Memories, Stories, Songs, Pictures And Poems About People, Places, And Events Around Hubbard Hill, In The Catskill Mountains, In The Town Of Gilboa, In The County Of Schoharie and The State Of New York.
Friday, 30 November 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Beautiful day, in the 60's, no wind. I did mending and cleaned the house. Clifton, Doug, and I went to Max Stryker's and Windham in pm looking for horses. Carol went to ball game at school on bus. Clifton, Sue, and I stopped at LaVerne's, they went to game too. Comment: Dad stocking the farm....Here is the 1959 Gilboa Basketball team....
Thursday, 29 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Beautiful day, warm, 66, no wind. Clifton and Doug went over to Raymond Brown's with the truck to get the cows. I cleaned the house, washed windows and wrote to Marilyn. Clifton and Doug went to sale to Cobleskill in pm. Doug came back and got Earl's truck, bought ? head. Wayne went too. LaVerne and Roberta were here a few minutes in afternoon. Comment: Wow, that's a warm day for the Hill that time of year...and on this date in previous years.....
Wednesday, 28 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Another beautiful day, 50's, no snow only in a few spots, no wind. Clifton and I went to Albany to Montgomery Wards and Tops then to Schoharie to redeem stamps, got Marilyn Christmas presents and stopped at Bullard's and bought a bushel of apples. Raymond Brown was here at night to look at cows. Clifton bought two off him. David came home at night and took Doug's car back. Velma Jones called about PTA. Comment: Prepping for Christmas and stocking up on beef...and on this day the "Zoning Improvement Plan" was announce:
U.S. Postmaster General J. Edward Day announced the "Zoning Improvement Plan" that would implement a five-digit number identifying each post office in the United States, beginning on July 1, 1963. The "ZIP Code" was initially intended for businesses that had high speed electronic data sorters, but Day said that use by private citizens would not be mandatory, noting that "We're not too concerned if Aunt Minnie doesn't put the numbers on her letter."[69]
Tuesday, 27 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Beautiful, clear, sunny day, 15-45 degrees. I did a big wash and hung some of it outside. Clifton and Doug cleaned the barn in am and cut wood in the pm. I cleaned house in pm. Very little snow on the ground. Clifton, Doug and Wayne went to Amsterdam to sale at night. Didn't buy anything. Comment: A busy day.....
Monday, 26 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Beautiful, clear, sunny, 40's. Clifton and I went to Cobleskill to Mother's for dinner. She went down street with us. I got Sue black pants, had tooth pulled at Schoharie. Comment: They really went to Richmondville where Grandma Bessie lived...here is one way to do it.....really quite a hike, 33 miles...but they didn't think anything of it...
Sunday, 25 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Mostly cloudy, 30's. Went to church and Sunday School. Rode over to Louise's and down to Evelyn's in pm. No one at home. Gerald went back in pm. Comment: I went back to Coby Tech...and the most popular movies that week:
Saturday, 24 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Light snow in am. Girls and I went to Awana at night. I ironed all day. Comment: Ironing all day cannot be a lot of fun...
Friday, 23 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Cold, I washed and hung only towels outside. Clifton and Doug went to sale to Cobleskill in pm with the girls and I went to Middleburgh. Got Carol sneakers and pants. Comment: JFK had one year to live as of this date in 1962...hmmm.....
Thursday, 22 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Thanksgiving. Rained hard most all night. 40 degrees in am, 30 in pm. with a little snow, clearing. LaVerne & Roberta were here for dinner. Gerald was home. Comment; Hubbard Hill Memories: Thanksgiving came with hunting season Lot’s of family found a reason To come “up home” to join in meals and song. We gather around that old piano, Dad sang bass Mom sang soprano Uncles , aunts and cousins sang along. And the old time Christian hymns would soar and chime With harmonies so sweet and so sublime. Then all the men would go hunt deer While all the ladies helped to clear The table for the meal at supper time... In the picture, Aunt Madeline, Frances, Aunt Winifred.....
Wednesday, 21 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Partly cloudy and warmer and windy, 40. I baked pies, cake and nut bread for Thanksgiving. Wayne went to Schoharie to have a tooth out. He and Clifton fixed fence around barn yard in pm. Doug went with Roberta with mail. She still didn't feel good. The girl and I went to prayer meeting at parsonage. All the boys came home at night. Comment: And on this day Kennedy stated the US objective or getting to the moon before Russia: At an off-the-record meeting held on November 21, 1962 with NASA Administrator James Webb, NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans, and Special Assistant to the President Jerome Wiesner, President Kennedy states clearly that his administration's priority is for the United States to land on the Moon before the Soviet Union.
Tuesday, 20 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Cloudy, 30's, light snow in am. I wrote to Marilyn. Clifton and I went to Cobleskill in pm. Ina Belle was here for dinner then she went to Middleburg with Earl and Lillian. Clifton and I stopped at Bartholomans auction and bought a Jersey heifer and Guernsey calf. Doug and Wayne and Clifton took Earl's truck and got them at night. Doug with LaVerne with mail. Roberta was sick. Comment: Dad getting stocked up with beef....
Monday, 19 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Nice day, but cold. I washed in am, hung everything outside. First day of deer season. Barry and Glenn were here for dinner. Glenn got a deer. LaVerne and Roberta were here in am. Comment: The first day of deer season was a big day. Older kids stayed home from school to hunt. Lot of traffic on the roads around the house, lots of relatives showed up for hunting and meals.....Here are Barry and Glenn as toddlers at Earl's pond, mid forties....
Sunday, 18 November 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Cloudy and chilly. We went to church and Sunday School. Home all pm. Glenn came and stayed all night. Comment: Glenn is Glenn Taylor and he is probably staying overnight because the next day is the first day of deer season and he wants to get an early start. He was my first cousin, son of Dad's sister Evelyn and Clifford Taylor.....here he is in 1962...Uncle Rudy Blakesley is to the left.....Glenn had only a short time left to live. He died of kidney disease on April 11, 1964, at the age of twenty-two. He was a gorgeous toddler with long flowing blond hair and an extremely handsome young man and was always just as cool and nice on the inside as the outside. I still think about him and miss him after all these years.
Saturday, 17 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries I washed again, had Gerald's clothes to do. Had bad headache at night, too tired. Appraiser from state was here. Doug picked up "posters" at Middleburgh and put them up. Girls and I went to Awana at night. Comment: I think the state appraiser was there to appraise the fire tower area in preparation for condemning it for state takeover..."Posters" were no trespassing signs we put around the property boundaries to keep the "city" people out, usually during hunting season.....We only started using them in the sixties because of the influx or more and more non-local hunters. I was deer hunting once in our heavy woods across the creek from our house and I froze while about five hunters bedecked in the latest gear noisily "drove" our woods laughing and smoking. I was within about 10 feet of them and was afraid to move fearing the "shoot anything that moves" mentality that we felt the "city people" all had....they never knew I was there...
Friday, 16 November 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Nice day, 50's. Doug and Clifton cut wood. I did some ironing, had a headache. Lillian and Myrtie called in pm. Marilyn called from Ramona Ca. at 10am. They arrive there at 5 am after driving all night. Wayne went to All-State with the school. Carol and Sue both home. LaVerne and Roberta were here at night. Gerald took Mary Ann home and came home late. Comment: A 3000 mile trip in just about 6 days averaging about 500 miles per day, not a bad feat 58 years ago....especially with three kids in the car...Sister Carol and the three kids about that time:
Thursday, 15 November 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Clear, sunny day, windy, 20-40 degrees. I washed. Clifton and Doug went to Franklinton after the rest of Marilyn's things. They butchered a veal for Lyle (Blakesley) in pm. The girls and I went to prayer meeting at Louvilla's in pm. Comment: And another calf bites the dust....we usually sold most of our calves to the "calf man", guys who would drive around the farm country and buy calves for the local slaughterhouses. A feedbag on the mailbox was the signal for the calf man to stop...here are my memories of it in a little three-chord doggerel that I wrote years ago., you'd think it would sound better after all this time, but.....Hubbard Music Mountain: The Calf Man Gerry Hubbard:
Wednesday, 14 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Clifton, Doug and I went to Durham and Windham in am. Men butchered a veal for Otis in pm. Clifton, the girls and I went to school at night, stopped at LaVerne's a few minutes. Comment: Hmmm..no reasons for the trips to Durham, Windham or the school....Dad occasionally butchered calfs, pigs and cows for the neighbors and also us...calves and cows were easier because they could be skinned. Pigs had to be dipped and scalded in hot water and then scraped to get the bristles off...that meant a 55 gallon drum of hot water that we filled from milk cans "steamed" at the Manorkill creamery and hauled back to the hill in a rush so it wouldn't cool before we could use it..a miserable job, particularly in the cold....bet not many people have used this....
Tuesday, 13 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Snow in am and cloudy. Clifton and I went to Cobleskill. Doug got the tractor tire fixed. Gerald had "Merc" and went to Albany. I had a sick headache. Mary called to see what we'd heard from Marilyn. Comment: I have not memory of why I went to Albany....Tuesday was "sign-up for unemployment" day in Cobleskill....how many remember handling these things.....Schoharie County 1958 blizzard...our number was 47 and Cecil Cammer drew the milk.....
Monday, 12 November 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Nice day, 50's. I washed here for the first time in three weeks, well almost full. Sunday School meeting here at night. Delores called Louise while she was here to say Irene was sick and she and Grandpa went to Oneonta that night. Comment: Delores and Irene were Louise's daughters by Claude Ferris who owned Ferris Camp. Ferris Camp was originally a "speakeasy" type place before prohibition was repealed and then became a "beer joint" for locals and many deer hunters from "the city". Legs Diamond once paid a visit to Claude to make sure he was selling the right booze and I think that made a rather lasting impression on him. I remember Claude telling my father about it on one of Dad's many visits. I was probably six or seven years old. "Legs" was also known as "Gentleman Jack" and was a big deal in the upstate area around Albany. A very picturesque character and his Wikipedia entry reads like a dime detective novel. He did not live long. Take a look: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legs_Diamond
Sunday, 11 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Cooler and cloudy, 35 degrees. Went to church but didn't stay to Sunday School, only Sue did. Mary Ann and Gerald were here for dinner. Wayne brought Lena Slawson, they were here only a few minutes. Mother called in pm, they were at Middleburgh. Marilyn called, they were in Indianapolis. Dean had the mumps. They had to go slow with the trailer, only 40 to 45 mph. Leland Campbell was killed when a chimney fell on him. Comment: ......I did not know Leland Campbell...No mention of "Veteran's Day"
Saturday, 10 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Rainy until noon, then partly cloudy, 50's. Marilyn, Jim and the kids left for California twenty minutes before seven. Hated to see them go. David came home at noon. Took Sue to her music lesson and stopped at LaVerne's a minute. Carol and Sue went to AWASA at night. Louise brought them home. Doug and Wayne home late. Wayne in a wreck with Jimmy Rogers. Rained hard at night.
Comment: Saturday nights were kinda dangerous in those hills. Lot's of crazy driving from bar to bar....Here is the 7th grade class of Gilboa Central in 1952. Jimmy Rogers is in the back row....I was in the 8th grade at the time.
Friday, 9 November 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Fair in am, cloudy in pm, 28 to 50 degrees, east wind. Marna had sore throat and Marilyn took her to the doctors in the am. Clifton, Doug, and Jim started to load the trailer but had to fix the brakes and they all went down after dinner and worked at it. I washed in am and kept the kids. Marilyn called on Louise around noon. They got loaded and home about 5pm. Louise and Grandpa were here at night. It rained all night. Comment: It's always something, maybe the drought has ended...and the top songs were: Number One Song On That Day In 1962:
Thursday, 8 November 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Fair and warm. Marilyn, Clifton, Marna, Patty, and I went to Middleburgh to wash then help Marilyn pack in pm. Earl, Lillian, Bob, LaVerne, Roberta, Gerald, and David here in evening. Marna had a sore throat. Comment: The water shortage continues....Marilyn moving back to CA.....Eleanor Roosevelt died on Nov 7, 1962, at the age of 78..four years younger than I am now....
Wednesday, 7 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Lovely day, 50 degrees. Clifton and I went to Cobleskill in am and I washed up there then came back to Franklinton and helped Marilyn pack. Mother and Norm were there too. Grandpa and Louise were here at night. Comment: Marilyn and Jim's sojourn in the home territory is ending..and Richard Nixon, after his loss to Pat Brown for the governorship of California said " You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." Quite controversial at the time but how wrong he was......for more, copy and paste : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon%27s_last_press_conference
Tuesday, 6 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Election Day. Cloudy in am, clearing in pm, 22-32 degrees. Clifton and Doug went to Middleburgh and bought a new chain saw. Marilyn called and said they had a letter from Mae Hatch and the job was waiting for them. Comment: Not sure what's going on with the job......our first chain saw was a two-man Mall chain saw like this one and it made for a long day of it in the woods.....from Hubbard Hill Memories: "In the winter it was cold as hell and every week the boys as well as Dad would go to cut some firewood. With that old Farmall and Mall chainsaw we’d find a tree and make a fall and cut it up as quickly as we could. For the winter wind and chill was bearing down, As we struggled in the that cold and muddy ground, Then we loaded up a half a cord and shivered while the tractor roared and took us tired half frozen homeward bound."
Monday, 5 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Sunny and a little warmer, about 37. I cleaned the house and mended. Doug got our car fixed and went to doctor's in pm. The snow melted some. Marilyn, Jim and the kids were here for supper. Patty and Dean came with Doug. Clifton finished work. Comment: One of "the kids", Patty, on the Hill about summer 1962.
Sunday, 4 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Cloudy, cold. We went to church and Sunday School. Marilyn, Jim and family, Laverne and Roberta were here for dinner. Paul Ellis was here in afternoon and Sandy Finch. Comment: Sandy Finch was a girlfriend of brother Douglas Maynard....and the A&P Super Market prices were....T Bone is now about $15.50 per pound up from $1.09....seems like a big price rise but the $1.09 was the equivalent of $8.53 to today's money so the price about doubled in 53 years...I guess that's good....
Saturday, 3 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Cloudy, cold, 30's. Clifton didn't work or David either. Started snowing about noon and continued till about midnight about three or four inches of snow. Marilyn called in am and invited us down for supper and we all went but David. Girls and I went to Youth Rally with Madalyn, roads bad. Gerald didn't come home. Sue didn't take her music lesson. Boys took our's and Doug's cars to Becker's in pm to get snow tires on them. Comment: The snow storm caused lot's of "didn't's" in this entry...meanwhile around the moon....the space age continues...
Friday, 2 November 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Sunny, in the '40s. Marilyn went to Middleburgh with me. I washed and did shopping. Marilyn and all were here at night and called California about a job they received a telegram about. Clifton home late. Carol went home with Linda for birthday. Comment: Water on the hill still a problem so she had to got to Middleburgh to do the washing...."Marilyn and all" in California with Dad, Clifton. From Left: Dad, Patty, Marna, Dean, Jim in back, Marilyn holding Grace and Danny. It must have been 1975 or so....
Thursday, 1 November, 1962, The Frances Hubbard Diaries Cloudy and cold. Marilyn and family here for supper and we went to Louvilla's for prayer meeting. Clifton home late. Made a skirt for Sue. Wrote to Lorraine and sent her tracts. Comment: Don't know what was wrong with Aunt Lorraine...she had a history of some mental problems and her first marriage was an abusive one...here she is a young girl on the front steps of the Hubbard Hill house.....she was born in 1912 so this is probably in the early 1920's....
You're always young in your mind it is said, No matter the face in the mirror, That you see with surprise then say to yourself, "What is that old man doing here?"
