52 Ancestors Week #40: Longevity

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 40

The theme for Week 40 is "Longevity." Longevity doesn't have to be about someone who lived a long time. It could be anything that lasted longer than usual, such as a family business or a marriage Be creative with the prompt!

A lot can happen in fifty years.

    Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together today. That blessed arrangement. That dream within a dream. You know, I could seriously do that whole bit from "The Princess Bride" but I won't because we'd be here all day and some of us just might want to skip to the end. While some people in my family tree have lived a long time as I've discussed a few weeks ago, others have been married for ages. I thought I would talk about one couple in particular and my experience being at their fiftieth wedding anniversary party.

Everyone smile and say "CHEESE"!

    My grandparents, Robert Hamel and Natalie Felker were married on his birthday in 1948. From what I understand the bridal party, including my grandmother, actually made their dresses. The guys? Well, they were out of luck and had to buy their tuxes from the precursor to "Gentlemen's Warehouse". They liked the way they looked. I guarantee it!

    What I like most about this photo is how hopeful about the future everyone looked and I get a bonus picture of my great-grandfather Austin  in the process! Can't beat that! He looks dapper in that tux!

   Let's now go fifty years into the future! It is the spring of 1998. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager"  had just wrapped up their sixth and fourth seasons, respectively. Semisonic's "Closing Time" was topping the Billboard Music charts and I had just finished my freshman year at Merrimack College. A lot had changed for Robert and Natalie since that late spring day in 1948. I bet the couple in photograph had no idea what the future held for them.

Livin' it up in the late '90s!

    By the spring of 1998, my grandparents had six children and nine grandchildren with the tenth arriving in that July. At that point, we were spread out all over the country. Some of the family still lived in the area while others had long since moved away. In fact, as an anniversary present, my parents gave them plane tickets to see my Aunt Peggy in California since she was very pregnant at the time and obviously couldn't make the trip.

    My Uncle Brian also couldn't make it since he was living in Idaho at the time. So, my grandparents visited him on their way to visit Peggy in California. Not a bad deal, right? Eventually Peggy and her family moved to New Hampshire and we see them every now and then.

    Despite missing a few family members, we were all invited to the anniversary party at my great-aunt Elaine's house in Haverhill. It always goes back to Haverhill, doesn't it? Well, when your family's lived in the same place for a long time it's bound to happen. You can't help but be drawn to the place where your family came from! There's another "longevity" point for you! Both sides of my family have been in the "Queen Slipper" city for a very, VERY long time and there's nothing wrong with that!

That's a look that says
"Bob! Take the picture already!"

    One of the things I remember the most about my great-aunt's house was how inviting it was. I remember seeing pictures of her parents, Austin and Henrietta on the walls of her sun room along with pictures of the Dupré cousins. Sadly, I didn't have time to really look at all of her photos and trust me she has many of them in albums and in boxes. I'll be looking at them more in depth soon enough!

    Elaine and her husband Richard  lived not too far from where she grew up. That part of Haverhill isn't as developed as say the street where Grandma Ollie  and her sisters lived since there was a large wooded area nearby. Haverhill is set up kind of differently from other cities. There's a booming downtown area where all the factories were. Those factories eventually became apartment buildings, offices, private businesses and schools. Then there's the more rural area where Elaine lives and it looks like suburbia. Haverhill tends to mix rural and urban together like most cities and towns in the Merrimack valley.

    I remember my great-aunt greeting me at the door and giving me a big hug and a kiss. She then asked me how my freshman year at college went. I thought that the family grapevine should have reached her by that point. I told her everything went well and I was ushered inside and wow there was a crowd!

    In fifty years, a couple can accumulate a ton of family and friends and my grandparents were no exception. I saw relatives I had not seen in years. I barely remembered their faces and in no time at all they greeted me like I saw them the week before the party. They obviously remembered me! I was taken aback by all the attention. That's what happens when you come from a large family. You get a lot of attetntion, hugs and maybe a conversation or two. After all of the meet and greets, my brother and I saw two of our cousins and hung out with them for the rest of the day.

Could this photo *BE*  any more '90s?.

   The four of us were easily the youngest people at the party since our other cousins couldn't make it. That didn't matter because we still had a great time talking to everyone about summer plans and everything. 

    My grandparents being the amiable people they were thanked us all for coming. They shared a few stories of how they met. Basically, my grandfather skated his way into her heart at Plum Island. True story. They met at a skating rink! 

    They exchanged gifts and took many pictures and some like the ones I've shared in this week's blog have found their way to me. The pictures were all in an album in one of the boxes my aunt Linda gave me during the pandemic. I spent a good while looking at the pictures and remembering the good time we all had in those years ago. That's what photographs are all about. They bring back memories of an event from from years past.

    All in all, it was a nice party because we got to be with family we hadn't seen in a very long time and catching up with people is always fun. It's sad that not everyone was able to make it. That's what pictures like these are for! To preserve memories and to tell stories. I don't remember if I asked my great-aunt about any juicy family history stuff or photos that day. Probably not because I wasn't really that deep into genealogy at that point! I probably should have as it was a great opportunity. Don't worry, though. I'll be talking to her soon!

    Anniversaries are an important milestone and fifty years of marriage is quite the accomplishment. My parents should have had a fiftieth anniversary themselves. Sadly, that was not to be because we were in the midst of a pandemic in 2021. I wonder if there's a precident for creating a 53rd anniversary party? Something to think about. Anyway, my grandparents marriage clearly stood the test of time and to me they always shared the love they had for each other with everyone around them from children to grandchildren. What good is an anniversary if you don't have a warm, caring family around to share it with? My grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary showed me that a family that truly loves each other can stand the test of time.

See ya next time!

I swear I have my grandfather's ears....