Audrey Mae SpencerSpencer Historical CemeteryHenry Straight / William Spencer Family Cemetery
Vaughn Historical CemeterySpencers of East Greenwich, RI
Conversations
4 September 2004

Heather: Did your parents like Uncle Frank?

Audrey: Yes, we all fell in love with Uncle Frank. He was so tall and had such beautiful thick hair.

4 September 2004

Heather: Did your parents ever say anything about whom you should marry?

Audrey:  No. Nothing was ever said. My mother or father never said anything about that. I think they liked Frank very much.

4 September 2004

Heather: What did they think about Dad?

Audrey: Dad, he was so quiet that he passed (the in-law test). He always helped Grandpa. One time Dad almost got heat stroke helping Grandpa with the hay. We had a barn in the back yard and the barn needed to be filled with hay. Dad always helped (Grandpa).

Dad always had his job. He worked at the mill and then at the submarine place. My father liked Milton. He was quiet, he didn’t have much to say. Dad said that my mother was “as near to an angel as anyone could be” or “as near to an angel as anything on earth”. That’s something to say about a mother-in-law! Grandma was good to him. She smiled and was such a good woman.

4 September 2004

Heather: How did you feel about Dad being so quiet?

Audrey: He always enjoyed a joke and laughed a little, but he was very quiet. He was a quiet man and I was talkative. When I was first married, he never said a word and I gabbed all the time. He would sit in his chair and fall asleep. I’d go to bed and let him stay there. He was so tired from his work.

He liked Gladys and Catherine. Ruth was working then and we didn’t see her so much, but she was very nice and Dad thought the world of her also. Ruth is a great studier.

4 September 2004

Heather: What are you feeling about Alpine now?

Audrey: I’m so happy with Alpine.

Outsiders think this is a place where crazy people are, but (Alpine residents) are all intelligent.  It isn’t a dumb place. I remember when I first came in, some people had problems with Alpine.

This is my home now.

Oh dear, I have to unwrap my hand from the phone.

4 September 2004

Heather: Well, we have been talking almost an hour, so your hand is letting you know. What book are you reading now?

Audrey: The newscaster guy, Tom Brokaw.

4 September 2004

Heather: Great! I’ll call you next week and I am looking forward to seeing you next month for the October 3rd gathering at Alpine. I love you, Mother.

Audrey: I love you, dear.

4 September 2004

September 4, 2004, Closing date for conversations included in “Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey”

11 September 2004

Dates and Places of Audrey Mae’s Weekly Conversations for the original publications::

The original publication of “Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey”, Audrey’s memoirs, covers Audrey’s weekly phone conversations with her daughter from the time period beginning June 12, 2002 and ending September 4, 2004. The only exception was sadly no phone calls between mother and daughter in March, April, May and June of 2003 when Audrey moved to Alpine and did not have a phone.

Date of Book Party Celebration for above printed book:

On October 3, 2004, Audrey’s family and friends planned a “Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey” Book Party Celebration for Audrey at Alpine Nursing Home in Coventry, Rhode Island.

11 September 2004

Dates and Places of Audrey Mae’s Monthly Conversations for the “Sequel” to the original publication :

The “Sequel” covers Audrey’s conversations after the first printing of “Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey”. The time frame for theSequel” to “Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey” is from September 11, 2004 through March 11, 2007.  (Audrey was a resident at Alpine Nursing Home in Coventry, Rhode Island until November 27, 2004 and was a resident at Kent Regency Nursing Home in Warwick, Rhode Island from December 5, 2004 until her death in March, 2007.)  Heather made monthly week-end trips to visit Audrey while she was a resident at Kent Regency Nursing Home until November of 2005 when travel across country was made bimonthly or every third month.