Growing up
in the 1940's & 1950's 		    
  Here is an interesting essay about growing up in Talcottville in the 1940s and 1950s, written by Terry Smith Coulombe    
        
  Terry Smith Coulombe is pictured above as the cute little girl in the middle. This picture was sort of a neighborhood shot, including left to right: Dickie Lanz, Bruce Beal, Billy Smith, Terry Smith, Stuart Beal and Ronnie Kent. Jeannie DePellegrini is in front, on the front steps of her house at 14 Main in Talcottville. This was typical of the village life at the time --- a bunch of neighborhood kids over at a friend's house.      
 
     

 

           

 

 

 

     THE MILL:
My grandfather worked as a weaver in the mill, and one of my aunts who also grew up in Talcottville worked there, too. Later on my mother worked there during World War II while my grandmother took care of me. (I believe it had become Aldon Spinning Mill by that time)...Many in my extended family were mill workers, but lived in Rockville or Stafford Springs..

    
    THE SCHOOL:
After traveling on a Connecticut Company bus to Rockville for kindergarten, I joined the ranks of students at Talcottville School. At this time it consisted of grades 1-4 and was a "one-room schoolhouse" taught by Mrs. Ruby Loverin...I spent three years there before the school was reduced to just grades 1 & 2..At that time the rest of us were transferred back to Rockville. (which was quite an adjustment for me!!)
For me, one of the "high-lights" of the week was when an opportunity was extended to choose from one of the "tasks" to help with the upkeep of the classroom, such as: clapping the erasers, washing the blackboard, emptying wastebaskets, etc.. and one of the "big boys" (4th grade!) was usually chosen to raise and lower the flag on the flagpole outside.
Once every week or so an Art teacher would come to give us a lesson...and Miss Lewis, the Music teacher would show up with her pitch pipe. Periodically the School Nurse, Miss Dornheim, would arrive to check us out: eyes, ears, hair and all!
Their was no "unisex" in the 1940's and even our coats were hung separately in "Boys" and "Girls" Coat rooms which we entered through separate Doors...
My dog, Skippy, (a spiffy combination of Spitz & Dalmatian) frequently accompanied me to and from school, and waited on the steps in the interim (just like a couple of other canines pictured on the website!)
Before Christmas vacation, we walked up to the church and put on a traditional Christmas Pageant, (one year I played the part of a dog herding sheep for the shepherds...and someone brought in a fur collar for my costume!!) and around Memorial Day we marched from school to Mt Hope cemetery with small flags held over our shoulders, and recited poems and sang songs in front of the Civil War monument (see photo on website)..

    
      PARADES:
Although not officially connected with the school, most of the same children joined in decorated Bicycle and Doll Carriage Parades on the Fourth of July! (see website photo)...

    
      HOLIDAYS:
At Christmas our family placed a small "outdoor" Christmas Tree complete with red and green tights in the front yard and hung red plush wreaths with electric candles in the windows... Another "high-light" of the Holiday Season was when my parents brought me to the home of Kathleen and Dudley Douglas to see his remarkable Electric Train complete with a "flat car" carrying logs and a "mail car" that discharged a packet of mail when the train stopped. (Even today, the sight of an electric train conjures up thoughts of holiday festivities!!)

    
      THE STORE:
Because everyone in the village knew each other, I was able to walk to the store and retrieve a few items at an early age. I didn't bring $$$ but was told to hand the storekeeper my mother's list and "just say 'charge it." I always had my eye on a jack-knife because I wanted to "whittle" things out of wood and soap like I had seen in a book from the library! I asked the storekeeper to include a small jack-knife with the grocery order-instead, he went somewhere in the back of the store and called my home. He returned and said: "No...your parents don't think it's a good idea for you to have a knife..."
At that time the Post Office was inside the Store, and I was always instructed to ask for the mail in "Box #105"...

    
      THE OFFICE:
The Office was very impressive in those days! We still lived in "mill housing" and would go up to the Office to pay rent and other bills...
In later years some of the rooms were used for Sunday School classes...
When I went out to play after school, I would be told to look at the office clock in order to know when to come home for supper...

    
      OTHER "STUFF":
We didn't have all the extracurricular activities kids have today, but we did have good times playing Red Rover, Capture-the-Flag, and (girls) jumped roped and played Hop-Scotch. Often we returned to the school yard to play until late afternoon...
Some of us took piano lessons from Mrs Dorothy Welles who "taught little fingers to play" at reasonable rates..Since my family didn't own a piano, I was graciously invited into the household of my friend Nancy to practice on theirs...(that must have required a lot of patience on their part!!) Before I left, Grandma Grace Monaghan would appear and play "Red-Wing" or "Whispering Hope"...
In 1955, my parents purchased the house at "24 Main Street" and we moved up the street to live until they relocated to the Boston area in the 1960's...
Today this home is still occupied by lifelong residents of Talcottville: Paul and (a childhood friend) Joyce Phillips Jackson...
Looking back, Talcottville was a real example of "The Village it Takes to Raise a Child" ...and a great place to be a kid!

    
      Terry (Smith) Coulombe (July 16,2004)    
     
   
  Below are some contemporary pictures from Terry's collection. One of Terry and Nancy Gozdz, 1948, one of the girls' carriage parade, one of the barn, the C.D.Talcott house, the school in winter, Memorial Day parade, girls in town, and a float in a Rockville parade decorated by local residents. (click for bigger pics)
   
   
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