June 7: The Aunts

They were known collectively as "The Aunts," in spite of distinct personalities as in "We are going to visit The Aunts." 

Loretta, or Lora, (in the middle) the oldest of my Dad's sisters, taught briefly in their one-room schoolhouse after completing New Paltz Normal School. She left the post to her little sister, Anne, and headed to a career in the NYS Taxation Department in Albany, a bold move for a single woman of her era, It wasn't long before she found herself living the single-career-woman life in the big city and wormed her way to the top in her male-dominated field. While she never married, she had had an active social life. As a child. I visited once, twice a year for the afternoon. One of my great memories is that Aunt Lora meticulously collected and saved articles about and Daily News collectibles about the Beatles during their debut years!  She also took me into Manhattan, on the subway once, to buy a blue, shirtwaist dress, like the ones she always wore, at Macy's. 

Three of the sisters, Josephine, Helen, and Gert, left the farm and headed, at least for a while, to her Brooklyn apartment where there were opportunities beyond Montgomery. Mary, the fourth born and second oldest sister, (pictured below with my grandmother outside my Aunt Anne's house) stayed on the farm until it was sold and then, moved with my Grandmother to Lora's apartment in Brooklyn. Grandma had been raised in the city, but Mary left her heart in the country. In time, she found a job where she worked until becoming my Grandmother's caregiver. I am pretty sure I never saw her without her sisters and that she never had her own bedroom. 

For many years, Lora, Mary and Gert shared an apartment and lives in Brooklyn, at one point lived on top of the old Ebbet's Field, where their beloved Brooklyn Dodges played before leaving for CA. After my Grandmother Anna passed, they retired to Florida for just a few years, near their oldest brother, George. 

The ninth born, youngest, and tallest of the sisters, Gert, worked for many years in banks across the city and Long Island. She was the "driver" and proud car owner whose wheels allowed them trips to the country and to visit family. After her sisters had both passed away, she moved into the condo next door to my parents, a move that ultimately allowed me to get to know her and support her in her last years. Interestingly, her life was derailed by the mother of a beau who felt her faith was an insurmountable deterrent. He was ultimately lost in WWII.  Some of my greatest memories of Gert are her requested pink bedroom in that condo and her 42-inch television to watch her beloved Yankees on ESPN. Until the very end, she watched the Days of Our Lives and completed crossword puzzles with passion. 

                                                       Aunt Gert with her 1979 Chevy, 
                                                    40,000 miles and nearly 40 years later