Told By Mabel Quist to Melanie Williams
Words that may appear misspelled:
Are used to preserve the purity
of the story as told by the person.
1924
Helen was three and a half years older than me. In the summer, we always camped in the Adirondacks – on the Hudson River. We had a lot of fun playing on the rocks. We had a turtle that stayed in a pool; we called him Myrtle the Turtle. Jim, our brother, put a hole through Myrtle’s shell, so we could keep him on a string – so he couldn’t go away. We were all like fish – we loved to swim. We had a canoe that was painted every year. It was bright red – it was the greatest canoe.
1931
I will never forget the day Helen told me she was going to elope. Helen was at Oneonta Teacher’s College at the time – In her third year. I guess I broke down and cried when I heard the news. He was parked up the road waiting for her. Helen packed a bag and off she went.
He never came home with her to meet the family. My dad didn’t approve of him, and he was correct in not doing so. Helen went down to Florida to take care of mom, where dad was building a house. While Helen was in Florida, Bill started going with another woman. Helen promptly divorced him and went to Albany to teach.
We were always very close. Our family had a cottage on the Hudson River. So we all went there in the summer and dad came up to stay with us on the weekends. That was one of our very happy times.
Fred and I married in 1936, when I was twenty-two. My maid of honor was a girl who had introduced us through the company Fred worked for: General Electric. Ruth, my childhood chum’s mother, had a big bouquet of flowers on the table and Fred kept peeking around the flowers to look at me.
Fred had been a G.E. test man that traveled for the company. He came back to Schenectady after the first week I met him. He wrote a letter to his mother and told her he found the girl he was going to marry. Ruth was Maid of Honor, and Helen was a bridesmaid. By this time, Helen had met Sydney Wagner.
1940
Helen married Syd, who lived on a beautiful farm. They moved in with his father and sister, which was difficult. Helen had been a city girl – it was funny to hear her call the cows. You could hear her all over the farm. Helen had a lovely dining room, and later, it was turned into a sitting room with a fireplace. They didn’t have a bathroom until Syd’s father died.
The fireplace they built had imbedded stones that Helen had found traveling with Fred and me.
One trip we went on led us to the Grand Canyon. We went through the Painted Desert and to Brice Canyon. I woke everyone up at sunrise – at 5:30 a.m. The canyon looked iridescent! It was worth getting up!
Another time, Helen came by plane to Seattle where Fred was in school for three months. We drove down the Oregon coast and through the Red Woods.
Helen came to the hospital in Cleveland (Lakewood) when Linda was born. My mother had died when I was four months pregnant. So Helen, having no children of her own, really enjoyed the baby. Fred was transferred to Indianapolis Indiana. So when Linda was a curly headed girl of two years old, Karen was born. Poor Aunt Helen came to find all the furniture pulled out, I’d been cleaning house and suddenly went to the hospital. We had some wonderful visits together. I went to take care of her when she had an operation – I cooked meals for she and Syd.
Young Fred born in Sioux St. Marie Michigan.
Too far for Helen to come, so Fred’s mother came to take good care of the two little girls.
After World War One
Fred was assigned back to the Pentagon after El Paso. His boss called him a Road Runner, because every time he tried to find Fred, he had gone somewhere else.
Between there, and after the war, we were at Ft. Bliss and then, Fortress Monroe; which is in Virginia. Fred was supposed to go to school there for three months – during the holiday season. It was once when Syd traveled away from the farm, so they could spend Christmas with us. This was close to Tusgee, an African American college. We lived close to this school. On Christmas Eve, a large group of students came behind our house caroling. That was one of our happiest Christmas events. They were beautiful singers.
1963
Fred was then assigned to Fort Bliss. A group of wives decided to take a trip without the husbands. We got on the bus with food for our trip. One woman who had traveled a great deal picked out the hotel. Helen arrived the day after we got there. We had a wonderful time! Syd liked to stay on the farm, so Helen met us frequently for vacations.
There was so much to see in Mexico City. There were pyramids outside the city and cathedrals on the square. Taxco was called the Silver City. There were so many beautiful things to see – Silver was mined there.
The others went home on the bus. Helen knew she wouldn’t get to Mexico again, so we went to Acapulco. There was a big beach, we watched the young men dive from the cliffs into the water. That was a wonderful experience to see them. Helen flew home, and I flew to El Paso. Both of us had great big Mexican flowers made of paper. They stood in my entry way for a long time.
We spent many hours at the farm – when Fred was gone to Turkey for a year. We rented a house in Schenectady.
1967
Before we retired, Fred was stationed at the Pentagon. Linda and Karen were both away at school and Frederick was stationed in Germany and had a Volvo for us. We flew into Frankfurt and met Helen a few hours later at the airport. The five of us started out to show Helen Germany. We took her to Munich and to Oberanageau. Helen was delighted to see where we had lived – this beautiful country! Then Fred and Lloyd decided to go over to where Hitler had his headquarters. Helen, Donna and I took a train to Italy. We did so many silly things. Donna was a pretty seventeen year old with braces on her teeth. Helen and I walked on both sides of her or she wouldn’t be pinched by the men. One night we went to dinner at a German restaurant. It was a beautiful clear night in the late afternoon, so we sat outdoors. I knew Helen was looking a little strange. She was across the table from me. It turned out that a German man was flirting with Donna. He came over and offered us a Cognac after dinner, but we didn’t take it – we just walked away from that. We took a horse drawn coach to the Fountain of Trevy. A whole car load of Italians rode behind us, hollering to us. That was quite an experience! We climbed the steps to the fountain and threw in our coins – with a good wish of course! There was another persistent Italian, I can’t remember if one of us didn’t have a coin or something – so we said we’d come back tomorrow – the man said he would wait right there at the fountain. It was funny – it was fun too.
We did all of the usual tourist things, like ride on the river in a Gondola. We went to the Vatican and to the Coliseum; both are true experiences! We took the train back to Munich, where we met Fred and Lloyd. We went to King Ludwig’s castle. This castle was a smaller version of Versailles. There was a beautiful hall of mirrors. I think we then went to Amsterdam to see the tulips. Then back to Frankfurt for our trip home.
1970
After Fred retired, we flew on the Air force Transport plane to an air force base outside of London. Helen flew into London to meet us. We saw the sights of London, and the York Cathedral, and a place that had a beautiful swimming pool with marble statues all around. Then we went to Scotland. My father was Scottish, so we went to this small town where my grandfather lived. We were going to look up our ancestors, but they told us all the records were now in Edinburough. Well, we went through the various cities and the beautiful countryside. Heather was in bloom, it was beautiful. When we found the proper office in Edinburough, they said it would be eight pounds just to look at the information, so we decided we didn’t need to know about it that badly.
We drove down the shore of Loch ness – of course we were looking for the Loch Ness monster! We stopped at a bed and breakfast and they said our Brit Rail pass was good to go to the Islands in N.W. Scotland – off we went. We took a boat to the Island. We were delighted at the kindness of the people and the beauty of the land. Then we went back to Edinborough, and took a fast train directly to London – then home.
1972
Another year, Helen met us in San Francisco, and we flew to Hawaii. We visited four islands, and we were on Kawai on Halloween. It rained so hard. The ducks couldn’t find the pool, and they were swimming on the grass. We especially enjoyed the military beach on Oahu. It is a part with cottages completely furnished except for food. I think at the time it cost eighteen dollars a night.
We later settled into a lovely new home in Bedford Massachusetts. That too, was not too far for Helen and Syd to come. We spent all of our holidays together. So these are some of the happy memories of my sister Helen and her love of our family.
Published U.S. Legacies January 2004
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