in a while. We loved the movie “The Key.” It starred William Holden and “my twin,” Sophia Loren. (She was born three days after me.) .
Ag and I were both hired by the Weymouth Public Schools. She was assigned to the John Adams School, Grade 2, and I was assigned to the Abigail Adams School, Grade 1, just across the street. For almost five years Aggie drove me to Weymouth in her adorable pink Rambler. We decided one evening that we would splurge and go to see a show at Blinstrub’s in Southie. A new singer, Johnny Mathis, whose voice we loved, was appearing. During the break, we walked out to the lobby and met another teacher from Weymouth. We told him how thrilled we were to be at Johnny’s concert. “I predict that he will never last,” said the teacher. We laughed about his remark for years.
Another time we went to New York on the train. It was the week between Christmas and New Year’s. We stayed in a small rooming house that was run by nuns. It was very reasonable. We stood in a long line outside Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas Show. Heavy rains fell on us. We just had our winter jackets with us. Mine was wool and it smelled terrible for the rest of our stay. We noticed that all the girls in New York wore eye makeup. We stopped at a 5 & 10 and bought a cheap brand of eye makeup. We put on the makeup before we went to the theater. We may have put on a little too much mascara but we thought we looked just like a New Yorker. We saw a musical that evening. I think it was “The Redhead,” with the wonderful Gwen Verdon. We loved it.
As we came out of our theater, we noticed that a few more theaters were getting out also. Whom did we meet but our teaching supervisor, Mrs. McGrath, from Weymouth. She must have chuckled to herself. We were trying to look so grown up. The last day of our trip was New Year’s Eve Day. We packed and went down to the front desk to pay our bill. The nun was so shocked that we were leaving. “Everyone comes to New York to see the New Year’s celebration and you’re going home.” We did go home. There will be more about Agnes and me next week. Please say a prayer for her.
