Audrey Mae SpencerSpencer Historical CemeteryHenry Straight / William Spencer Family Cemetery
Vaughn Historical CemeterySpencers of East Greenwich, RI
1 February 2004

Heather: I read John Johnson Spencer’s obituary and it said he was a prisoner of war at Andersonville, Georgia. Do you know anything about that?

Picture027

John Johnson Spencer

Audrey: I only know that he was at Libby Prison and I am sure he was there. I never talked with my grandfather. He was an old man with a long gray beard. Ed (John Edward Spencer), my brother, would talk with him. I was quiet. I was busy with art, my own privacy. I don’t remember speaking with Aunt Mandy (Esther Amanda Briggs) and she lived with us. Grandma (MaryJane Vaughn Spencer) and aunt Mandy were great at cutting articles out of newspapers. They would cut out articles about kings and queens, etc. I remember a snuffbox —snuff up the nose was a habit. All rich people had a diamond snuffbox, which was just the thing. Aunt Mandy, she had dates in a bag.

(The obituary in the newspaper does not seem to be correct.  Georgia National Park at Andersonville has no record of a John Johnson Spencer at Andersonville confederate prison.   We know he was at Libby Prison and at Belle Isle prison in Richmond, Virginia. He was in the battles that were around Pennsylvania and Virginia.  Spencer family oral history has him going no further south and we find have no other records of him going further south.)
21 February 2004

Heather: How has the weather been?

Wedding picture of Milton and Audrey MacDonald

Audrey: It has been raining and snowing so now it is muddy. The snow is piled up about five or six feet high. I’m happy and contented here. Everybody in the family is doing well. I’ve got on my white pants and red shirt. They (Alpine Nursing Home staff) are very good here.They take good care of us. Someone helps me get dressed each morning. They are very good nurses. We know them all. They are all pretty young and they wear pretty colors. We cannot find fault with these young women. They are kind and take good care of us.

I love this chair! (light weight “Companion chair” with four small wheels) I get around just like I’m walking.

Theo, she comes out and we have big and long talks in the hall. She’s in Room 10. I’m in Room 4. My room is nice. Everybody likes it here. I have three meals a day and the food is good. Theo plays Solitaire but I haven’t played cards lately.

She lived in West Greenwich and I lived in Anthony when we (Audrey and Milton and Theo and Bill) went to the dances. All the dances were (held) in West Greenwich. In the old days when we went dancing, all the dances were held in an old barn. After Theo and Bill married, they stayed in West Greenwich, and after we (Milton and Audrey) married, we didn’t see each other again. We didn’t get out then. Oh, Dear, my hand is tired!

Heather: I’ll call next Saturday, same time, same station!

28 February 2004

Heather: How is the New England weather?

Audrey: It is sunny. The snow is melting. It is heaped up on the sides and except for the snow on the stonewall, it is not pretty any more. The guy (Sobersides) is out with the trash and he put his hood up. It must be cold. We are hardy people. We all had to live through hardy weather.

The reason we have so many stones in R.I. was the ice was melting from the north and it would roll south. By the time it got to R.I., it dropped off all the stones before it got to the sea. It was all ice. It melted in R.I. When the snow melted, it left all these stones. The early settlers put these stones to good use and built stonewalls that are still standing today! They knew how to build stonewalls. They had wonderful reasoning in their minds to think of this. What else could they have done with all these stones?

7 March 2004

Heather: Hello, Mother, what are your thoughts today?

 

Audrey: I couldn’t be better. It is sunny outside. The snow is gone. I’m all dressed with pink pants, white top and pink beads. We always have a hot cereal for breakfast.

(When I was a child) we had cornflakes every morning and Grandma (Mary Jane [née Vaughn] Spencer) made johnny cakes.

Being here (at Alpine Nursing Home) I look out my window and see all the action with trash collection, cars parking in the yard. Oh, an orange cat goes through the yard every so often. He has a collar on so someone is taking care of him.

(When I was a child on the farm) we had several cats in the barn, but only one cat in the house. Her name was Edna Meaow. Edith named her Edna because that was the name of a movie star. Aunt Edith was crazy about the movie stars. That’s all we had was the movies. There was no TV.

My cousins in Providence took me to the movies in Providence. There was no talking. There was just music, a woman was playing the piano down in the orchestra pit. My cousin read the printing on the screen to me until others complained so. The Kirby’s were my cousins. Aunt Martha, my mother’s sister, married Harry Kirby. Aunt Martha cooked a turkey dinner every Sunday.

Martha’s brother (brother-in-law) would come on Sunday and eat three meals. He was very heavy and stretched out the end of the couch. When he was younger, he dressed fine and met a woman who was well dressed. They got married and then found out neither one had money. They divorced because they couldn’t afford to live together. Martha knew he was a glutton. He was always dressed up.

I went to the Knotty Oak Church. Martha and Harry went to the city. Grandpa would drive Mother and me with the horse and wagon and then pick us up.  Aunt Rachel, Grandma’s younger sister, would make a meal for them. Aunt Rachel, she was a good cook.

7 March 2004

Heather: Did you know your grandparents on your mother’s side?

Audrey: I don’t remember seeing my mother’s father. I do remember walking around the coffin a number of times when I was very small and was just walking, and I knew my grandmother was there. The casket was in front of two big windows.

Oh, why does the song Solomon Levi keep going over and over in my head? That’s a Jewish name. I don’t remember.


13 March 2004

Heather: Hello, Mother. How have you been?

Audrey: Without this wheelchair (companion chair, light weight transit chair with four small wheels), I’d be in jail. I’m rocking back and forth constantly. I never sit still. It gives me a little walk. My knees push me back and forth. It gives me so much freedom. This chair goes everywhere. This little chair is an extension of me. The bending of my knees get plenty of exercise.

I enjoy my life. I loved my babies. I feel bad that I don’t have a baby in my arms.

Ernie made me this nice bookcase desk and I have my Emily Dickinson’s books. I like to read so that keeps me busy. It is such a beautiful sunny day. Amber, she bops in every other thing. There was a man playing a guitar (here at Alpine Nursing Home). There are always activities here.

16 March 2004

Heather while visiting Audrey at Alpine Nursing Home: I read a newspaper article that you saved about Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Twenty-Fifth Wedding Anniversity. Wasn’t Vaughn, Deardra and I born at Mitchell’s Maternity Home?


Mitchell Maternity Home

Audrey: Yes. I went to Mitchell’s Maternity Home (90 West Warwick Avenue) to have my last three children, Vaughn, Deardra and you. Mrs. Mitchell was a Registered Nurse and operated the Mitchell Maternity Home in West Warwick.

16 March 2004

Heather: What would you do when it rained?

Theo: We would all pile in the front seat. (Laughter)

(Somehow Mother, Theo and I started to sing I love Coffee and Mother knew all the words.)

Audrey: I love coffee. I love tea.
I love the boys and the boys love me.
Tell your mother to hold her tongue.
She had a beau when she was young.
Tell your father to do the same.
He was the one who changed her name.
(Laughter)

3 April 2004

Heather: The birthday flowers from the Georgia relatives and from the California relatives were so beautiful. Did your mother like flowers?

Audrey: Yes, Grandma (MaryJane [née Vaughn] Spencer) always had flowers. She always had a half-barrel (barrel cut in half) with special flowers planted inside. The half-barrel was on a cut off tree stump (the stand for the half barrel) so grandma would not have to bend over to plant flowers. Also, all along the wall in front of the house were flowers. There (the dirt) was dug out so grandma could plant flowers.

3 April 2004

Heather: How is your new walker?

Audrey: I don’t like it but I do!  They (Alpine Nursing Home staff) are very kind. They just have a hand on my shoulder and I get assurance, without that I feel like I am falling. I get along with the walker. I am glad to do (use the walker) only once a day. If I had to do it three times a day, I’d just stay in bed. (laughter) I do things because I have too, but not because I like it.