It was the summer between by freshman and sophomore years in high school. A tooth emergency arrived. The ache was in a molar on the bottom left rear of my mouth. From my folks all I got was,… Read more

My widowed mother (nicknamed “Hester” by me) and I were experiencing our first winter in our remodeled country schoolhouse which boasted a telephone but no electricity or running water. We moved… Read more

My name is Gary Johnson, and I would like to share my story. 40 years ago, I served in Vietnam as an infantry pointman with the famous First Infantry Division. On December 20, 1969, I was wounded… Read more

My widowed mother, nicknamed “Hester” by me, and I were living in our remodeled country schoolhouse with telephone but no electricity. She was 62. I was 23. I carried water from the well I dug on… Read more

My widowed mother, Minnie E. Noble, nicknamed “Hester” by me, was 62 this month. I was 23. May 1st we started Montgomery living in our remodeled country schoolhouse without electricity or running… Read more

One of my childhood memories is about practice blackouts and air raid warnings. A siren wailed and that meant lights out in the house. The neighborhood also went dark. Shortly after, the siren… Read more

By age 23 I had acquired a driving license, a job in the survey section of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works, a 1948 Crosley sedan, and a country schoolhouse, without electricity or… Read more

Many people don’t know when to quit. Look at the many sports figures who, because of the money and notoriety, have stayed beyond their primes. With no term limits for politicians, many old… Read more

Traditionally, school starts the Wednesday after Labor Day, and so it was in 1927. It was the seventh of September when I started school, fourteen days before my fifth birthday. (I checked the date… Read more

My mother (nicknamed “Hester” by me) and I had acquired an old country schoolhouse from the Town of Montgomery for $800 and were remodeling it for a home. At age 23, I worked for the… Read more

With permanent appointment as Junior Engineering Aid, Grade I, I worked for Massachusetts Department of Public Works in a survey party whose chief was Louis E. Johnson. Having dependable income at… Read more

In the days before television, my after-school baby sitter was a non-profit organization called the Neighborhood House. It was actually two frame houses where families once lived. The front house was… Read more

Permanent appointment as a Junior Engineering Aid Grade I (rodman) in a Massachusetts Department of Public Works survey party had given me $145 a month income, enough for my widowed mother and I to… Read more