Andover Newsletter #12 sponsored by the Democratic Town Committee Andover, Connecticut, June 2, 1944 To the Servicemen and Women of Andover, Greeting! Summer is rolling over the Connecticut hills, with some of the hottest weather yet recorded for the month of May. After a long, cold winter, it seems mighty good to most of us. We did have a heavy frost on May 18, which did some selected damage, especially in the hollows. Some fierce thunder showers knifed one of the hot spells in the back, doing light damage all over town, and causing the summer home of Frank McGarry on Columbia Lake to burn to the ground. The AFD was called too late to save the house, but they did manage to keep the garage from going too. FLASH! FLASH! Janet Heimer and Edward Jurovaty (F 1/C) were married in Norfolk, Virginia, on May 13. Janet is at the home of her parents, and Edward is expected home on leave next weekend. Good luck and lots of happiness, Mr. and Mrs. Jurovaty! Eddie recently graduated from Diesel School. Ted Watts and Whit Merritt went off to do their bit for the Navy on Memorial Day. The dwindling ranks of men on the home front gave them a party at the Gasper cabin on the Saturday evening before they left. Liquid refreshments, a good supper, and a few card games were features of the event. SF 1/C Paul Bramhall won that promotion on March 16. He is now living at a summer resort in England, with 12 other fellows. They have a summer cottage with only a fireplace for heat. They have a beautiful flower garden just coming into bloom Julian Krzewski has arrived overseas--we don't know where. He has just had his rating changed from F 1/c to MM 3/c. We have gleaned further information on Roscoe Talbot's new job: He has recently joined the staff of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, as an Industrial Engineer. He is at present in Oklahoma City, but after June 15, he will be in New York City, bent upon whetting the interest of businessmen and industrialists in Oklahoma (state and city) as a location for branch offices, warehousing, and distribution center. His family now has a home in Pelham, N.Y., so they can be together a great deal. Roscoe has been Industrial Representative for the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad for the past eleven years, and in their employ for 21 years. Roscoe goes to church in Oklahoma City, and he reports that although he sings at the top of his lungs, he is unable to hear his own voice, because everyone else seems to doing the same. Tech. Corp. John Kukucka has recently been home on furlough. We caught sight of Bud Brown riding on the back of Dale Smith's motorcycle, so he must be having some time out too. Joe Remisch had his physical last month, and was accepted by the Navy. We haven't heard yet whether he has received his orders. Mr. Angell expects his son, E.A. Angell, Jr., home from Honolulu soon. Bill Merritt was home on a 72-hour leave, arriving on Saturday morning at 4:45, and leaving Hartford on Tuesday, May 30, at 6 a.m.. He has recently graduated from the Ford Plant Diesel School, and is now with the Solomons Branch, Washington, D.C. A card from Bib informs us that it's now Capt. E.L. Gatchell. Congratulations! Emily Yeomans Barefield is now at home here with her adorable young son. Pfc. Charlie Michalik sent us a card from Camp Clairborne, Louisiana. The pupils and teachers of Center School presented the annual Spring Festival at Town Hall on June 1. They did an excellent job, as usual, and their subject was "A Pageant of Holidays." Nearly all of the stage properties and costumes were produced by the pupils, and their performance was very good. There's a subtle tug that brings many of the alumni, long graduated back to Town Hall to watch the youngsters do their stuff. This month will also bring graduation exercises and the school picnic for the children. School will be out on June 22. The 4H committee for Andover, headed by Miss Dorothea Raymond, is starting a big program of gardening for the young fry. A little outside encouragement should increase production all over town. The Women's Land Army will place 50 girls at Miss Tinker's "Well Sweep" on Hebron Road during the Bolton strawberry season. They will sleep in the barn and in tents, and get their meals in the house. Dr. Tuthill offered prayer at the opening of the summer session of the Criminal Court at Rockville, of which JohnH. Yeomans is Clerk. SC 2/c Alma Smith (she finally found time to get that long-deserved promotion) spent a Sunday recently at the Barbizon Plaza, N.Y., representing the cooks and bakers of the Waves, for Miss McAfee, head of the Waves. Alma had a dismaying adventure when she and a friend went bicycling in civilian clothes. They had to have written permission to go out in civvies, but somewhere along the way, Alma lost her purse, containing money, and the written permission. After a few anxious hours, a little old man appeared with the purse, its contents intact. FLASH! FLASH! PVt. Max Hutchinson and wife (located at Indian Gap, Pa.) expect the stork in Sept. 1944. Pvt. George LaChance is home on furlough, and with him is Helen Shine, the New York State brunette beauty who will eventually become Mrs. LaChance. He will soon be going to Salt Lake City, Utah, with a ground crew of the Air Force. Lt. Alex Fox writes that he is just back from a fifteen-day trip in the Pacific, with a four-engine squadron--a part of Naval Air Transportation. He has been on such trips most of the time during the past two years. Alex says he must have seen every Pacific Island as well as Australia and New Zealand, and the more he sees of them, the more he'd like to settle back in Connecticut. A recent special town meeting appropriated money for use on Andover roads, and approved a salary increase for the secretary of the Board of Education, Ellsworth Covell. S/Sgt. Bill Heimer writes from Avon Park, Fla. that everything is well with him, and that he and his wife, Jewel, expect to be in Andover some time this month. He says, "It's great... to find out what is going on. I don't know many in my home town, as yet, but hope and pray this war will be over so I can get up there and get to know you all a little more." Corp. Charlie Kukucka sent a letter that was somewhat abbreviated by the censors. He'd like to have all the people in the armed services try to get furlough at once--the Andover people, that is. Andover would be a busy place in that event. He says he'll just sit back and wait for a letter from Harry. The Andover Fire Department was called out to assist at a forest fire in Waterford and Montville last month. The crew went without the trucks, and gave all-night fighting to help quell the fire which swept over about 1200 acres. Major Nate Gatchell has been enjoying the "Kick of the Season", which consisted of Bert Wright's reminiscences of Andover as she was in and about 1919. Whereas we're enjoying the beginnings of summer, he is somewhere in a land that is experiencing late Fall. He and Joe Gasper are in about the same latitude and they look up at the same stars. It's a shame to paraphrase Nate's letters, so we'll give you some quotations: "Saturday (May 13) was a crystal clear day like early November at home, and from a high ridge we looked off to the south a hundred miles or more to a sight I had almost forgotten. Serene, alone, majestic--a great peak wrapped in the deep snows gleamed there in the blue. Ah me! To ski once more down White's hill, wondering if you'll hit the stone wall by the road! Then back in the dusk to cocoa and salad and toast in front of the open fire. Life in Andover was almost too good, wasn't it?" He had recently read our account of how Dale Smith's motorcycle burned up. He says his own '26 Harley did the same thing once, but it brought him home just the same. "She finally blew to bits down by Hyde's Cove." In another good letter--this one to John Yeomans--Nate dwelt solely on the subject of railroads, as they are in Australia. He really had collected a wealth of r.r. lore. Ed Sheehan joins Nate in sending his best wishes for luck and health. The postscript of Nate's letter reads: "Hello, George Brown, you old so and so." Here we are at the end of our twelfth Newsletter, with all the good wishes for luck and health and an early return that we have for you always. Safe home! Vera Cross Taylor John F. Phelps Editors. P.S. We've just heard that Lt. Walter Krozel has had an operation on his hand at the Veteran's Hospital at Batavia, N.Y. VCT & JFP |
Andover, Connecticut |
Hislorical - Democratic Town Committee, WWII Newsletters |
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