Murdock Muse January-February 2004 - Part 2

NOTE FROM NANCY: As is our long-standing tradition, we include a few Christmas/Annual greetings from special friends who are not Musers. We are fortunate to have so many relatives and friends, Musers or not, who generously share their thoughts on the past year.


CASEY'S ASSIGNMENT
Regina Howlett and Nancy Murdock

12/06/03, from Regina: So nice to hear from you! We are also in the middle of a snow storm! I have been thinking of you all morning! Casey has to write an essay for school about family history! I just would like to know if you had anything written or any information about the family. I don't even know where to start!

12/15/03, from Nancy: Clyde Howlett has a lot of info, but I can give you some, also.

We are descended from the first Governor of MA, William Bradford. Three of our ancestors came over on the Mayflower, the ship that brought the Pilgrims to MA in 1620: John and Priscilla Alden and Wm. Bradford. The first Howlett came to MA as a ship's captain in about 1630. I think his name was Thomas Howlett.

My grandmother and grandfather (Casey's great-great grandparents) were Andrew Howlett, who died of pneumonia in the flu epidemic after WWI, and Emily Agusta Wolcott Vinton Howlett. Grandma Howlett lived in our hometown of Hubbardston while I was growing up, and she had a good long life, dying at age 92. She was a fine seamstress, and also knitted the best mittens ever. The picture of her on her 90th birthday shows her wearing a navy blue silk dress she had made with fabric given her by her great grandson, Norman Holt, Aunt Bessie's grandson, who got it in either China or Japan, I think. She memorized the Bible chapter of Corinthians about love. She was an excellent cook and made great firm doughnuts.

They had 9 children (6 girls and 3 boys). Foster Lawton Howlett, my father, was the youngest son, and the next to youngest child. (Aunt Doris, Carl Martz's mother, was the youngest.) Dad enlisted in the Army during WWI. He was the company clerk, responsible for their paperwork. I always thought that was funny, as he had left school in his sophomore year of high school. He was a machinist in machine shops when I was little. Then he sent to McGraw Hill and bought a group of books about die-making and mathematics, especially solid geometry and trigonometry. After he had digested the material in those books, he became a die-maker whose work was respected. It was intricate work; he made things accurate to a thousandth of an inch. That may not sound like much now, when we have dissected the atom, but it was very fine work. He also loved flowers and maintained a garden of perennials.

My mother was Edna Augusta Mawhinnie Howlett. She was a teacher with a diploma from Fitchburg Normal School, which at that time was a 2-year course. She was interested in a lot of things, such as sewing, decorating, and gardening - mainly annuals and vegetables. She was a good cook and always served nutritious meals. One of her specialties that she often served for supper on Sunday (after a meat meal for dinner at noon) was home-baked beans and white yeast rolls.

Her father was (Mansfield) Chipman Mawhinnie, a Canadian citizen. Mom always thought his mother was probably of Native American descent. He looked a lot like a Seneca. He worked at the toy factory in Winchendon MA. He also worked as a machinist at other factories before then, and he had sold fish during my mother's childhood. I remember that he also made a little money sharpening saws by patiently filing each tooth carefully. He would sit in his workshop (formerly a henhouse) and chat with a neighbor while he worked. He lived to age 87 or so.

Mom's mother was also a teacher, Nellie Centennial Derby Mawhinnie. Her sister Mary owned and operated a florist shop in Winchendon. Grandma also sewed a lot. Her favorite part of the day was doing a crossword puzzle in the evening. That's how she died at about age 68.

My grandparents ran a rooming house after their children left home.

Both of my parents, who were 8 years apart in age, died at age 52. Dad had Hodgson's Disease, and lived 5 1/2 years after the diagnosis. They had expected him to live only 2 1/2 years. He loved to go fishing, especially for trout. During his illness he learned to tie flies for fishing.

Mom died at work, of a stroke. She had a rough day and had to expel a 5th grade girl student with schizophrenia who got out of hand and couldn't settle down. After school, she had a teacher's meeting to go to. She started for the kitchen to make coffee and fell down from a massive stroke. She never recovered consciousness and died two hours later.

They had 7 children (5 boys and 2 girls). Nancy, Andrew, Thomas, Stephen, Pauline, Douglas, and John, in that order. Andy (Casey's grandfather) was born November 4, 1933. He loved to fish also. He went to high school for one year and then to trade school. The first year at trade school he grew 7 inches in height. Up to then, he had been a little short for his age, one of the reasons he was sent to high school, since the trade school was a little rougher. He studied carpentry.

Later he went into the Army, during the Korean Conflict, I think. He was sent to Germany, where there was a lot of tension because of the Berlin Wall. His commanding officer said Andy was a born soldier. When he got out, he went to college and got his associate's degree in Civil Engineering.

I don't know if this is any help to Casey, but whether she has already done her assignment or not, at least you now have a few facts about our family. Hopefully, some of it is new to you.

Well, that is all the time I can stay awake tonight. So I'll wish you a good time preparing for Christmas, and a happy celebration on the day.


12/16/03, from Regina: Thank you so much for all the information! We have Clyde's book. That helped us a lot! Your story is very helpful! I'm going to print it out and have Casey take it to school! Hope you and Bob are doing well! Enjoy the Christmas Season!

Wish you Merry Christmas and a great New Year!


BUSY YEAR
Jim & Carol Wilkinson

We hope this year finds you well. This has been an interesting, year for us. Carol has been busy at Immanuel's Church with all the programs this year and especially the church's 20th anniversary celebration that occurred in October. Carol and Jim took part in several worship and dance presentations for the anniversary.

John continues to work at the Vegetarian Resource Group and finds his job rewarding. He and his girlfriend Kim share their interest in environmental issues with Sierra Club activities and hikes. We joined them for a hike and picnic in a scenic park along the Patapsco River this summer. Megan has one more year of study in music and voice at University of Maryland Baltimore County. She had a junior recital and several concerts that were very well received.

The heavy snows last winter allowed us to do some cross country skiing, something we can't do every winter in Maryland. We also took a few birding trips for winter owls and hawks.

One of our highlights was a trip to Italy in July by the UMBC Gospel Choir that Megan belongs to. Parents were invited, so Carol and I joined her on this memorable tour of Venice, Florence, Rome, and a week in Verona. We saw many wonderful works of art, attended an outdoor opera, took a gondola ride, had some lovely meals, and heard Megan sing a duet with her teacher in the choir's last concert in Rome. Carol and Jim had a day at the beach to swim in the Adriatic Sea, and we all got to see a few European birds as well,

We're looking forward to our annual visit to Carol's dad and her brother and family in California this Christmas. Megan will be going with us and John and Kim will be joining us out there for the holiday, which will be an extra treat.

May God's blessings be with you now and for the New Year. [Ed. Note: Jim used to take Bob and me birdwatching before choir rehearsal on Sunday morning.--NAM]


OUR YEAR
Orrel & Charlie Frost

Autumn lingered on pleasantly at High Ledge this year- We didn"t get snow here until December 2nd as compared with October 14th last year. This year has seen some wonderful blessings in our family for which we are very grateful.

Our daughter Pamela has organized a comprehensive art program in southern Maine for adults working with disabilities. She had several public exhibitions of her participants' work. In addition, she had a successful show of her own miniatures at the Center for Contemporary Maine Art in January. She and her daughter Colleen spent a whirlwind two weeks in England during August, visiting many London sights and museums. They enjoyed numerous stops along their touring routes to paint with watercolors or make brass rubbings. They also saw magnificent plays in London theaters. Colleen is on the honor roll at York High School and served as makeup artist for the school play in November.

Derek and Rosalind are readers for their church in Williamsburg, Virginia. He made a number of visits to Europe on business for his company. Roz has had another very busy season at Black Badger Inn. Their daughter Jeremy-Ruth graduated with honors from the ballet program at the Hartt School of Music in University of Hartford, won a scholarship to the Martha Graham Institute in New York City last summer, and now dances with the Northem Ballet Theater in Nashua, New Hampshire. Son Alexis works in the art museum at Dartmouth College and produces theatrical masks at a local studio. His wife Kristen prepares scientific instrumentation to be rocketed into outer space to measure the Aurora Borealis.

Stephanie, now an empty nester, moved from York to Saco, Maine, cutting her daily commute in half. Her older son Matthew graduated from Amherst (Massachusetts) High School and is now doing his Army basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Chelsea, who moved back to Springfield, MA, last year, is taking courses at the technical college there. Springfield Tech is on the site of the old Springfield Armory, where Orrel's Dad was a project engineer. Ethan is now living with his father in Granby, MA.

We again soaked up the southern sun in early February with a family friend in Hudson, Florida. Naturally, we made a stopover in Williamsburg on the way home. This turned out to be more adventurous than we expected. Our flight from Virginia to Pittsburgh was delayed only an hour because of snow, but there we were stranded, as our connecting flight into Manchester, New Hampshire, had been canceled. The only flight to northern New England was to Burlington, Vermont. When we reached that destination, there were five of us passengers who wanted to get back to Manchester, so we split the cost of a rental car. From there we plodded on home in a blizzard.

Orrel works several days a month at the Christian Science Reading Room in Portsmouth, NH. Her playgroup for neighborhood dogs remains ever popular. Charlie attended the annual training conference of the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts in Boston and was caught completely by surprise when he was presented with the Distinguished Career Award. (Some intelligence analyst he turned out to be!) He continues to substitute at our local high school and occasionally drives the van to take students to the regional vocational centers. He is writing a history of a family branch that moved from New England to Mobile, Alabama.

We are grateful to hear from friends and relatives who keep in touch with us and particularly grateful for several old friends we had not seen for many years who Came by this year. If you're headed our way, give us a shout. We'd love to see you.

May your Holiday Season - and the New Year - be filled with peace and joy.

--Bipeds Orrel and Charlie, dogs Serena and Princess, cats Misha and Janey, and playful kittens Emma and Viola


A BLESSED YEAR
Roy & Tamera Murdock

Roy started a new job March 1 with Lozier Corp., as purchasing Manager, and it's been a great place for him to work. The only drawback was they didn't permit smoking anywhere on the premises. So, after 31 years of smoking, Roy quit smoking on March 1. One week later, Tami, who had smoked for 40 years, quit smoking.

We had a setback on August I this year when Tami had a mild heart attack. But the heart surgeon put a stint in her and she's recovered wonderfully. She's taken up bowling to help get in shape and rolled her best game ever last week- a 191, which included 5 strikes in a row! Now she's setting her sights on bowling her first ever 200 game.

Roy took up golfing again this year and broke 80 for the first time. He's started watching the Golf Channel, buying golf books and some occasional new golf clubs. (Tami is getting a new set of golf clubs for Christmas and will take it up again in the spring).

Khendra continues to mature into a beautiful young woman. She's in her second year of college and doing very well. She plans to major in English and teach High School. She also stays busy on the Internet writing music reviews for a site called Epinions.com. Her latest Internet adventure is to make her own radio station.

As a family, we've enjoyed going to the YMCA three times a week to walk, play basketball, run on the treadmill, and lift weights.

Hope this letter finds you and yours doing well and may God bless you all in the upcoming year.


Christmas Letter Already?
The Tripp Family

It's hard to believe we are sitting down composing our Christmas letter already - it seems we just mailed last year's! We hope 2003 was good to you and that you are in good health as we approach 2004!

This has been a busy but not particularly eventful year for us. This summer, Samantha started off barely willing to put her face in the water, and ended up learning to swim by the end of August. She took swimming lessons in the fall and was quickly moved up from her beginner class and was doing the backstroke and crawl down the pool. We look forward to seeing her progress in the spring. Nicole is in love with the water and was trying to do everything big sister did with a life jacket on.

At the end of August we traveled to Washington D.C. to help David's dad get his RV back to Florida. We left a few days early and stayed at a great park in Maryland just a bus ride from the Metro. We visited many of the national museums and of course the zoo, and Samantha wanted to go to the postal museum, since she is now collecting stamps like Mom. I was impressed with the beauty of the building, and even our less enthusiastic travelers enjoyed that.

We took the train back up north to return for Samantha's first day of school. This was a big adjustment for everyone, but especially for Nicole who was accustomed to being with her sister all day long. After we finally let Samantha get on the bus, she really enjoys school, though is very shy. Her first report card was very good, and we can see she is learning sight words as when she is reading to us she glosses over more and more words.

Nicole has blossomed at daycare now that she does not have Samantha to advocate for her. Her language skills increased dramatically, and she is asking wonderful questions, and has really delved into doing learning projects there, even impressing everyone by cutting out Santa all by herself. She spells her name, and when playing with the older kids was ordered to count to 1 00 in hide-and-seek, and shocked us by making it to 25! She has a stubborn streak to her, but has a great sense of humor, and we love her renditions of songs.

Samantha is continuing with the Music School in an Orff class, and based on Nicole's behavior in that class when she has had to visit, we will likely sign her up for the class for her grade level. Both girls really enjoy music, and next year Nicole may be able to join Samantha at concerts.

Jeanne continues with the Springfield Symphony Chorus and maintains their website which has become more vital to the chorus, as she does for her department at work. She worked hard developing and editing policies and preparing her department for an assessment in June, after which her campus police department became the first in Massachusetts to be certified by a state oversight committee. She has now volunteered to help Samantha's school upgrade, well create, their website.

Dave almost completed his first full 2 years as an intermediate EMT, and is recertifying for the first time this year. His work in the previous years in achieving that goal was incredible, and we are still so proud of this accomplishment. He continues to maintain the fire department's web site, and does all the reporting to the state on behalf of the department. He was instrumental in obtaining software to complete that reporting, which has made things easier and even more professional. He continues to train fellow members in his full time job with the police department, keeping him quite busy. We will all be home together through the holidays, and we are quite excited.

Best wishes to you and your family for a joyous holiday season and a happy, healthy new year!!!


OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
Lorna Lass

12/12/03: This year we took two trips. The first was in May, to Georgia for our grandson's high school graduation. (He is signed up for the Navy.) The other was a trip north to Seattle, etc., to visit friends and relatives. Weather in Sept. was nice and cool there, unlike the heat here when we returned.

Our eldest granddaughter was accepted into a medical school near Phoenix. The other one will graduate from Long Beach Univ. in June.

Russ still has his art projects. He is making a kaleidoscope for Christmas. And I still volunteer at both Grace Resources and Santa's Workers. Santa's Workers is having their big toy giveaway next Monday. That should be fun!

I am slow to get cards out this year because of so many activities. Our gem and mineral club had a camp-out in the desert right after Thanksgiving. Weather was nice but cool. We enjoyed Thanksgiving at Russ's niece's home on the Marina. We plan to celebrate Christmas at our son's condo in Huntington Beach.

Sunday we plan to go to Huntington Beach for a family get-together to exchange gifts with those who will be gone for Christmas.

We are well and hope you are the same. Have a really nice Christmas! [Ed. Note: We met Lorna and Russ in Downey, when he and I were in the Downey Art League. It's always fun to hear from them in December. Maybe we will get some ideas from them for our future retirement.--NAM]


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