All my summers would be spent with my Aunt Isabelle Grant (Mrs. Allan) who had married this handsome U.S. Army, Sargent Major, and lived in Pepperell, Mass. Uncle Allan Grant was a Master Mechanic. In later years he developed his own trialer park.
My summers beneath a Smoke Tree were lazy and fun ! Aunt Is and Uncle had no children of their own. They even asked my mother IF they could adopt me :) But, MOM said no....If I had ten they would still be my very own. Mother gave me the freedom and priviledge of summers with Aunt Is at her home and Summer Camp by the Lake ! Aunt Is would start by "spoiling me rotten" and taking me to the nearest shopping center and buying me everything I wanted for clothes; and upon my return home in September I would have a full fall wardrobe. This is where I meant the first real love of my life "Dennis Ralph Perry"; he was almost three years older than me. To this date he is fondly remembered. But as fate would have it; we lost communication....mother did not want me to be a U.S. citizen. When things got serious and he wanted to marry me that coming summer (incidentally I never got to read that letter)..... anyway, that's past. I wonder where the college boy from Raleigh, North Carolina is today. Who he married and how many children he had. He always wanted to have m a n y children. He came to visit my mothers home and our paths ALMOST crossed again; two years after my marriage. For years I was heartbroken....What is it about that first love that lasts so strong and so long ? So, I have vowed never to step into a true love situation with my own children ! I guess Mother knew that her life her on earth was not long (only 48 years) ~ she needed me to help raise the two smaller children. By the time Mom went to be with the Lord I had been married almost four years.
Aunt Is lived many years in Florida and recently spend their winters in North Carolina ! I visited them 2 years back and stayed in the same hotel on the Beach for a relazing three weeks ! Aunt Is has a very large home on Pike Hill in Temperance Vale, N.B.
