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| Soon it was time to think about lunch and I asked where she liked to go best. Dismissing Friendly's as not Sunday Dinner BEST, she thought of the place where her 89th birthday party had been held- The Rustic Oak. It was soon apparent she was a regular there. We decided to have Thanksgiving Dinner in July. While waiting for the platters to arrive we talked a bit about foods we liked and she shared memories of Granny Pybus cooking on an open hearth and beehive oven back in England."Raisins are my favorite . When I was a girl I would climb up on a chair in the pantry and sneak down the raisins. When Helen would go to bake, the new box would be nearly empty - she threatened to lock me in the pantry one day!" After meditively buttering a bit of raisin bread she continued about the war years, "We once had German soldiers working on the farm, they were prisoners and this was the arrangement. I had to sit at the end of the table that time. Christmas came but I never remember a tree or decorations, not even a stocking to hang during the war years. " |
| After offering grace, she mused awhile on Sunday services back in England. "I went to the Quaker Meeting House- we all sat around on benches, no preacher you see, and every once in a while someone would stand up and say a few words. It was very peaceful I always say Grace- and I thank God every night for sparing my life. Grandpa went to the Church of England- I remember him all dressed up with hat and cane." Soon she was recalling school days and recounting adventures; "Once some bad girls pushed me out of line and I got into so much trouble with the principal . She called me to her office and made me hold out my hands. Then she gave each hand a slap with the leather strap. Those awful girls got away with it too. I have never forgotten in all these years!" |
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| We skipped along through the decades between the entree and the sherbet dessert. I asked about her various types of employment over the years. " I worked for WT Grant department store- the chain closed in the 70's you know. I started off working the floor, then ended up in personnel. Until my cataracts on my eyes I was driving to my last job in a cemetery office in East Haven. I loved that job- a man at the Congregational Church where I go suggested it to me. It's important to keep working- meeting people. At the cemetery office I kept up the records and answered the phone up until 1999. My friend Betty and I shared a little cape house- she was a widow. I liked being on my own!" We talked of hobbies- "I like to play the piano but the children don't much like my choice of music- hymns! I crochet granny squares and made each great-grandson an afghan and pillow. I used to sew a great deal- once the local dancing school, Miss Annette's, asked me to make seven duck costumes for the recital." It is easy to see how dear her three grandchildren are to her. Happily she gets to see a great deal of PJ, Michael and Kevin Then the ice cream arrived- "It just slips down- even if we are too full of turkey!" |
| Back at the house, we decided we would enhance the scenery under the Rose of Sharon trees which were in full cry in the front yard Then we collapsed on the sofa and spent a last happy hour looking at old photos. "The day before we left on Lusitania, my father took us around to say good-bye to all our friends on Morningside Drive in Bridgeport. I wore a sailor dress." She found a little old-fashioned birthday book which had been her mother's. Emily's handwriting was still easily readable. "Why, tomorrow is your mother's birthday. " I exclaimed. "Why, so it is." she said. She pointed to a small oak desk in the corner- "That was mother's too." There was one photo of a young girl in a harem costume. "Oh my! That's me- Queen of the Nile," she exclaimed and did a few poses for effect. I told her about Diana Preston's book and that a movie was being considered. She had seen the interview on C-Span. I asked if she would consider a cameo appearance or go to the opening. Without missing a beat she cried-"Oh SURE! I love to act. I did a lot of plays in my time. My favorite was a ghost play. I can remember all of us sitting on the stage screaming our heads off- the audience loved it!" I asked how she felt about things being taken off the ship and whether she would like to see Lusitania artifacts. "Oh my, yes- I wish our things could be found," she said without hesitation. " I have never been on another big ship since Mauretania- well, just a ferryboat to Martha's Vineyard, but I have flown back to England in 1974 to see Cousin Roddy who died last year. I really am missing him. Sometimes they would send the little round teabags of good English tea." |
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| "This is Eileen," she said, waving toward a French bisque-head doll in an antique baby carriage. : "She is named after my best friend I left behind in England. She was waiting for me under the Christmas tree when I got home to my father. He had remarried to a lady named Helen Dodie- I think this was her doll, but she put a red wig on it like my hair. Once I put my half-brother Dickie in the buggy." The doll is exquisite, the hand-made silk dress frothy with lace. "See the petticoats and pantaloons? All original." |
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| My gaze went up to three sets of photographs over the sofa. "Those are three generations of Andersons- my father Roland's parents.- Joseph and MaryAnn." Roland and Emily were from neighboring towns. Emily immigrated from England in 1911 aboard the Caronia. Barbara was born a year later, only two months after the sinking of Titanic. The years flew by as the pages were turned. I asked how she met her husband Milton McDermott- "Oh- that was a blind date," she chuckled. In her room on the bureau is a small photograph of Milton. On the back of her door is a large poster of her favorite actor- Tom Selleck! Milton and Barbara have two children, George, and Elizabeth and her husband with whom she currently lives. Her father was quite an accomplished artist and several of his oils grace the wall in the livingroom. |
| She went back to her bedroom to fetch her collection of Lusitania books and an old postcard of the ship I had never seen before. She is an admirer of Bob Ballard's work and held up his Lusitania book. She suddenly remembered that on her trip home on Mauretania, she had spotted a spouting whale through the window of the reading and writing room. With great reluctance I folded up the album- the clock over her rocking chair (which she never did sit in) was at half past four. The afternoon had slipped away. Precious were the moments when she would gaze into the past, as if we were not in the room, and take us back in time to those other days of her life. I felt I was seeing it all through her mind's eye We made plans to meet again soon. She walked us to the car , full of energy. One feels rejuvenated in her company- she is so full of the joy of living, it is infectious. There was much to ponder on the drive home. What a great privilege to meet her at last. I am thankful for the opportunity and grateful to Michael Poirier who kindly arranged the afternoon. |