Sunday, 30 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday, 30 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Went to church and Sunday School.  Wayne was sick, we took him to Cobleskill in afternoon and he was operated on.  Clifton and I went to Mother's for a while.  Marilyn and Jim were there.  We went back to hospital at night.  Carol stayed with Papa and Billie.
Comment:  Mom doesn't mentioned why Wayne was in the hospital, maybe appendicitis, it ran in the family, me, Marilyn, brother David later in life.  My great grandfather died of it at age 33.  Another anomaly:  Any of us kids very rarely stayed to Papa's and Billie's.....maybe Marilyn occasionally but certainly never any of the boys....and other stuff happening during the week:

Saturday, 29 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, 29 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Nice day, 60.  I washed in am, baked in pm.  LaVerne and Roberta were here for a few minutes. David came home and Gerald too.  The girls, Clifton and I went down to Marilyn's in evening.  Mary and Art were there.
Comment:  Don't know who Mary and Art are.....

Friday, 28 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Friday, 28 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
45 degrees, windy, rainy.  I canned more tomatoes, fixed map board in girl's room.  Called Billie, was surprised she was home.
Comment:  Billie was Mom's stepmother and aunt.....Here are Norman Van Tassel, Clarence Barber, Judith Barber and Margaret Billie Barber.  Mom's stepfather, father, stepsister and stepmother/aunt....it's complicated.....

Thursday, 27 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Thursday, 27 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Cool and rainy.  Clifton didn't work, we went to Middleburgh in pm and stopped at Marilyn's.  Doug bought a Mercury car and went to sale with Earl at Cobleskill.  LaVerne, Roberta and David here in the evening.  Donald Brainard had a wreck on Grand Gorge Hill.
Comment:  It was dangerous out there driving those curving and steep mountain roads.  Cattle, deer, horses, dogs, cats, birds and various wild animals were a constant danger, especially at night.  I've personally hit two deer, two cows, several dogs and cats.  I found a  pheasant in my grill one hungover morning.  My sister Sue hit and killed a horned owl....here is Donald Brainerd as a junior in high school in 1952, 10 years before his wreck.....last row on the right....

Wednesday, 26 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, 26 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Partly cloudy.  I ironed and did most of the mending.  Went to prayer meeting at night.  Finished church drapes.  Roger Butler electrocuted

.
Comment:  Does anybody do "mending" anymore??...I don't remember Roger Butler but he is buried in the Breakabeen Cemetery:  The record reads, "Butler, Roger, Section II, Lot 50, Grave 1.  Born 1939, died 1962.  He lived in Fulton, Schoharie county, New York.  He was 23 years old.  I can find on the internet no further records of his life....

Tuesday, 25 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Tuesday, 25 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Did some ironing, got carrots and beets out of the garden.  Went to church in pm and worked on drapes.
Comment:  My great grandfather Gamalia Hubbard, born 1850 and died 33 years later with appendicitis...Thanks Betty Hubbard...

Monday, 24 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday, 24 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Lovely day, in the 60's.  Doug took Dad to work.  He looked for a car.  I did a  big wash.
Comment:  My birthday, Mom seldom mentioned any of our birthdays and they were never much of a big deal in our family...I don't remember any parties and very few gifts or cards.....I was the last of the kids not born in a hospital.  I was born in Grandma Bessie's farm house rental in Carlisle, New York...me as a kid on the hill.....about six years old...

Sunday, 23 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday, 23 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Sunny, warm day.  Went to church and Sunday School am and pm.  Marilyn, Jim and kids here for supper.  Took a ride to Prattsville.
Comment:  We took a lot of rides, many to and through Prattsville then up around the mountains to Windham and back over South Mountain or Mt. Pisgah.....here is Tom O'Hara by his father's Prattsville gas station in the early to mid thirties...he was born in 1928 and he looks maybe 6 to 8 years old.....

Saturday, 22 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, 22 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Cloudy, chilly.  No rain to speak of, only a sprinkle.  Cleaned attic, Clifton home late.
Comment:  The 1962 drought continues and would until 1966 or so:  Among the short-term droughts between the 1950s dry period and today was a widespread period of drought between 1962 and 1966 that hit much of the Northeastern United States. This Northeastern drought actually occurred in a period when temperatures were lower than average, but the rain disappeared. With precipitation at abnormal lows, water conservation kicked into gear in New York City, journalist Robert Cantwell reported in August 1965 in Sports Illustrated Magazine.

"[B]y this summer it was not surprising that a blimp bearing the ominous sign SAVE WATER was cruising over the otherwise cloudless skies about New York; that the city restaurants did not serve water unless patrons specifically asked for it; that fountains were turned off," Cantwell wrote....but 25 years earlier on 10.20.27 the first water went over the Gilboa Dam.....

Friday, 21 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Friday, 21 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Cold, 30 in am.  Everything white with frost.  First killing one.  Marilyn took Doug and me to Cobleskill shopping.  Got Sue a jacket.  They all came home with us and boys took them back after supper.
Comment:  Winter's coming....Seasons On Hubbard Hill.  ...Gerry Hubbard's SongPoemStories: Seasons On The Hill:

And the seasons would come and the seasons would go
And our whole world would change with the flow
As the sharp verdant springtime resolved in soft focus
As the hills drowned in summer's warm glow
In Autumn, the mountains were like purple haze that muted fall colors soaked through
Then winter's keen breath brought the snow & white frost
And another new year to us, too.

Thursday, 20 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Thursday, 20 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Partly cloudy, cool.  Doug was laid off.  Missionary meeting at Marilyn's.  I shortened gray coat and dress.  Clifton, the girls and I went to Marilyn's and got beef.  Sue went back to school.
Comment:  Life goes on...the Brandow's gas station in Gilboa probably late thirties...Raymond Brandow ran it when I was a teenager...was also the town garage when my Dad was road superintendent...thanks Betty Hubbard....

Wednesday, 19 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, 19 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Cool  but nice day.  I washed first this week, water so low.  Looked at spring, only halfway up on pipe.  Made Carol's brown skirt.
Comment:  Carol in 1959.....fifth from right

Tuesday, 18 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Tuesday, 18 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Cloudy, windy, showers.  I ironed and did mending.  Sue felt better but throat still sore.
Comment:  Autumn moving in.....the Hill full summer....

Monday, 17 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday,  17 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Cloudy, 58, a little rain.  Sue home sick with a sore throat.  I canned tomatoes and made apple jelly and three packages of apple sauce.M
Comment:  Sue and siblings at the 2014 family reunion on Hubbard Hill:   Back:  Doug, David, Laverne, Front:  Gerald, Sue, Marilyn....

Saturday, 16 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, 16 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Nice sunny day.  Lorraine, Howard, Marsha and Bonnie here for dinner.  Grandpa and Louise, Earl, Bob, Laverne, Roberta, Marilyn, Jim and the kids, Sandy and Lanita here in pm.  Had a missionary at church am and pm, Clif Schiefer
Comment:  Hmm that's 17 people visiting....Here is Howard, Lorraine and Marsha about that time....

Friday, 15 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, 15 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Nice day.  Marilyn, Jim and kids here for supper.  Gerald went back to school.  Wayne stayed at Marilyn's.  Clifton home late.
Comment:  I'm heading back to my last semester at Coby Tech..Just ran across this old picture of  old Gilboa's lower main street that I've never seen before....take a look...

Thursday, 14 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Thursday, 14 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Eighty two..clear.  I canned tomatoes and peas and ironed.  Marilyn, Jim and kids were here.  David started work at Timberland.  Gerald took milk to Norwich for Joe (Gallo)
Comment:  My first trip for Joe to Norwich was when he called me go with a driver who showed up too drunk to drive.  I had never driven a tractor-trailer rig, only ten-wheeler dump trucks.  Joe said no problem so I did took the trip and it went ok.  At our last stop, the driver went to a bar and was holding up our return trip.  The guys at the stop were urging me to leave him behind but I did not, and waited about another half hour before he showed up..he was surprised I did not leave him and I'd made a friend for life....here is Joe in the 1938 Gilboa Reflector, the year I was born....he is number 35...I'll bet he took a lot of shit back then for his Italian heritage....

Wednesday, 13 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, 13 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Windy, partly cloudy, 70's.  I ironed, made Sue a skirt, put in two windows, the boys finished the east end of the house.  carol went home with Beverly Buck.  We went to prayer meeting.
Comment:  Working on the house was not an uncommon thing, here is Dad Clifton John working on the east end in about 1950 or so....those windows in front of Dad were in the unfinished attic......From My Song "Winter Mornings" ....We boys slept in the attic on that Catskill Mountain farm, and though the rain and snow blew in it seem to cause not harm.....take a listen here.....Hubbard Music Mountain: Winter Mornings, Gerry Hubbard: 

Tuesday, 12 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Tuesday, 12 September 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Chilly, partly cloudy and windy.  I did a big wash and put up peaches and tomatoes.
Comment:  Today is the birthday of James Barry Taylor, son of Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Clifford Taylor...here he is as a toddler at Uncle Earl's pond.....From Left:  Aunt Ina Belle, Two Schwartz girls, Barry, Aunt Winny, Barry's brother Glenn...about 1943.  All the people here are now deceased.

Monday, 11 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday,  11 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Cloudy and showery, humid and hot.  Madelyn, Louise and I went to Oneonta after draperies for the church.  Dottie Pickett had a baby girl.
Comment:  Except for Dottie's birth, certainly not a momentous day as it would be 39  years later.  Or for that matter, 38 years later on 9.11.2000 when I was on my bike and go hit by a car and spent three weeks in the hospital and about eighteen months in recovery. During the 911 attack,  I was on an exercise bike in our local YMCA still recovering  and my home nurse, after hearing on the car radio about the attack, got scared and came into the Y to be with people.  She saw me and we spent the next hour watching the towers come down....Here is a tribute to the heroes on that day...

Sunday, 10 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday, 10 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Went to church and Sunday School and to Catskill after fruit and to church and Sunday School and to Catskill after fruit in pm and to church at night.
Comment:  Busy Sunday.  Today is brother Douglas Maynard Hubbard's
birthday...here he is in 1950 on the hill with his brothers.  Here is my great uncle Maynard Laraway's history....

Saturday, 9 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, 9 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Beautiful, clear day, warmer.  Called Lorraine in am about coming for dinner Sunday but they were going to Merel's.  I picked two bushels of corn and dug potatoes.  Donna Hilliker and two Buck boys were here.  David and Wayne worked on the house.
Comment:  I do not remember the Buck boys....a busy Saturday...Aunt Lorraine with her Grandmother Anna Hubbard and sister Evelyn and Winifred..this is in front of the Hubbard Hill house.  I do not know who the folks are in the back row...does anyone?? Great Grandma Anna was severely injured by a horse when she was 37 year old:  details here:  Take a look:  Gerry Hubbard's SongPoemStories: Natura non contristur: A Horse Story: A Horse Story Conesville—Mrs. Gamalia Hubbard met with a singular accident not long since, which might have proved very serious...........

Friday, 8 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Friday, 8 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Fair and warmer.  I washed in am.  Gerald, David and I went to Middleburgh and Cobleskill in pm, stopped at Marilyn's.  The boys helped Jim get a washer from Mrs. Elliot but it leaked.
Comment:  It's always something...."The best laid schemes...."gang aft agley"

....

Thursday, 7 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Thursday, 7 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Clear and cool, 36 in am.  I picked all the tomatoes and four bushels of corn and sent one bushel of tomatoes and two bushels of corn to Marilyn's when the boys went to Middleburg.
Comment:  Sounds like the garden did very well that year.  We were always running to Middleburgh or Grand Gorge for parts, supplies or to get something fixed.  That old house and the farm equipment needed constant repair and maintenance.  Along with constantly taking care of the damned cows, the upkeep sure screwed up a lot of weekends and holidays....here is the old barn with Marilyn's youngest boy Daniel...probably in the seventies....

Wednesday, 6 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, 6 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Rainy.  I fixed Sue a skirt.  First day of school.
Comment:  I remember my first day of school;  Miss. Stryker, a kid named Virgil, Bonnie Brown (now deceased) and  the general chaos of the classroom.  Do not remember the bus ride with Claude Castle..do remember the blue buses we used to have.....it was bus number 4...here are the buses from the 1940 Reflector....

Tuesday, 5 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Tuesday, 5 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Nice day.  I washed and cleaned up around from the clambake.  Picked the Mayo's a bushel of corn.  Doug started work with Clifton.
Comment:  Us at the clambake.....quite the crew....

Front:  Gerald, Jim Harris, Dean, Patty Susan, ?? David.  Rear:  LaVerne, Roberta, Marilyn, Earl, Phyllis West? Dad, Mom, Wayne, Barry, Carol, Bobby Sigaretz....I wonder who took the picture....

Monday, 4 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday, 4 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Labor Day.  Beautiful day.  Our family all here and Earl, Lillian and Bob.  We went up to the tower after dinner.  So nice up there.
Comment:  Labor Day and the Unions represented were a big part of our lives.  The Interstate Highway System was still under way and that was mostly union construction jobs.  I was a Common Laborer, Hod Carrier and a Teamster.  Dad and David were Operating Engineers and LaVerne was a teamster.  I drove and labored on Union and non-union jobs and I'll pick union everytime in terms of job safety, working conditions and plain courtesy...also the pay was usually better with strict overtime rules.....

Sunday, 3 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday, 3 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Went to church and Sunday School.  Marilyn, Jim and family here.  Men went for a ride to Mt. Utsayantha and Marilyn, kids and I went over to Mother's.
Comment:   I remember lots of "rides" through the mountains.  We would just get in the car and go....over South Mountain, after "pinksters", down through Bates Hollow and over Mt Pisque to Windham.....Mt. Utsayantha is the mountain to the far right in this view from Hubbard Hill....there was a fire tower on it and we could see it clearly....

Saturday, 2 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, 2 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Nice day, real warm.  Marilyn was here and we picked 5.5 bushels of corn and froze it. Kenny Clark got in a fight and went to hospital.
Comment:  Kenny Clark as a Senior at Gilboa....

Friday, 1 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Friday, 1 September, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries
Hot day, 86..the hottest day.  I did big wash.
Comment:  LaVerne's Senior picture.....