Mattie May, Arline’s Mother
Mattie, Arline’s mother second from left c.1895
I write about old fashioned 1940s courtship. I connect to a young woman further back. This is an old photo of Arline’s mother, my maternal grandmother Mattie (Martha) in rural Cumberland. I’ve had a decades long desire to learn more about Mattie, about my mother’s parents, their turbulent relationship.
Below Right: Mattie is top right. Mattie’s eldest daughter who is my mother’s sister, Rena stands before her. Top left is Ann Eliza, Mattie’s mother. Bottom left is Eunice: Ann Eliza’s mother. Photo is four generations of my maternal lineage. Family history treasures.
Mattie in 4 Generations
68 Years Ago on Martin Luther King Day
~Love Letter of WWII, January 21, 1945, and about General MacArthur…
Love Letter of WW2 January 21st 1945
68 years ago from this Martin Luther King Day my father, Morris, wrote about a mountain in a love letter to my mother, Arline:
“This is a rainy Sunday morning in New Guinea and I have a nostalgia complex so I guess I’ll talk to you for a while. A couple days ago I took a ride inland…Away up on top of one of the mountains we saw General MacArthur’s home. It is a modern palace in a tropical jungle. I guess it is something like this that doesn’t put him in such high favor with many of the men in mud out here.”
I walk my dog. I contemplate the letter. I connect with my father, across time, across place.
Read MoreHarpswell Maine 1943 Summer Love
Morris and Arline
Harpswell Shore c. 1943
In Portland the Stovers lived across the street from my mother. This was during her Deering High years. Mr. Bill Stover and his wife Helen had three daughters: Virgina, then Margaret called “Peggy”, and Helen. Arline was close friends with Peg. Much later in life Peg married Irving Wallace whom mom had also dated. But during this time, Peg dated Marty Lee.
Mr Stover also owned a big family home in Harpswell by the shore. To get to the water you’d walk through a field of strawberries and blueberries. There was a clam shack on the shore but kids didn’t spend much money in those days. Here Arline has corn on the cob, Mose a hamburger.
Many homes at the Harpswell shore were left behind. Mr. Stover had moved to Portland for work opportunities. Folks would go back in the summer and the first thing that happened was wives would set to cleaning.
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1940 Friendship Hug
Visiting home with a Hug Arline and friend Marty c. 1945
Of the 320 letters in the hope chest a few were from Marty, a close friend of Morris and Arline’s.
Marty dated Arline’s best friend Peg. Peg and Marty’s relationship did not survive the war.
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Winter Carnival Week 1944 Bates College
Carnival Week at Bates College
Morris Center, Arline Right
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