June 9: A Strong Woman Among Strong Women

In addition to The Aunts who lived together throughout their lives,  three other sisters survived childhood without electricity and running water, a feat in itself in those days. (Gert, Jo, Helen and Mary, left, I think)   

Aunt Jo (Josephine) was the shortest of the sisterhood is stature, but not in personality or persistence.  She was considered a bit of a tomboy in those days and appreciated the opportunity to avoid some of the many indoor chores in favor of chicken coop or garden duties. She was also a smart cookie (my term), valedictorian of her class and really wanted the opportunity to attend college that was not afforded to her either for reasons I could speculate but will never understand. I wonder, now, if there was a little bit of her seething inside when the farm was sold a few years later so her baby brother could attend university? I also wonder if my dad, especially as he had daughters and grew more sensitive to gender matters felt a bit of guilt? Those were days when gender discrimination, even in families who valued education, mattered! 

Jo did trade school in nearby Newburgh before heading off into the city, with sisters, supporting herself and parlaying her independence and strength into a career that would serve her for a lifetime where she would intimately land married and raising a family in that far away state of Florida (picture left outside her Florida home; below with husband, Ken)  Her independent streak as well as her strength served her well. 

Aunties Jo did visit the family annually offering my cousins, Kurt and Linda, an different relationship with The Aunts as well as her sister Helen, on Long Island and Aunt Anne who lived all of their days in the old hometown of Montgomery.

One summer, (left) Aunt Jo and her children even spent part of the summer with my family (after we had a house) offering us all a chance to develop a lasting relationship. My Dad took my cousin, Kurt, to a Yankee Stadium game as well as on a rocking and rolling open water fishing trip that were lasting memories for both, and supported a bond after my Aunt Jo passed away.  I count My cousin Kurt among my closest relatives and friends, and his contributions of memories and pictures has helped shaped this memory trip. 

As I look at this image of many of them gathered I think in Long Island, I see lots of strong women holding the family together!  

(Top row Aunt Jo, next row,

Aunt Lora, Aunt Helen, Aunt Gert holding cousin Sean, bottom row, Aunt Mary holding cousin Kurt and cousin Linda)