AngelaSphere

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I asked Mom if she’d like to drive around Troy and see some places that she hadn’t seen in a while and/or perhaps places that had evolved or changed. She guided me around several streets, telling me stories all along the way. This journal and pictorial account is what Mom shared with me.

Now … what you’re about to read was Mom’s Memories (and a few of my own, as I look back now through the eyes of both a child and an adult) The account below coincides with a slide show link attached.

 This is a house Mom said she lived in with Dad in their early marriage years.

 The Family relocated to Cliff Haven in Plattsburgh NY in the late 60s. It was a happy time, full of promise. A new beginning.   

I remember Mommy showing us the “plans” for a new house we were relocating to. I thought we had become rich. The artist rendering showed a birch tree in the front yard. I couldn’t wait.

The humble little brand new house held all 10 of the Family. Mother, Father, 6 girls and 2 boys. Daddy had just begun a new job.   Things didn’t work out in Plattsburgh and, sadly, in a short time the family relocated back to Troy and lived in a Three-family house on the 2nd floor.

 Here’s the building from across the street. Our flat was on the 2nd floor on the right hand side of the building you see here. Can you imagine moving your family from the suburbs with access to a lake for your children to frolick in to this walk up flat in a depressed part of town? 

There are no words.

Two houses to the left of our building lived Grandma. Mom said that Dad found the flat on his own while Mom and us kids waited for word up in Plattsburgh. I (Angela) remember being devastated at the news we were moving back to this awful area of Troy. I can only imagine the rivers of tears our dear mother and Father must have cried.

A view North on 5th Avenue, taken across the street from the apartment building.

 A view South on 5th Avenue, taken across the street from the apartment building.

* Mom shared with me that one day while on her way to work at her new “sewing” job she just couldn’t bring herself to go inside. She had only been there a couple of days. She would walk to that big factory building you see there (on the right), take her position at the sewing machine and sew (like a common laborer) all day. She just couldn’t bear the thought of being holed up in there one more day. So Mom said she saw a bus coming. She got on that bus and took a ride to Montgomery Wards.  She worked at Wards for a few years, then leaving to stay home for a while. As I write this I can only imagine the pain she must have been going through. Well … the bus took her to Wards. She applied for, and got a job immediately that day. Remember she had wonderful secretarial skills, and in those days those skills were in high demand. That day was a turning point for Mom. We talked about that quite a bit. That took courage/strength and faith.

* Here’s the building as she got closer. Can you imagine her emotions?

* Here’s how the building looks now. It’s missing windows, and it should be condemned.

* Here’s the door that our dear mother walked out of and into to take her position at the sewing machine.

* Well . . . Mom and I continued our journey south toward 4th street. An area where she spent her childhood.

* We went past this church. St. Jean the Baptist (now closed). She said that they would only go there on Easter.

* Here is her favorite. St. Mary’s church. Mom had previously gone to school 10, but a kind Nun took an interest in her (and her sisters) and said that the girls should be going to Catholic School. So, the nun paid the tuition for Mom and her sisters, along  with uniforms thus  beginning  their  Catholic education starting with Mom in grade 5.

* St.Mary’s School has been turned into apartments. Mom was sad about that.

* St. Mary’s Apartment Building.

* She loves this church and that beautiful round window.

* When she saw this pillar which reads: St. Mary’s School, she started to cry.

* And the same for this cornerstone…it brought tears to mom’s eyes.

* Directly Behind St. Mary’s school was an old shack.  Grandma Quinn (Grandma’s Mom) lived there in a shantytown kind of shack. This plot of land, best we could tell is where it used to sit.

* This is the house we lived in on Tibbets Avenue.

* MoM and her family lived in this house until graduation.

I will add to this journal as time moves forward. If anyone has any digital graphics they’d share, feel free to send
them to me in an email.