A collection of reminiscences – it’s time to write the next segment. When I was 62 I wrote a 112 page book of memories and reflections on my life to date. Now I am almost 84 – it’s time to write again and concentrate on the missing segment – now the title could be 2 countries, 21 years. A lot has happened in the intervening years from when I was in my early 60’s leading up to now. When I lie in bed at night I reflect on topics such as this.

This is a page from the Harvard Yearbook Class of 1932. One of the young men was my neighbor a few years later.

As I wrote in my previous blog entry, My Neighbor Mrs Nellie Crowley, became sick with cancer and died in 1952. The following year Mr. Crowley remarried and moved to the other side of Belmont. The years passed and I got to know the 2nd Mrs Crowley by a strange coincidence, 3000 miles away in California, on the other side of the country.

Mr. Crowley lived on into his 80’s and died in 1962. Sometime after his death the 2nd Mrs. Crowley moved to Berkeley California. And I too was then living in Berkeley and attending the University of California. We got in touch and we met occasionally for lunch on the Berkeley campus, within sight and sound of the burgeoning student unrest.. This was in the years 1964-1966 and we became good friends.

Now in my genealogy research I have discovered that Mr Crowley and his first wife Nellie were Irish. Both sets of parents had been born in Ireland and immigrated to the U.S. Mr Crowley (Herbert Litchfield Crowley) was from Maine. Nellie was a graduate of Radcliffe and she taught in the Boston Latin School for a number of years until she and Herbert married in 1908.

Herbert and Nellie married in August 1908 in Epworth Church in Cambridge. I found an account of their wedding in The Cambridge Chronicle September 5, 1908. I will share it with you in Part 3 of the Crowley story.

As I wrote a while ago, I had surgery on right hand hoping that my fingers would be straighter. I have arthritis in both hands, more severe in the left hand. So the right hand is the guinea pig for corrective surgery. I don’t have a “before” picture but the 2nd picture below was taken this morning as I waited for the hand physiotherapist. The surgery was over a month ago.

Mrs Crowley lived almost next door in my childhood neighborhood on Old Middlesex Road, Belmont Massachusetts. By examining the 1940 U.S. Census records on Ancestry.com I have discovered interesting facts about my former neighbors. The Crowleys lived on Essex Road, just around the corner. I just went through the backyard of the McLoughlins and across Essex Road and I was at the Crowleys – a stone’s throw away.

I knew the Crowleys through church – Payson Park Congregational church. But I got to know them better through their granddaughter Sandy. Sandy and I were about the same age and she came to visit her grandparents often. So we played together from an early age. I can remember meals in their home and some special outings together – one trip in particular was to a summer camp for blind girls. This was a camp sponsored by Kiwanis and located in New Hampshire. I assume Mr. Crowley was a member of Kiwanis and was involved with their charitable activities.

I also have a specific memory of Mrs. Crowley in her sunroom (a room off the living room) – she was punching out texts in braille – presumably this work was for the School for the Blind which was located in nearby Watertown.

Sandy lived in nearby Lexington, and when we were in high school Sandy and I would meet on the field hockey field and on the basketball court.

The years went by and Mrs. Crowley (Nellie) got cancer. Mr. Crowley remained outwardly cheerful and reassured people at church that she was doing well. Sadly Nellie passed away in

March 1952. .

Next I heard was that Mr. Crowley had remarried. This was in 1953. By then I was in high school and was soon off to Middlebury. He moved to his new wife’s home in another part of Belmont. The new wife was a widow, but in younger days she and her husband had played bridge regularly with Mr. (Herbert) and Mrs. (Nellie) Crowley.

Sandy went to Russell Sage in New York State. When the Russell Sage girls came to play Middlebury in field hockey, Sandy and I met up. We remained in contact off and on through the years. The most recent contact was a year ago on her 82nd birthday, when I phoned her out of the blue. It took a while to convince her that it was really me (Janet Miller) phoning her. How did I know it was her birthday? Well for some quirky reason I’ve always remembered her birthday was April 11 and the twins (other childhood playmates) were born on May 2.

Clarinet playing in Dhaka Bangladesh

I doubt that Judy and I were playing Happy Birthday in this photo from 40 years ago. I’m on the right, Judy on the left. We were rehearsing with the American International School Orchestra. Nice memories!