She always had a nose in a book. She more or less educated herself. We had an old fashioned locked desk where there were two or three shelves full of books. I remember the one room schoolhouses. They were like little boxes over the hill.
Aunt Mandy was a teacher. Bible was her lesson. Aunt Mandy was the ancestor that saved post cards. I have two handled baskets here with post cards. I was going to college when Aunt Mandy died. You go straight down toward East Greenwich and that was where Aunt Mandy’s house was. The house is gone now.
Audrey: Crystal brought a Chicken Little Teddy Bear. I have a bunny with a green dress (little green lady) and Mr. and Mrs. Long eared bunny. I have a long skinny lady made from folding napkins. Martin made it. He is smart at doing such. Momma and Poppa, the lady and gent, they get to sit on the edge of my chair. My phone sits in my chair also. The window is loaded with things that come to me. Theo Groves is still here now. I met her when she first came in.
It is cold outside now and the ground is speckled with snow. My ankles and feet are fine now. My ankles were loose, but now they are tight with these new socks. I can stand up and walk well with my ankles and legs hitched tight now. When I was little, I walked home from school. Yes, John Johnson Spencer, (my grandfather), he walked good. He walked well. Aunt Edith was close to Anna Maria, (her grandmother). When Anna Maria died, Edith went daily to her grave for a long time. I remember Anna Maria’s casket. We used to have the casket in the home. I remember my mother standing near the casket.
Audrey: The front door was never used. It was just to look at. It was beautiful. I can always see that front door of that big house. That door was beautiful. Grampa (William J.B. Spencer) sold the homestead in East Greenwich and we bought the house in Coventry with the money.
I lived there since I was twelve years old until I married and we moved to a small house. We went back to live at 742 Washington Street until we bought the house on East Greenwich Avenue in West Warwick. You (Heather) were nine months old when we moved.
I got by. I had the children there. I was making up things all the time. We would go out and play and pick daisies. The field was full of daisies. But I enjoyed you kids. It was all I needed—my seven masterpieces as I call you.
Audrey: Yes, we had a big organ in the parlor and a big piano in the dining room when we were on the farm. Billy Tarbox, he and Dan were twins. They were not related to us. Billy would play The Last Rose of Summer at our house. Billy was called the Aster King because he gave everyone an aster. If they could bring that aster back, he gave a prize for the best one.
Audrey: Chig, I was glad to see her. She sits there quietly. We all enjoy seeing her. Melissa, she is a real star. Little Hannah, she will be a great actress. They got her started at a good time. She is right on top of the work. She loves acting. And, of course, Emma is as beautiful as Hannah. Oh, I’m reading the book Emma that came all packaged up from you. Emma grows up in the book! I like all books. I haven’t read any books that I didn’t like. I see Amber often. She straightens out all my things. She keeps my fingernails all painted a light pink. The older I get, the better looking I get.
(Heather: No, Mother! The older you get, the more realistically you see yourself. You were always pretty, but just because you were a foot taller than your mother and sister, you thought you were ugly. Now it is fashionable to be tall!! That is the only difference.)
Audrey’s Great, Great, Great Nephew
(Audrey’s sister, Edith Anna’s great great-grandson)
Joshua Charles Ferry
Born January 10, 2004
Proud Grandparents are Diana and Tony Ferry
Audrey: I’m starting to sign my clothes AMM in black so they will be labeled if Alpine (Nursing Home) washes them. I’m wearing white pants and a red shirt. My fingernails are red. The sun is shining beautiful but it is really cold. Everybody is bundled up. The garage is even closed.
Audrey: The MacDonalds were tall and broad and the Spencers were tall and thin. Ern (Alfred Ernest Spencer) was the tallest of the three Spencer brothers. Most of the MacDonald were heavy. Joseph’s great, great grandfather was an average small man. 5′ 4″. He was the ancestor that first got here from Prince Edwards Island or Nova Scotia, I can not remember exactly which. Grandma’s brother, Ebenezer Vaughn, or Uncle Eben as we called him, had to wear boots. Gramma’s younger brother was odd. He always sat in a rocking chair. He got old, but stayed little. Gramma grew up in the Vaughn Homestead which (later became) the Rocky Hill Country Fairground.