Me and my brother David, taken on Haven Rd, Windham(Nana's Camp) circa 1965


My Grandmother’s Pictures

My grandmother O’Donnell was like my surrogate mother. When my mom became a mother at age eighteen, my grandmother helped in many ways to see that her grandchildren got what they needed when my own parents had difficulty providing at times. My grandmother saw that we had Easter outfits and had some religious education. I attended Catechism until I was about ten. She purchased a flute so that I could be in the school band. Her two sons had musical backgrounds, and she felt that was important. I recall her buying my dress for the first day of Kindergarten. I was the oldest grandchild and spent a great deal of time with my Nana, usually weekends. As a child visiting her on Brackett Street in Portland, Maine, I recall all the old gangster movies I liked to watch in B &W. I also would sift through her big old button box trying to match various buttons while I had them spread all across her rug. I spent countless hours going through her big suitcase full of photographs. I asked her who everyone was and where the pictures were taken and I even wrote notes for her scrapbooks. I would ask her about all of her cousins and I made her name each one and who the parents were. Much to our surprise we found out that she had 42 first cousins. I also remember watching many Lawrence Welk shows with her, though I did not care for it. We both sat there with our pajamas on to watch the show. I felt at home there and had lots of privileges I did not have at home.
                 We would go to the grocery store and she would buy me almost everything I wanted. I mostly remember Pepperidge Farm apple turnovers as being one of my favorites. I would sit on the third floor of her flat on the back porch overlooking Tate Street and eat my turnover as I watched over her neighborhood. I usually slept in the bedroom off the dining room which had some 3 dimensional wallpaper resembling buttons on pillows. The bedroom was filled with religious statues and paintings and my great grandmother’s thunder and lightning rosary beads which hung on the back of the door. I was afraid to be in that room with all of those things. I would ask her to take away all the artifacts until I could go to sleep. I always found something to do there, like looking at her jewelry box and asking where she got certain pieces of jewelry. Sometimes she would give me a piece of jewelry to take home. I always took good care of the things she gave to me. She had a hope chest she received as a graduation gift and I was amazed she had her wedding dress all neatly folded along with my grandfather’s wedding tie. There was an interesting piece of fruitcake all wrapped up from their wedding in October of 1932. I couldn’t believe she would save that but she insisted that it could still be eaten.  In the morning I woke early to run to her room and play her music box on her bureau with the Anniversary Waltz. I always woke my grandfather who was not always happy about waking early. I suppose he just wanted a little rest on the weekends. Nana never got mad at me. 
                We used to walk uptown often and I recall the big elms stretched across State Street and the sidewalk bricks were uneven because of tree roots. We would walk to the Dorothy Mason School of Dance where I had tap lessons for short while. I was not at all interested in dance. I recall being surprised that two boys also took tap lessons and thought their parents probably made them try it. My grandmother paid for my lessons. I visited her neighbors who lived below her in the flat, the Mullen's. Once I counted Mrs. Mullen’s marble table tops and there were seven. Sometimes I visited her friends on Tate Street, especially an older woman named Mamie Conant whom I loved dearly. These were some of her neighbors who were close to her. Those old Victorians with beautiful staircases I recall so vividly. We walked often downtown to Porteous and Grants and I especially loved Loring Short and Harmon. One day, in 1969 or 70, we were walking across the street that runs beside Loring , Short and Harmon. I believe it is Brown Street. We were halfway across the street, as the Do Not Walk sign flashed, when a “Hippie” yelled obscenities to my grandmother. I was so afraid as she bent down to copy his license plate, that I went running. My grandmother must have been frantic because she came looking for me in Loring , Short and Harmon, and I believe I was upstairs. 
                My grandmother used to take me to her office building on Forest Avenue at George Business Forms where I knew all the ladies. She would send me home with doodle pads of paper, pens and rulers. My grandmother was a career woman and was instrumental in the growth of George Business Forms. She was very involved in the Credit Woman, a group of women executives. In a day when many women were stay at home mothers, my grandmother worked. She was very independent. We spent many afternoons having lunch at Deering Ice Cream on St. John Street where I recall a waitress named Frances. I also recall going to Pagoda owned by Mr. Danny Wong. I had the pleasure to meet him when I was a child and was fascinated with his restaurant and the beautiful interior with the big porcelain type lions in the windows. He showed me how to use chopsticks. 
                The purpose for writing about my Nana has more to do with her belongings I own now. I have a large collection of photos which all mean something to me because they belonged to her. However, the pictures are her memories and now I have my own memories to make. So in looking through all of her photos and sorting them, I have been having some thoughts of what to do with them. I saw she took many photos of her many neighbors through the years. There were the Jennings family, the Kane family, the Riley’s and the Lawless and Griffin Families from Dorchester, Mass. These families all did things together like go to the beach, and visit many lakes and to Peaks Island for outings. There were numerous pictures of the Credit women groups. There were some great pictures from her camp at Highland lake which mean the most to me because they include us. The families from Massachusetts were relatives who kept in touch over the years as they had common Irish ancestors. My grandparents went on their honeymoon in 1932 to Machias and Bangor to visit the O’Donnell relatives and to Mass to visit the Irish relatives on my grandmother’s side. Then of course I have all her childhood albums from Park Street with numerous friends, as well as High school friends from Portland High School class of 1928. Her class had Dr. Benjamin Zolov, Louis Gordon of Stewart’s Men’s Shop and J. Weston Walch, publisher and many other Portland notables. I have all her yearbooks. Education was very important. My grandmother was my only grandparent to graduate from High School. Her yearbook is filled with many first generation Americans, children of immigrants. She even gave me her class ring which she paid $7.50. I contacted a Jennings I know and sent a few pictures to her. I plan to do the same with various cousins who are descendants of some in the photos. It gives me pleasure knowing that the pictures are going to a good place. I cannot hold onto my grandmother’s memories forever because I have to make room for my own memories. I treasured her for a grandmother and she will always be in my heart.