By John Guy LaPlante
with 1 photo
NOTE: this post has three parts. You have to read all three for a full understanding. Hope you get a kick out of it.
Here is the remarkable email that came to me right out of the blue. And which made my day.
Hello, I have recently found an article about my grandparents, parents, uncle and aunt. I have attached it. It has you, I believe, as the author. Could it have been a Worcester Telegram and Gazette article? Probably from the early 60’s since it mentions their approximate age and they were born in 1900 and 1901. Unfortunately my Grandparents didn’t save the date or what paper it was from.
My parents bought the car mentioned in the article. I have many happy memories sleeping in it with my sister on family camping trips.
After looking you up on the Internet this was probably one of your first jobs. You have lived a very interesting, energetic life!
Sincerely, Susan Bean
The old clipping she sent me.
Well, the clipping that was attached had been neatly scissored out. And it was in pristine condition. Obviously it had been treasured. And yes indeed, it bore my byline, exactly like that at the top of
this page. It was one my weekly columns entitled “Camps and Camping” in the Worcester Sunday Telegram. I’ll tell you about that column and how it came about and how I produced it week after week. I think you’ll find it interesting. It will follow the column that Susan Bean sent me. We’ve had a delightful exchange of emails and even a nice telephone call. I call her Susan and she now calls me John. How about that?
One more thing. Her family lived in Worcester at that time. At one time later Susan lived in Auburn. That’s a nice coincidence, too. It’s a nice suburb of Worcester. I lived in Auburn also for some 30 years. My wife Pauline and I, with two kids then–Mark came along later–got the idea of building a house there. Why? Auburn had good schools and so on. We’d be living out in the
Susan getting two of her grandkids off to a good morning .just like when she was a little girl camping with her family.But no nice equipment like this back then.