My mother was anything but average. Some of the challenges in her life pushed her to achieve.
Mom's
parents insisted on her attending a parochial school beginning at the
age of 7, when she began grammar school at Saint Anthony's School (then
called Saint Antoine) located on Belmont Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. This little English-only speaking Irish girl entered a building
for two years where only the French language was spoken or permitted. She related
how difficult this was for her, to initially have little idea of what
was being said. There were no accommodations for those who did not
speak French.
Mom
said that it was with great relief that an English-speaking
Catholic school, namely Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH), opened and
she was able to attend in its first year. It was a longer walk–a mile
away. At this new school, the teacher's discovered that her former
school had not been a hindrance to her education, as they allowed her
to skip a grade due to her advanced knowledge. During this time she also contracted polio. Her
life was spared. However many months were spend recovering from both
the disease and from the surgery that repaired a seriously affected ankle and
foot. She graduated from OLPH's first grammar school graduating class.
Next
she attended St. Joseph High School for Girls. Those were in the days
when the girls and the boys went to school in different buildings. Even
the class photographs were taken separately. My mother didn't talk much about
high school, except that she had some wonderful girlfriends, and that
she spent as much time as she could at the
Manchester City Library. She graduated in 1938.
Upon
high school graduation, she entered the New Hampshire School of
Accounting and Finance. She enjoyed working with numbers, and wanted
very much to become a bookkeeper. She graduated in June of 1939. She
was employed as the bookkeeper for several locations. After her
marriage and becoming pregnant, she stopped working outside of the
home. She continued for many years to rent the top two floors of our
home, which had been converted into apartments, as a home business.
She not only handled the rental agreements, payments and such, but she
also compiled and submitted the yearly tax documents.
Although
very busy with five children, she didn't stop learning. She was an
avid reader, and during most evenings you would find her “with her nose
in a book.” When the oldest of her children had left home, she took up
painting–first reading about, and then creating–watercolors and oil
paints being her favorites. Her subjects were usually favorite
photographs.
Typical of a loving mother, she always said her greatest accomplishments were her children.
Janice
This article has been written as my submission to the 48th Carnival of Genealogy at Creative Gene. The topic is “Mom, How'd you get so smart” (etc., see bottom of last carnival article for description). Submit your own story by May 15th, 2008.
.Above Photographs, all of Mary Manning.
First two photographs: 1933, first graduating class of OLPH Grammar School, taken in front of the school
Third photograph and fourth: 1938, graduating class of St. Joseph High School for Girls
Fifth photograph: June 1939, graduating class of New Hampshire School of Accounting and Finance
Note: the original, larger versions of these Manchester NH Graduation Photographs can be found here, along with a list of the graduate's names.
.Above music. (the player default is OFF, you must select the “>” button to begin)
My
mother did not graduate from a little red schoolhouse, but instead a
large brick building in the largest city in New Hampshire. I thought
this song was charming, and certainly fits the theme of my article, so
I've included it here. “In the little red school house” was written by
A. Wilson & J. Brennan, and is performed by Billy Jones and Ernest
Hare. [American Memory, Library of Congress, The Motion Pictures and
Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies]
