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From Our Kitchen
Lydia
by Jean Loesch Krauklin
(Continued from page 1)

Lydia
Since Lydia never got a driver's license, she did a good deal of walking, mostly with the children. Down the hillside to Main Street along the river they went at least twice a week. (Groceries were delivered to the house.) Sometimes they took the trolley car from Green Square up towards the Brown Company Store at the northern edge of the city. Later on, when the girls started kindergarten, they were able to take this route by themselves; the kindergarten, like most everything else in town, was near the Brown Company and was run by the Brown family.
During these years Ben belonged to the Kiwanis Club, and ocassionally he took Lydia to a dance they gave. She had an evening gown made by one of the French Canadian dressmakers she knew; it was a creamy white satin dress that had its own little pink velvet jacket. Another gown she had was of deep brown taffeta that showed off her pretty complexion and her excellent figure.
Lydia joined the Berlin Women's Club and went to some of its afternoon meetings and teas, but on the whole she preferred to be home with her children. She did take up the new game of contract bridge, and this led to a lifelong interest. Not only was she very good (and surprisingly competitive) but it gave her a great opportunity to get some social life when Ben was away hunting and fishing so much of the time. Her friends were many but closest were Allie Griffith, Anna Gross, Louise Hull, and Blanche Cunningham. Louise and Blanche were teachers, Allie a dentist's widow, and Anna was the widow of Mr. Gross, the owner of the streetcar service in Berlin.
When Jean and Ruth were starting school, Lydia wanted a piano to start music lessons, and we were thrilled when Ben brought one from his brother's home in Deer Isle, where pianos were taxed $5 a year as luxuries. Ben could pound out chords for country-style music, and taught Jean so he could play along with his fiddle. That was great fun, and we got pretty good over the years. So we got our music lessons, and dancing lessons too.
Before Bobby was born Lydia decide too take her three children to her old home in Canada; she wanted to visit her more fondly remembered relatives. We boarded the Grand Trunk Railroad train that ran from Portland, Maine thru Berlin to Quebec, and we rode in a parlor car to Sherbrooke. We stayed with her uncle there, and then went to a nearby farm to see more relatives, French-speaking this time. We children had our first taste of farm life: we rode in a wagon pulled by a horse along the country roads and we listened to the farm hands playing guitars and singing after supper on the back porch. We were taken to the annual Sherbrooke Fair; this was the Disneyland of the time, and we saw wonderful stage shows.
One summer Lydia and a neighbor, Mrs. Hening, arranged a trip to drive to the beach at Old Orchard, Maine, where we rented a large old house for a week. What a treat! A real ocen beach, with a merry-go-round and funhouse too!
When Bobby was school age, Lydia began to give some of her time to participating in civic activities, suuch as blood bank drives, girl scouts, the Red Cross, as well as doing some private duty nursing for friends. Later on, Ben developed medical problems (diabetes), and she gave him the same untiring care and devotion that she had always shown to family and patients; his last years were spent in a wheelchair. Ben passed away in 1966.
In the last years of her life, Lydia lived with Bob's family in Deer Isle, surrounded in her apartment with mementos of the past and secure in the feeling that she was close to her children and grandchildren. David took care of her finances; Bob and Soon gave her the devoted care which enabled Lydia to live her last years with the independence and dignity which we would all desire.
Since her death on March 28, 1982, her family remembers Lydia with the warmest and most grateful feelings. We meant everything to her, and she to us.
JLK
4/12/03

Any comments or questions? Contact
louise@loesch.net
S i t e d e s i g n b y W e b f a i r

Home Family History Family Tree Photo Album Reminiscing Reunion Info Family News Address Book From Our Kitchen		Lydia by Jean Loesch Krauklin (Continued from page 1) Since Lydia never got a driver's license, she did a good deal of walking, mostly with the children. Down the hillside to Main Street along the river they went at least twice a week. (Groceries were delivered to the house.) Sometimes they took the trolley car from Green Square up towards the Brown Company Store at the northern edge of the city. Later on, when the girls started kindergarten, they were able to take this route by themselves; the kindergarten, like most everything else in town, was near the Brown Company and was run by the Brown family. During these years Ben belonged to the Kiwanis Club, and ocassionally he took Lydia to a dance they gave. She had an evening gown made by one of the French Canadian dressmakers she knew; it was a creamy white satin dress that had its own little pink velvet jacket. Another gown she had was of deep brown taffeta that showed off her pretty complexion and her excellent figure. Lydia joined the Berlin Women's Club and went to some of its afternoon meetings and teas, but on the whole she preferred to be home with her children. She did take up the new game of contract bridge, and this led to a lifelong interest. Not only was she very good (and surprisingly competitive) but it gave her a great opportunity to get some social life when Ben was away hunting and fishing so much of the time. Her friends were many but closest were Allie Griffith, Anna Gross, Louise Hull, and Blanche Cunningham. Louise and Blanche were teachers, Allie a dentist's widow, and Anna was the widow of Mr. Gross, the owner of the streetcar service in Berlin. When Jean and Ruth were starting school, Lydia wanted a piano to start music lessons, and we were thrilled when Ben brought one from his brother's home in Deer Isle, where pianos were taxed $5 a year as luxuries. Ben could pound out chords for country-style music, and taught Jean so he could play along with his fiddle. That was great fun, and we got pretty good over the years. So we got our music lessons, and dancing lessons too. Before Bobby was born Lydia decide too take her three children to her old home in Canada; she wanted to visit her more fondly remembered relatives. We boarded the Grand Trunk Railroad train that ran from Portland, Maine thru Berlin to Quebec, and we rode in a parlor car to Sherbrooke. We stayed with her uncle there, and then went to a nearby farm to see more relatives, French-speaking this time. We children had our first taste of farm life: we rode in a wagon pulled by a horse along the country roads and we listened to the farm hands playing guitars and singing after supper on the back porch. We were taken to the annual Sherbrooke Fair; this was the Disneyland of the time, and we saw wonderful stage shows. One summer Lydia and a neighbor, Mrs. Hening, arranged a trip to drive to the beach at Old Orchard, Maine, where we rented a large old house for a week. What a treat! A real ocen beach, with a merry-go-round and funhouse too! When Bobby was school age, Lydia began to give some of her time to participating in civic activities, suuch as blood bank drives, girl scouts, the Red Cross, as well as doing some private duty nursing for friends. Later on, Ben developed medical problems (diabetes), and she gave him the same untiring care and devotion that she had always shown to family and patients; his last years were spent in a wheelchair. Ben passed away in 1966. In the last years of her life, Lydia lived with Bob's family in Deer Isle, surrounded in her apartment with mementos of the past and secure in the feeling that she was close to her children and grandchildren. David took care of her finances; Bob and Soon gave her the devoted care which enabled Lydia to live her last years with the independence and dignity which we would all desire. Since her death on March 28, 1982, her family remembers Lydia with the warmest and most grateful feelings. We meant everything to her, and she to us. JLK 4/12/03
		Any comments or questions? Contact louise@loesch.net S i t e d e s i g n b y W e b f a i r