Monday, July 20, 2015

Exeter, NH - Old Friends

We lived in New England for 17 years, from 1968 to 1985 and made lots of fiends. We’ve kept in touch with quite a few and seeing them again is one of the goals of this trip up the Atlantic coast into New England.

When we were in Florida, we visited with Jo, one of my first roommates out here in New England and Barb, a teacher with whom I worked closely in teaching World History in New Hampshire. And, we got to see Jo and Rosie again in Rhode Island when we were there.

One of my best friends was Deb who lived in Rhode Island. Because I was a long way from home in Iowa, I spent many happy days at her home with her parents, Vee and ‘Big Daddy’ Trescott which is what Deb in her irreverent way called her tall father, Don who was a Marine during WWII. I enjoyed many a time in their living room in pleasant conversation and at their dinner table eating marvelously cooked food. (Although I’ll have to admit that Deb’s concoction of peanut butter and bacon on English muffin was good, it probably didn’t help our hearts at all. But then, I sure wasn’t thinking about heart health at the age of 22) Since adding bacon to everything now from maple frosted donuts to broccoli is now in vogue, I guess Deb was way ahead of her time.

I was thrilled to be able to see Mrs. T yesterday and be able to thank her for all that she and her husband did for me oh so long ago. She turned 99 just recently - what an accomplishment (obviously, she wasn’t eating bacon and peanut butter on English muffins.) Don died several years ago but she is surrounded by her 2 daughters and grandchildren who were with her on her special day at her favorite restaurant.
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Last weekend we visited Bette and Jack in Andover, MA. Bette and I taught in the same school, Timberlane in Plaistow, NH and, when Gary and I lived in an apartment while building our home, Bette and I carpooled. Most of our drives were not particularly memorable but one drive we both remember vividly. It was winter and snow and ice covered the ground and roads and, because the ice on the roads had melted and refrozen several times, there were ruts in each land wide enough for tires in it. 2 ruts going north and 2 ruts heading south. We were heading north in our two ruts when I must have hit the edge of the rut, spun around and we found ourselves heading south in the opposite lane. Luckily, we were all going so slowly that we didn’t hit anyone and the only damage was to our comfort level.

Jack had to run an errand so he took Gary for a ride in his car, a 1993 ‘boat’ with real wood sides. He bought this from the original owner who still has a 1995 car which Jack would like to buy also. Pretty cool wheels.
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Bette showed me a plant that we gave her when we moved from New England to the Midwest. It’s till growing and looking good. Generally I chose plants that could not die.
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Several years ago, we were walking the Embarcadero in San Diego when someone tapped us on the shoulders and heartily exclaimed, ‘Is this Nancy and Gary?’ Wow, it was Jack out for a walk and he took us over to see Bette who was shopping around the corner. He recognized us well enough that he felt comfortable tapping up in the shoulder. But, on the whole it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other that they invited us over for the night so we could just hang around and talk. What fun it all was. Then, Bette had invited several others over for dinner, several other teachers and their spouses and also an old student of mine, Brian. Tony, on the left in the picture, had the classroom right next to mine. His kids were always laughing and having a great time. Mine were always taking notes. I was pretty dull.
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What fun it was to see Brian who has 4 kids, is a Boy Scout Leader and has been a city councilman in Andover for quite a few terms. As a teacher it is terribly gratifying to see old students and talk with them as the successful adults they have become.
We had a fun time talking with everyone and Bette cooked a great meal as always.
Here is a more formal picture with all of us. Bette and Jack’s son was there to take the picture.
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