School Days

Edgerly School Second Grade- 1931

My mom came from a mid-sized factory town in central Massachusetts. Fitchburg was almost past its best days even when she was a girl. But a university was established there: Fitchburg Normal School, later Fitchburg Teachers College and now Fitchburg State College. The schools around the university became "lab" schools for the trainees. This is where my mom and her cousins went to school in the lower grades.

From my mom's house on Garfield Street it wouldn't have been a terrible walk, but very cold and treacherous in the winter. My mom recalls wearing layers of clothes against the cold winds whipping down North Street.  Brrr...

The second grade picture above shows my mom- second row far right grinning at the camera. That might be her friend Pauline Morency (Punky) right next to her. On the first row with the very straight bangs and shiny dark hair is Jane Tapply. We think the little girl with the white collar to Jane's left would be Ferne Tapply. The three cousins were in school together all 12 grades.

Edgerly School Grade 6- abt 1935

Here's some of the same group again in 6th grade. This time, my mom is the one at the end of the arrow. Second row, second from right. I can't be sure, but I think Jane is right in front of her. Jane was always very dark-haired and petite. We believe Ferne is to the far left on the front row with her hands clasped.

School is back in session. It's picture day this month in a lot of schools. It made me dig out these pictures and take another look.

Women Who Paved the Way

Cora Elizabeth

This is Cora Elizabeth Rogers, née Smith. She was my great-grandmother. I am reminded of how the women in our past still shape our lives. By the 1920's she would be married to my great-grandfather Edward. Her son Harry and daughter Dorothy are adults. She was to be a force in my mother's life. In my mother's young life, Edward and Cora lived right next door to my grandparents on Garfield St.. But in the 1920's they lived on Charles St..

146 Charles St.

Edward is listed at the Superintendent of the City Sewer Dept. in the 1920 census. He would rise to become Superintendent of Streets. 

I was browsing the newspaper archives for the Fitchburg Sentinel and I found this story. It is the registration roll for the 1922 elections. The vote for women had been ratified in August of 1920. Interestingly, there are no Tapply women on the list. But there is my great-grandmother.

Voting was important enough to Cora for her to be on the first list of voters in Fitchburg. She is an example to us all.