These are the children that were the responsibility of the adults.. One year, we put on a Talent Show. We had fourteen children from five families.
Tomorrow, I will begin posting letters written in 1940. At that point, Lad was the only son away from home. He was in Venezuela working for the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company as a mechanic for their vehicles and the Wolverine Diesel engines that ran the Pumps.
Judy Guion
In 1955, a hurricane struck the Island and ripped up a corner tent peg holding our 20’x20′ Army Tent. Four families were living in the tent and it took 4 days to get all the mattresses, sleeping bags and clothes dry. That winter, my Dad, Lad, and his buddies, Chet, Pete, Charlie and possibly a few more, met at Pete’s house and drew up plans for a 20″x24″ Sleeping Cabin with a 12’x12′ pitch to the roof. There were four bedrooms on the first floor with a dog trot aisle down the center and a door at each end. The Loft was divided in half with a divider above the dog trot. The “Big Girls” slept on the left and the “Little Girls” slept on the right. Our side had half of the screened window and the other half was on the other side. The view was directly above the path to Bathtub Rock. As early as they could, the men went up every weekend and built the Sleeping Cabin.
Nancy, Judy and Susie during the mandatory “Rest Time”. Cindy took the picture. This allowed the adults to have at least an hour when they did not have to think about what the 14 children were doing or where they were.
Tomorrow, I will post another Special Picture from the Old Days on the Island.
Judy Guion
I thought I would give you a taste of some of the better sunsets we have seen from the Island over the years. Enjoy.
Unidentified Year
August, 2015
July, 2022
Tomorrow I will begin posting letters written in 1940. Lad is working in Venezuela for the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, Dan and Ced are both working in Anchorage, Alaska, Elizabeth is married with her first son and Dick and Dave are still in Trumbull attending school. Grandpa is holding down the front at the Trumbull House.
Judy Guion
Our Family is blessed with a FANTASTIC WORK CREW. Our Maintenance Chairman. Joe, has a group of friends that love the Island so much that they dedicate 2 long weekends, spring and fall, to Open and Close the Island each year. They hook up the water pump and make sure it is working, they put the dock in, or take it out, of the water and make repairs as needed. They also make improvements – they have built all the Bunks in the Sleeping Cabin. We used to have accommodations for 8, now we can sleep 12 very comfortably. They have installed new windows and electrical wiring. This is only a partial list of all of their projects.
I cannot begin to express my appreciation for all their time and effort. They do not want anything in return but we let Joe to take them up one weekend in the summer, with their families, to enjoy the beauty and peace of our “Piece of Liquid Heaven”.
The Kitchen – September, 2020
Kitchen with new laminate counters – May, 2023
Old sink with new laminate counters – May, 2023
Old Stove with new laminate counters – May, 2023
The Dining area and Card and Puzzle Table – September, 2020
New Storage in the corner next to the windows – May, 2023
New storage area next to the Refrigerator – May, 2023
Tomorrow, more Special Pictures.
Judy Guion
After my Uncle Dan (Daniel Beck Guion) passed away in 1997, I realized that first-hand accounts of this particular “Slice of Life” would only continue to diminish over time. I needed to record the memories of my Aunt Biss and her brothers and share them with the family. This culminated in the idea of a Blog so that I could share these memories with anyone who would be interested in the personal histories of some members of The Greatest Generation.
Over a period of several years, whenever possible, I recorded the memories of my Dad and his siblings.
In July of 2004, I sat down with my Uncle Dave and recorded his memories. With the other siblings, the memories were recorded in a somewhat chronological order, but with Dave, after a few early memories, he went right to his Senior year in high school when he made the decision to enlist in the Army. The conversation continued through his service, from Basic Training and his posts in Okinawa and the Philippines until he came home after World War II was over. I then led him back with questions about his childhood. I will present his memories as they were recorded.
David Peabody Guion and Richard Peabody Guion with Mack after a big snow storm in 1940
This is a continuation of some of Dave’s memories surrounding sports and the Island.
We had one fellow, of course this was during the war, we had one fellow who usually was the pitcher and he so badly wanted to go into the Air Force. Whenever a plane flew over, he would stand there holding the ball until the plane got almost out of sight, then he’d resume the game. It was kind of like commercial breaks, I guess.
Unfortunately, this same fellow – three years before that – was up at the Trumbull Reservoir. There was a cliff up there and he and a couple of other fellows were at the bottom of this Cliff when some kids from Bridgeport – I say this because kids from Bridgeport were bad – either accidentally or on purpose threw or kicked a rock off the top of the cliff and it hit this kid in the head, so he had a metal plate in his head. When it came time for him to go into the service, he wanted to fly and of course, they wouldn’t let him. So he left in the Navy. I got a letter from him when I was in Okinawa and it had been written maybe two or three days before that, so I said, “My God, he’s got to be here.” As soon I got a chance I went down to the Harbormaster and found out that his ship had just left, so I missed him.
Back to athletics. In Trumbull, behind McKenzie’s (Drug Store) and a bunch of other stores, there used to be an open lot and we used to play football and baseball there. We had a team called the Trumbull Rangers. We would play basketball and — I say we — THEY would play basketball, football and baseball. (I believe Dave filled the role of Organizer and Manager) We had a regular club and I was the President. I wasn’t worth a darn as an athlete so … Besides, we used to meet in the barn at the Big House. I became the President. That ran for several years. We played other Trumbull teams, we played Bridgeport teams. For a lot of years we never got together. Now, (in 2004) on the first Wednesday of the month, we get together.
One of my earliest memories of the Island was running around naked. There were no buildings on the Island when we went up there, there was a tent. We put up a tent and that was it.
(At this point, the Island was owned by Rusty Heurlin’s parents. Rusty was introduced to the family through Fred Stanley, (married and divorced from Grandma Arla’s younger sister, Anne (Peabody) Stanley), who know Rusty from the group of artists who hung out in Westport, Connecticut)
Here’s a couple of little stories. When I was a kid, I remember it was the first time I was up there (the Island in New Hampshire) – in the first place, it was a two-day trip to get up there – we used to leave, driving up to Rusty’s parent’s house (in Wakefield, Massachusetts), stay overnight, then drive up the rest of the way. Rusty had a couple of friends who were at the Island one time I was up there. We had spaghetti for supper that night. About sometime around two or three o’clock I no longer had that spaghetti. I don’t know what they had put in it, but something made me sick.
Red Hill from the Big Flat Rock on the Island
One guy’s name was Eustis and Rusty used to call him Useless. I don’t remember the other guy’s name. (I told Uncle Dave: His name was Sully and he was called Silly, at least according to Aunt Biss.) (Dave replied:) Rusty is the last one in the world to call someone else silly. I remember one time he decided to make himself a meal. So he got a piece of bread and he proceeded to put anything and everything that was edible on top of that piece of bread and ate the whole thing, stood out on the rock The Big Flat Rock near Bathtub Landing) and belched loud enough so people on Red Hill could hear him, I’m sure. He was a character, a funny guy.
Tomorrow I will start posting letters written in December 0f 1942.
Judy Guion
After my Uncle Dan (Daniel Beck Guion) passed away in 1997, I realized that first-hand accounts of this particular “Slice of Life” would only continue to diminish over time. I needed to record the memories of my Aunt Biss and her brothers and share them with the family. This culminated in the idea of a Blog so that I could share these memories with anyone who would be interested in the personal histories of some members of The Greatest Generation.
Over a period of several years, whenever possible, I recorded the memories of my Dad and his siblings.
These are the memories of Elizabeth Westlin (Guion) Zabel, Grandma and Grandpa’s fourth child and only daughter.
Elizabeth Westlin (Guion) Zabel at about 5 years old after she broke her arm
I think the second fire happened in the winter and we had one of those oil burners with holes on top to heat the bathroom. Dick and I were sitting on the radiator in the back of the bathroom, the bathroom in Dave and Ellie’s apartment, and it was so cold, there was frost on the window. We’d take a piece of our Erector Set, put it in a hole to heat it up and touch the frost on the window. At one point, I leaned over a little too far, fell down on top of the oil burner and tipped it over. I had always been taught that if there’s a fire you run out and close the door … which I did. Dick was still on the radiator in back of the fire, and then the fire started up the curtains. I screamed for Mother and evidently she heard the panic in my voice and she responded immediately. As soon as she got upstairs and realized what was happening, she yelled for Lad to bring the fire extinguisher. As she got to the top of the stairs and started walking towards the bathroom, the door opened and Dick walked out. I put my hands on my hips and said, “How did you get out of there?” As if he had a lot of nerve to get out by himself. He just explained that he crawled between the bathtub and the fire and get out that way and opened the door. Mother had on a very flimsy gown and that caught on fire and I remember she put it out. Mother then took the rug from the hallway and threw it on the fire and put the fire out but the door was scorched where the flames had licked at it.
One day, lad had a pump and he put it over a soda bottle, to pump air into the soda bottle to see what would happen. Naturally, the thing exploded and it cut his artery. Of course Biss had been playing Doctor or Nurse or something and had taken all the gauze and stuff so there was nothing around for the emergency, so I was in trouble again. I can remember the blood spurting out, you know, through the thing and they wanted to bandage to keep the blood in a little bit, but there wasn’t any left.
This is only half of the rock Biss is talking about. Bathtub Rock is behind the small rock on the left.
My first recollection of the Island was when I was about twelve or thirteen, somewhere along there. At that time, Rusty were his family owned the Island. He took us kids up there and of course, there was nothing on the Island. I picked a rock to sleep on. It was probably the big, flat rock near Bathtub Rock. That was my bed.
One night, Rusty and two guys from around the lake, named Eustis and Sully (we kid’s called them “Useless” and “Silly”) went to a house on the mainland where some Irish policemen were on vacation. They were going to help them celebrate. Rusty came back three sheets to the wind, oh, he was really out of it. He staggered up the point.
Tomorrow I will begin posting a week of letters written in 1942. Lad and Dan are in the Army and Ced is still living and working in Anchorage, Alaska.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
I would like to share Special Pictures and the memories that go along with them but are not directly linked to a specific place on the Island.
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
This ring is embedded in a rock on the path down to Bathtub Rock. At one point in the past, one person owned quite a bit of property from his home site to the lake. He was wealthy and decided to build a large stone residence near the top of a hill. It is believed that he used slave labor to construct the residence and that these slaves were brought to the Island at night and attached to this ring. Since they did not know how to swim, it was believed that they could not run away.
I have never looked into the history of this story but I have great difficulty coming up with a more plausible reason for this ring.
This large rock, behind the Sleeping Cabin, has a split in it.
This is a close-up of the same rock. When I was a child going up to the Island, this split was only about 2 inches wide. Water and freezing snow have been at work for over 75 years.
We were always on the Island for the last two weeks of August. Two of the fourteen children had a birthday while we were there so we always had a Birthday Party. My Mom, Marian, and another mother were kindergarten teachers (and was the parent of one of the Birthday Children). (They established a town-wide kindergarten held at our church. They started with about 20 children in one class. When the town established the public kindergartens in the grammar schools, the Church Kindergarten had 4 classrooms of children and eight teachers.)
Each summer they created a Scavenger Hunt that all the children could participate in. This split rock was quite often a hiding place for a clue.
This is a naturally flat area behind the Cook Cabin which was used by one of the families (only the adults) who joined us each summer on the Island. It was an ideal tent site.
A very calm morning looking out to the channel from the dock.
The same calm morning (2020) with the view in the opposite direction.
I will leave you with a picture taken the first time I went up to the Island. My twin brother and I were four, my younger brother was three and my little sister was two. This was the first time because my Mom, Marian, refused to go to the Island with a child in diapers.
From the left to the right: me, my younger brother, my twin brother and my sister. That picture was taken so long ago but I have several vivid memories from that trip. We arrived late in the afternoon and Grandpa came with us. The dock on the Island at the time was not located where the dock is now. It was at the end of the Island farthest from Bathtub Rock. It was a long (about 20 feet), narrow (about three feet) dock.
I think my father was between jobs because we stayed there into October. My Dad got a job with a local dairy and drove a delivery truck. Late in the afternoon, Grandpa would put the three older children in the row boat and he would row us across to the public beach. Then we would start walking along the one mile dirt road until we saw my Dad’s car coming home. We would all pile in and he would drive us back to the beach and the boat.
There had been a fire a few years before and I could see the charred stumps of so many trees but I also saw new growth sprouting up.
I hope you have enjoyed this journey down Memory Lane with me as I shared Special Pictures and Memories of “Liquid Heaven”, our Family Island Retreat.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
I would like to share Special Pictures and the memories that go along with them but are not directly linked to a specific place on the Island.
The “older girls” are all dressed up to go into town. My younger brother is taking us to the public beach so we can get to the car. I am sitting in the front of the boat. It was quite an occasion to get to go into town. We always had to stop at the post office and check General Delivery. Believe it or not, mail was rather efficient and many of us wrote to and heard back from our friends while we were there during only two weeks. We usually had to stop at the store to pick up some groceries and then we would go to the Olde Country Store and buy some jewelry, or a dill pickle from a barrel but always some “penny-candy”. It really cost a penny back then and the selection was amazing. My favorites were: cocoanut bacon strips. cocoanut watermelon, Charleston Chews, Dots, Root Beer Barrels and red licorice (sticks or string).
These are the children who were usually on the Island with my family each summer during the last two weeks of August. They are from my family and four others. All of the parents were my father’s childhood friends. I am the tallest one in the back row, although there are two others who were older than me. This was the first (and last) time I ever had a permanent. I was twelve at the time.
This summer, the older girls planned and directed a Talent Show for the adults. I do not remember any of the acts except the finale when the little princess (front and center) performed a dance to music from a cassette player. The curtain behind us helped keep the mosquitoes out of the Cook Cabin.
Tomorrow, the final post for this series called “Liquid Heaven” – Special Pictures and Memories – 1945 – 2022.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
I would like to share Special Pictures and the memories that go along with them but are not directly linked to a specific place on the Island.
This picture could have been taken on any given afternoon in the late 1950’s. The Dock is directly to the left. The red board was pulled behind our “speed boat”, a 25′ open boat with a 25 Johnson motor on the back. It was powerful to pull up water skiers or the board for the younger children. Notice the black inner tube from an automobile tire. We had many of these when my family was there with four or five other families. Some of the older women would float around the Island in the late afternoon and some of the younger kids, including me, would swim around the Island. It was a ritual I still continue. I try to float around the Island once a day sitting on a noodle.
Lad (my Dad), Chet and Pete, childhood friends who came up with us each year with their families. My Dad very rarely drank but on the Island, he had beer. They are standing next to the Bathtub.
Another ritual carried out by some of the men was going out fishing late at night. Chet and Charlie show off one nights bounty. The men would scale and de-bone the fish then put them in the freezer. Every night the frozen fish supply would grow until there were enough fish so that about 20 people could have a fish-fry for breakfast. This occurred about once a week.
These are the children who were usually on the Island with my family each summer during the last two weeks of August. They are from my family and four others. All of the parents were my father’s childhood friends. I am the tallest one in the back row, although there are two others who were older than me. This was the first (and last) time I ever had a permanent. I was twelve at the time.
Next weekend will probably be the last posts about “Liquid Heaven”, our Family Island Retreat.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
Sheba between the Cook Cabin and the Sleeping Cabin.
The Fire Pit (hidden by the chairs) and Sheba in front of the Sleeping Cabin in 2007.
Sheba, named by my children and maybe not called that by any other members of the family, is a large rock located between the Cook Cabin and the Sleeping Cabin. My daughters wanted to sit on top of the rock but I would not allow them to go up there until they could show me that they could run up the face of the rock and sit down on top all by themselves. I never wanted to place them up there and take the chance that they might fall off.
When I was a child, we had to take the same test and it was one of the first “rites-of-passage”.
Lad and Pete Linsley in front of the fire pit, with Sheba to the right, in the late 1950’s.
Fire in the Fire Pit in 2020. The Fire Pit has been enlarged and improved over the years.
Tomorrow, more of “Liquid Heaven”, Special Pictures and Memories.
Judy Guion
Former Adventurer turned full-time Dad moonlighting as an author
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