PICTORIAL PAGES Christel's home page Christel and siblings Emanuel Charlton et al Bob and his mother Doug and Christel Nancy and Christel ARTICLES Toasting on her 88th Happy 100th Birthday TRIBUTES Bob's Eulogy Gene's Elegy Darrel's Tribute Meredith's Tribute Nancy's Tribute |
By Bob Murdock October 29, 2006 - One hundred years ago today my mother was born in Putney, VT. She was christened "Eldora Christel Charlton," but as far as I know, never used her first name. Her parents were Allen S. and (Minnie) Idella Charlton. Allen was a farmer and preacher. He followed his father, Emanuel C. Charlton, to Gardner, Mass., where Christel went to school. She married Douglas Murdock in 1925, and they raised a family in Gardner and then Hubbardston. I will be doing some Muse Memorial web pages for Mom this year. We have lots of photos, but will especially want to include remembrances. If you would like to write a tribute to Christel, Email it to us at murmuse@comcast.net . Thanks. In her later years, Christel lived in a nursing home in Gardner, where she was well loved by the staff and other patients. Even when she couldn't remember much, she had a smile for everyone, and enjoyed saying "I had eight children: Bob, Dot, Len, Gene, Barbara, Walter, Margie, Arthur." She was still able to recite this the last time Nancy and I saw her in 1996. My mother died on November 18, 1996 (20 days after her 90th birthday) and there was a good turnout for a memorial service in the Smith Funeral Home in Gardner. All of Mom's living siblings were there: Ona from Massachusetts, Euel from Maine, and Mal all the way from Arizona. Afterwards we gathered at the Senior Center in Hubbardston for a reception. Two of Ona's daughters, Joyce and Priscilla, were there. We showed them a copy of the Muse, and Joy said to her sister, "We should do something like this!" Not long afterward, they sent us the first edition of their remarkable Fellows family newsletter, "The Blackberry Dispatch." |
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