My parents’ home has been sold. It was a long process cleaning out a house they built in 1952 and readying it for sale. Now, it is in the hands of a new owner. But what remains forever in our keeping — that is, we three daughters and a son — are the memories of growing up there. I will share more than a few of my own.
WHERE WE LIVED: I grew up on Jesse Street in North Fairhaven, two houses from our grandparents, Manuel and Maria Medeiros. They gave my parents the land to build a Cape-style home. I frequently walked to my grandparents’ home to visit until they left us when I was 11. I recall drinking milky tea with lots of sugar with my grandmother, playing under the grapevine, and sitting with my grandfather at his farmstand. Then there was the Our Lady of Angels Feast grounds at the bottom of the street. We attended the feast the entire three days on Labor Day Weekend. As kids, we marched in the parade. Dad was one of the men who helped carry the large statue of Mary. Now, my brother does. I remember waiting in line for malassadas — deep-fried dough rolled in sugar by women all dressed in black — and at the end of the night, we sat in back of the beer shack when our father worked there. When we were teenagers, my sister Christine and I worked in the food stands.
DAD’S GARDEN: Like his father, our Dad — Antone Medeiros — grew food. He kept a large garden to grow lettuce (the only time we ate it), cucumbers, summer squash, corn, tomatoes, strawberries, and enough potatoes that lasted the winter although they got soft toward the end.
MOM’S ART: Our mother Algerina Medeiros was an artistic person. She attended night classes at New Bedford Vocational for such topics as painting, jewelry and hat making, cake decorating, scrimshaw, the list goes on. Our home was filled with her creations. Then there were the braided rugs for the home’s floors. The large rug-in-process for the living room lay on raised boards in the cellar and a long braid stretched up the stairs then through the kitchen to the living room, where while watching TV my sister and I helped our mother lengthen the braid that was eventually added via thread and needle to the rug. Our mother was also a great seamstress, sewing clothes for us, including my prom gowns, and costumes when she and our father performed in local shows. By the way, the costumes that remained in the house were donated to a local theatrical group.
GUITAR: I remember Dad sitting on the top step of the cellar to play his guitar as that provided the best acoustics in the house. He was big into Country and Western and old-time tunes.
PLAYER PIANO: At some point we acquired a player piano and a large collection of rolls. First, the piano was upstairs in the living room, and then when that decorative but fake fireplace — part of our parents’ obsession with Colonial style — was built, the piano was moved to the cellar. My sisters and I spent so much time pumping the piano’s pedals that activated those paper reels. We sang along. Think tunes like Tico-Tico No Fubá and Sentimental Journey.
BACKYARD: I had a rather sheltered childhood. It was rare to go to a friend’s house. I don’t recall any coming to mine. We kids played the heck out of that backyard in such games as Wiffle ball — it was an out if the ball went over the front fence — badminton, croquet, tag, sidewalk games, jump rope, etc. Our Dad built us a playhouse. Indoors, we played games as well. Most of our playing began with the phrase “Let’s pretend…”
PHONE CALL AT 10: Our mother and our Aunt Ernestina spoke on the phone exactly at 10 am each weekday morning.
HANGING LAUNDRY: We had a washer but no dryer. No matter the temperature, Mom hung laundry on a clothesline that extended from the bathroom window to a pole via a pulley system.
MOVING UPSTAIRS: The second floor eventually was renovated to accommodate our growing family with a room big enough for three single beds, a study with built-in book cases, and a large storage closet. The walls had drawers and smaller closets. (When people came for the estate sale we held, many marveled at the woodwork up here.) We girls each had our own side of the room. It was awfully hot up there in the summer, but our parents didn’t allow us a fan because they feared we would poke our fingers in the moving blades.
SATURDAY CHORES: I can’t say our home was the neatest, but I recall Christine and I shared dusting and other duties Saturday mornings. When we were old enough, we took care of washing the dishes. One would clear the table and put away the dishes etc. once they were clean and wiped dry. The other would do the washing and rinsing. It seemed to take forever.
CUISINE: The food at chez Medeiros was basically meat and potatoes, plus corned can or peas, except in the summer when Dad’s garden was producing. We also never ate meat on Fridays, a Catholic thing. After we went to the New York World’s Fair, our parents were so taken by waffles with sweetened strawberries and whipped cream that we ate those every Friday for years until we got sick of it. Mom always made supper. I recall coming home from school and having a peanut butter and Fluff sandwich on toast — for many years. Alcohol was never served.
WATCHING TV: Mom and Dad always watched the Johnny Carson Show. Sometimes we sneaked downstairs, avoiding the squeaky steps, to spy on the TV behind Dad’s chair. It was a big deal when we finally had a color TV. I remember cartoons on Saturday mornings, oh-so-many shows and movies from that time. I have my favorites. The first horror flick I saw was Them, in which radioactive testing in New Mexico created gigantic ants. It scared me so much I could hardly watch it.
FINALLY: There are far more memories than I share here. I trust the people who will live there in the future will create their own.
ABOUT THE PHOTOS ABOVE: That’s me with my father and my childhood home.