Tuesday, June 16, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 16, 1964
Tuesday, 35, clear, fair, cold.  David got home from Massachusetts about 7:30 am.  I wrote to Marilyn and Doug.  Did some more ironing.  Sue went to school 1/2 day.  Gerald was called to work at 5 am.  David went to NY with Tommy Renz.
Comment: David gone all night on a charcoal run, him and I off again today...early.....I hope we're making good money....here is my memories of Truck Driving.....performed by David Hubbard.....

Truck Driving

I’ve hauled bark for Timberland to make charcoal briquettes

Getting paid 8 cents a mile, I took all I could get.

Brockway diesels , Screaming Jimmies, Mack B63’s

Concrete batch truck, Andrews Air Base, Washington DC

I drove to put  myself through school, just trying to change my luck

Off the farm then just discharged I drove those damned old trucks.

I’ve  hauled clinker, ice and milk and charcoal by the ton 

Double clutching, jamming gears  making midnight  runs.

Quarts of Pepsi with no food kept me tightly wired

Sleep deprived hallucinations, always over tired

Triplex, Duplex, straight 5-speeds with vacuum  shift rear ends

5 speed mains -auxiliary 3’s, combos with out  end

I  always got them figured out sometimes while on the road

And I always drove those damned old trucks, as fast as they would go

I’ve left smoking strips of rubber and watched those big duals burn

When I locked them up to miss a car as they made a no-left turn

I’ve endured  the deadly boredom then the special thrill

When I blew the air brake diaphragms at the top of a steep hill

I’ve passed semis 3 abreast on  narrow 2 lane roads

Trying to keep momentum up with twenty  five ton loads

I’ve seen my trailer in my mirrors skid and come around

And damn near jack knife tires sliding on the icy ground

I’ve rolled backwards down a hill in a state of abject terror

When I missed a shift and stalled it out and my trailer brakes lost air

I got it started, revved it up and jammed it  into low

The tractor reared high in the air when I popped the clutch to go

So when I’m on an the interstate and see a big rig roll

I want to be there in that  seat but I guess now I’m too old

I know I’ll probably never get to go back to those times

But  sometimes just before I sleep I hear a diesel whine

And I feel the  deep vibrations of a big rig in my bones

And I drive a midnight highway, fast and young and wild,  alone.

And I feel the  deep vibrations of a big rig in my bones

And I drive a midnight highway, fast and young and wild,  alone.

Monday, June 15, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 15, 1964 
Monday, cloudy, rain in pm.  I washed and finished drying some clothes upstairs.  I ironed in pm.  Gerald came home 4:15 pm.

Comment: I had left the previous midnight, so for me, a sixteen hour day delivering asphalt. Probably not a lot of fun.....

Sunday, June 14, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaires

June 14, 1964
Sunday, sunny, nice day.  Girls and I went to church and Sunday School.  Gil preached.  We went to LaVerne's and Mother's in pm, home at 6.  Liz Warner came with us and girls and I went to  baccalaureate  at school at night.  Gerald left 12 midnight to go to work and David left at 11 to go to Massachusetts with Tommy Renz.  Grandpa was taken to Ellis Hospital.

Comment:  I left to get to the Albany port to pick up a load of asphalt for Bonded and deliver it early morning somewhere.  David left with Tommy to deliver a load of Timberland Charcoal somewhere in New England.  Grandpa still having pretty severe troubles.  Here is Elmer and I at some occasion in 1954...from Betty O'Hara..... 

Saturday, June 13, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 13, 1964
Saturday cloudy and rain in am.  Roger Cohn here for dinner.  Clifton got water running from barn and fixed stove.  Clifton went to Dr. Lyons in pm and we stopped to see Grandpa on way home, he was quite a bit better. 
Comment:  I met Roger the first week at Cobleskill Ag & Tech.  He was a paratrooper vet and we would wind up spending a lot of time together as well as roommates in a travel trailer (Uncle Earl's) when we both attended SUNY@Albany.  I took him on several truck runs delivering milk down along the Hudson to Peekskill. He became a Town Of Cobleskill Supervisor....Here he is with former wife Maureen just before me and Mary Ann's wedding in 1965...

Friday, June 12, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 12, 1964
Friday, beautiful day, 70's, clear.  I washed in am and Evelyn and I went to Middleburgh.  I did some ironing in pm.  Clifton was home early and he and I went over to see Grandpa in the evening, he was some better.  Ina Belle came.  Vadna Buell had serious operation at Cooperstown.

Comment: Vadna and Bruce Buel were the landlords when Dad and Mom first got married and rented from them in Gilboa. The house they rented was the Gilboa Post Office when Uncle Merel was the Post Master for the town.....

Thursday, June 11, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 11, 1964

Thursday, lovely, clear day but cool, 60''s.  I had a Missionary meeting, 10 of us.  Grandpa had a shock. We went over to see him in the evening.
Comment: Not sure if Grandpa had a stroke or a shock. Since I don't remember any lasting effects of a stroke, I think Grandpa got an electrical shock somehow, maybe trying to wire something. That generation was pretty fast and loose about electricity. I remember my Dad checking a spark plug with his thumbnail and that's not the most comfortable way to do it.....

Wednesday, June 10, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 10, 1964
Wednesday, 70's hot, humid and windy, thunder showers around noon, becoming less humid, sunny in pm.  I wrote to Marilyn. I cleaned upstairs and baked cookies.  Gerald and David took T.V. to be fixed in pm.

Comment:  I have no recollection of taking the T.V. to be fixed.  Here are some of the shows we were watching back then and I think the picture is the exact TV we watched them on:  

• The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968)
• The Avengers, UK (1961–1969)
• Ben Casey (1961–1966)
• The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966)
• The Mike Douglas Show (1961–1981)
• Mister Ed (1961–1966)
• Wide World of Sports (1961–1997)
• The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971)
• Combat! (1962–1967)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992)
• Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (1963–1988, 2002–present)

Tuesday, June 9, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 9, 1964
Tuesday warm and humid 70's.  I did a big wash and  went to Louvilla's after plants she kept for me.  David and Gerald went job hunting.  Gerald got one with Bonded. I set out tomato plants.

Comment:  The job was delivering hot asphalt to various roofing and paving companies around the Capitol District area of New York.  I drove a White tractor with Road Ranger Transmission pulling a 7000 gallon tanker.  The trailer had propane heating equipment to keep the asphalt hot enough to pump out to the holding tanks for the companies.  After riding with experienced drivers for a couple of days, I took my first solo trip and promptly got hopelessly lost on some hilly, narrow streets in Schenectady.  By the time I had delivered all the asphalt, I had a blister the size of a golf ball on the palm of my right hand from shifting the transmission so much...it was not a lot of fun.  Sickening fumes, sticky, hot asphalt that would leave blisters at a touch, and lots of high pressure connections, that if not totally secure, could spew asphalt for yards around.  All the delivery points were splattered and blackened with spilled asphalt.....

Monday, June 8, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 8, 1964
Monday, cloudy in am, 70's.  Clearing in pm.  I did some house cleaning.  Had a letter from Marilyn.

Looking West Down Hubbard Road,
House on the right, garage on the left.  The gap in the
tree is to allow for electrical wires.....

Comment:  Quiet Monday, sounds like a nice day on the hill...

Sunday, June 7, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 7, 1964
Sunday, 60's, cloudy, showers in the pm.  Sue and I went to church and Sunday School.  Carol went to Kingsley's.  Clifton, girls and I went to Sandy Bennels (?) wedding and reception at Alton's after girls and I went to church at night.  Boys took Doug to Kingston about 6 am.

Comment:  Doug back to duty.  Alton is Alton Kinglsey.  Not sure who Sandy Bennels is...wonder if they are still married..From Susan:  I think the wedding was Sandy Kingsley and Benny Benjamin. Susan

Saturday, June 6, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 6, 1964
Saturday, nice day, warmer.  Boys painted on the house.  Clifton, the girls and I went to Middleburgh in pm.  Girls had hair done for wedding.  We called on Papa and Billie.  Went to church at night to rally and saw City of the Bells.  Betty Lossee's funeral.
Comment:  No mention of D Day and not sure whose wedding it is.

Barry (James) Taylor called and told me Betty Lossee was the daughter of Clarence Lossee who owned a general store and gas station in Livingstonville and I think Dad and Mom stayed in one of his houses just after they were married.  The Lossees were also relatives of Clifford Taylor, Barry's father, married to Evelyn.  

Friday, June 5, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 5, 1964
Friday, clear,  frost.  Washed in am and sewed on girl's dresses.  We went to talent show at Grand Gorge at night, real good.  Doug came home.

Comment:  Wow, frost in June.  Carol, Sue and Wayne singing at the talent show.  They probably performed Wings Of A Dove.  Sue told me that Carol and Wayne sang the melody in unison and she harmonized.  Not sure if Doug saw the show.  Here they are on stage at the show...I heard them do it a couple of times and it really was very good. The song was very popular in the early sixties.  It was Number 1 on the country charts for 10 weeks in 1960. It still is covered by lots of artists.  See below for more information about the song....
Doug on pass or leave from Navy.  I'm kicking myself for not making that show and that weekend....don't remember what I was doing that took precedent over this....no video or audio recordings of it either....Below is a link to Ferlin Husky  doing the song.  He does it almost as good as they did..

Wings Of  A Dove: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_of_a_Dove_(Bob_Ferguson_song)

Thursday, June 4, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 4, 1964
Thursday, clear and windy, cool, 50's.  I sewed on Sue's dress.  Betty Losee was killed at Central Bridge in a wreck.  I went to prayer meeting.  Kids went to Grand Gorge for practice.  David worked for Earl in am.

Comment: The Losees, if I have the name right, were distant relatives on my mom's side but I'm having trouble remembering anything about them. If I remember the accident correctly, she pulled onto Route 7 from Route 30 in front of a tractor-trailer coming down the hill from Cobleskill and was annihilated. She probably thought the rig could brake like a car (as a lot of people do) and was fatally mistaken... Kids getting ready for the Fair which starts in August. I somehow missed this whole thing. I was in my last year at SUNY@Albany and must have been very busy....

Wednesday, June 3, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 3, 1964
Wednesday, cloudy, cool.  Rainy in pm.  I wrote to Marilyn and Norma.  Sewed one of Sue's dresses for the talent show and wedding. LaVerne and Roberta were here in evening.

Comment: Wayne, Carol and Susan are getting ready for a talent show that will result in them performing at the 1964 World's Fair in New York...not sure who's wedding they are preparing for...

Tuesday, June 2, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 2, 1964
Tuesday, fair, clear and warmer, 62.  I washed in am and sewed for Sue.  David worked for Earl.  Clifton wrote to Marilyn and sent check for steel bell.
Comment:  Not sure what the steel bell is about....here is a collage of pictures from Susan.....not sure the year....upper left is a house full of grand kids when Marilyn was there, upper right, Mom with Jeffrey, bottom left, Bessie, Mom, Dad, bottom right, Sue, Bessie, Mom.

Monday, June 1, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

June 1, 1964
Monday, cloudy, cool, 50's.  Clifton was home and Wayne the girls and I went to Oneonta in pm.  Got new water pump.  David worked for Earl.  We finished making garden in am.

Comment:  It seemed that we had a constant problem with getting water to the house.  In the winter various pipes would freeze and in all seasons we would be plagued with mechanical problems of one sort or another.   Here is a picture in 1950 of Wayne helping me fix my bike with the concrete well casing in the right back ground.  I bought the bike from Franklin Brown for $10 and it was always a piece of crap, very hard to pedal with no solution that I could find.....

Sunday, May 31, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 31, 1964
Sunday, cool, mostly sunny.  Sue and I went to Church and Sunday School and over to Prattsville after Carol.  LaVerne and Roberta went to Paul and Norma's.

Comment:  Paul and Norma's is Paul Ellis and his wife, son of Madeline and Clarence Ellis, the oldest child in the Elmer Hubbard family and also the first to die in 1955 of heart disease at the age of 51.  Here is a picture in the early fifties of her, my mother and Winifred, the youngest child in the family of eight.  Not sure what the occasion was but the whole family was there. Paul was a New York State Trooper and also flew for them for a while.  Probably got his interest in airplanes from his brother Glendon who was in the Army Air Corp during WWII.  Glennie, as we called him died of a heart attack in 1973 at the age of 43.....

Saturday, May 30, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 30, 1964 
Saturday, Memorial Day.  Fair and warmer, 50's.  Carol still at Mary O'hara's.  Wayne worked for LaVerne.  Clifton fixed wood house floor and I did some painting on the house.  Boys went out at night.  Dougie called about 8:30 and Carol called asked to stay until Sunday.
Comment:  Seems basically a work day, probably Carol saw a parade in Prattsville, but nothing ever happened in Gilboa...the previous year's diary, Mom says that Carol played in the band in the parade and the family went to the parade....http://gerryhubbard.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-30-1963-frances-hubbard-diaries.html

Friday, May 29, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 29, 1964
Friday, cloudy, real cool, windy, 52 high.  The boys, Clifton, and I started to paint the house.  Had letter from Marilyn.  We cleaned the wood house and I washed.  Carol went home with Mary O'Hara after school.

Marilyn, Gerald, LaVerne, 1942 or so

Comment: The house was never painted until I was in my mid-teens and I don't remember the first time it was painted. Here is how it looked in the early forty's....it deteriorated after that until the mid-fifties when Dad started to make some money on construction jobs thanks to Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System which brought us out of the post-Korean War recession...how come we can't do something like that now? Hmmm

Thursday, May 28, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 28, 1964
Thursday, cool, mostly cloudy.  Clifton didn't work and we went to Mother's for dinner and did some shopping in Cobleskill; bought paint and hardware for the house.  Called on Papa and Billy.  LaVerne and Roberta here in evening.  I forgot about prayer meeting.

Comment: Papa was, of course, Clarence Barber, my mom's father. Billy was my mother's mother's sister and therein lies a tale that's been told before.....In 2011 I returned to Papa's farm and Kelsy Hill and pictures of the old homestead. The only structure that remained true to my memory was the barn pictured here...For the story of Papa, Billy, Bessie and Norm go here: http://gerryhubbard.blogspot.com/2005/06/susans-memories-of-her-mother_25.html

Wednesday, May 27, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 27, 1964
Wednesday, cool and very windy, mostly cloudy.  Wrote to Marilyn and Dougie.  Did some mending.

Comment: Does anybody do "mending" anymore? I remember Mom had something like this at one time for mending socks...wonder what happened to it?

Tuesday, May 26, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 26, 1964
Tuesday, fair and clear, very windy, 69.  I ironed nearly all day.  Wayne was home from school.  David worked for Tait.

Comment: Not much going on...here is a view of Hubbard Hill from South Mountain. The fire tower can barely be seen on the top....

Monday, May 25, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 25, 1964

Monday, cloudy in am, breaking clear in pm.  Very windy.  I washed and hung clothes in attic because of wind.  Did some ironing.  Sue went home with Becky and Carol stayed at ball game.  David worked for Danny Tait at Grand Gorge.  Carol and I went over to Baileys at night after music for girls.

Comment:  Another week starts, here are the steps up to the attic where she hung the clothes:  

Sunday, May 24, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 24, 1964
Sunday, beautiful day, hot, 80's. Girls and I went to church and Sunday School.  We drove LaVerne's truck over to Earl's in pm and to the lake and got a beautiful bouquet of pinksters.  Girls and I went to church at night.  Mr and Mrs.  Hershey there from Grand Gorge.  Rain in the night, cooler.  LaVerne and Roberta up at night.

Comment:  Our family called the pink and white flowers "pinksters" and they grew wild through out the mountains around Hubbard Hill.  They really are Pinxterbloom Azaleas and  are found in the lower Appalachians from Massachusetts to Georgia.  We use to take many drives in mid spring to see and pick them along the fire roads through the hills....

Saturday, May 23, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 23, 1964 Saturday, hot day, 82, fair and windy.  Grant Schemerhorn here in the morning.  David worked for Earl.  Wayne, Clifton, girls and I went to Stamford after part for pump.  Wayne, Sue stayed at LaVerne's.  Clifton, Carol and I went to Stamford after another pump part.  Clifton worked on it nearly all day and it still didn't work.  David went to prom at Roxbury at night.

Comment:  Grant  "Wild Bill" Schemerhorn was a construction superintendent and probably wanted to talk to Dad about some work. His two younger boys were friends of Doug and David and his older boy was a friend of LaVerne's.  Wild Bill was the first in the area to have a tv and Dad and us kids used to drop in and watch "rassling" on his black and white tv.
 Two trips for water pump parts as they tried to get water from the well into the house.  Here is a picture of how David might have looked going to the prom:  

Friday, May 22, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 22, 1964
Friday, high cloudiness and windy but much warmer, 73.  I washed in am.  Mr. Kandora over in am for David to fix tractor and plows and plow for him.  David mowed some lawn.
Comment:  Mr. Kandora bought the Elmer Hubbard homestead from Uncle Earl and tried to do some farming.  He always bought used equipment that barely worked.  The first year he owned it, LaVerne and I did the "haying" for him with his old New Holland baler and I think, a John Deere tractor.  It did not go well with equipment breaking down all the time and with lots of rain that summer.  We wound up burning the windrows of the last field to complete the job because the hay had rotted.  Mr. Kandora was always very jovial and civil but was pretty much completely lost around the farm.  Here is a video of a similar baler being demonstrated:   Take a look...lots of work and dangerous as hell with all the exposed pulleys, augers and belts.....would betcha' some limbs were lost in the history of that machine.....

May 21, 1964, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 21, 1964, 
Thursday, lovely day, hard frost in am, 28 then 60's.  David went to Oneonta about his hand, drove LaVerne's truck.  I wrote to Marilyn and Doug, did some sewing.  Wayne mowed front lawn at night.  Ella came home from hospital.  Didn't go to prayer meeting.  Clifton didn't get home until 7:45.
Comment:  David got his hand caught in a charcoal briquette press but not sure when.  Mom had not mentioned it in past days.  Dad working overtime....

Wednesday, May 20, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 20, 1964
Wednesday, cloudy, rain, am clearing and becoming windy and much cooler, 50's.  David and I went to Cobleskill with Earl's car, he and Lillian went to Cooperstown with Grandpa and Louise.
Comment:  Uncle Earl always had pretty nice cars.  Being a bachelor for most of his life, he could afford pretty much any car he wanted.  The one I remember the best was a 1953 Mercury Monterey hard-top convertible.  He drove me to Fort Devens, Massachusetts in one just  like this before I shipped out to the language school in Monterey..... same colors too....

Tuesday, May 19, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 19, 1964
Beautiful day but very windy, 70's, thundershower in pm.  Ella still in hospital.  David worked for Earl.  Clifton home early because of rain.  I ironed nearly all day.  Grandpa and Louise here at night about 10 minutes.

Comment:  Here's Dad at age forty on a construction job in Windham, NY.  He was 10 and 12 years younger than both of my sons now....and 43 years younger than I am now....I was 10 years old at the time of the picture.

Monday, May 18, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 18, 1964
Monday, nice day, 65.  Sue home with cold.  David and Wayne went to N.J. for part for Timberland with LaVerne's truck.  Earl stopped for David in am and Barry and Lisa were here.  Carol stayed after school to ball game.  I washed in am and finished Sue's pink dress.  Mother called at night.

Comment:  Lot's going on..here is a picture of Barry (James) Taylor on his ship......I think he was a pirate....note his sidearm and mustache..looks like someone to be reckoned with..... His younger brother Glenn Taylor died less than a month ago in April of 1964 at 21 of kidney disease so it was probably not a very happy visit.  Barry died in 2020.

Sunday, May 17, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 17, 1964

Sunday, lovely day, 60's.  Girls and I went to Sunday School and Church.  Clifton and I went to Marion and Stanley Brown's 25 Anniversary in pm.  Carol, Sue and Joyce Knapp and boys went to LaVerne's and Roberta's.  We took Joyce home in pm.  LaVerne and Roberta went with us.
Comment: And another Sunday comes around..

Saturday, May 16, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 16, 1964
Saturday, lovely day.  Clifton fixed water pipes in wood house.  Joyce Kingsley was here, we picked her up at Baptist camp at noon.  Sue and Carol went over to Sandy MacPhersons  and Sue went with us to Grand Gorge and Prattsville in pm.  LaVerne and Roberta were up at night.  Ella Hubbard was hit in leg by a piece of steel from rotary mower and taken to Margaretville Hospital

Uncle Merle and Aunt Ella, Wedding Announcement

Comment:  Lots of activity, do not remember the Aunt Ella incident.Here is a picture of Aunt Ella and Uncle Merel on their wedding day...

Friday, May 15, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 15, 1964
Friday, nice day. I washed in am and cleaned little bedroom off girl's room and baked cookies.

Comment: This is a picture of that room after it was turned into a laundry room and sewing room after all the kids had left.....not very big for a bedroom and I remember I and the other boys, David, Doug or Wayne sleeping there in one three quarter sized bed..at least it was warm in the winter....I also remember Marilyn, LaVerne and I as quite young kids singin cowboy songs in bed until our mother came in and shushed us. The song that sticks in my mind is "When The Works All Done This Fall" Take a listen....we would sing this song for hours...

Thursday, May 14, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 14, 1964
Thursday cloudy and foggy.  Clifton started work at Pattersonville.  David worked for Earl.  I wrote to Marilyn and Doug.  Went to missionary meeting with Madelyn at Mrs Seaburys stopped at Mary's.

Fog In The Catskills Near Prattsville...

Comment: Not sure who Mary is. Dad back working as Operating Engineer probably on a Thruway interchange, about a 50 mile commute.

Wednesday, May 13, 1964, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, rained hard all day. Partly cloudy and warm, 60's.  David, Clifton and I went to Albany and Schenectady.  They went to Woodcraft about jobs stopped at Lorraine's but no one at home.  Had letter from Paul and Norma inviting us down.  Made part of the garden at night.  Went down to LaVerne's but no one there.  Boys and Sue mowed more lawn.
Comment: The garden was a pretty big deal and we used the tractor to plow and cultivate the plants. Here is what Socrates Hubbard said about his garden in the hills looking over Livingstonville about a 100 years or so prior:

"The Garden" We had a garden, a small patch in the corner of the meddow across the road from the house It was surrounded by a rale fence. along the fence next the road grew harty chokes seeding themselves and had been there from all time. There was also a Hop vine and a long pole for it to run up. Below the garden in the corner of the fence was an other fine Hop vine and just west of it a fine bunch of Peonas. I used to think them most beautiful flower in the world: In this garden we planted beens potatos etc. generaly went to the feeld for green corne peas etc. Then in my recolection (altho I must have been very small) Father surrounded an old colpet bed below the lower woods with a logg fence and made a garden there I think it must have been falieer for it was soon abandened and the fence moved. Sage bushes was growing there maney years after its abandonment. Also an other garden was made below the barn a half acre ground was fenced off of a paster lot a fine wall made round it. This was in the field next below the barn We had in this several years a very fine garden. The first year had quite a lot of watermellons. This was the only patch I ever know of being grown upon the hill. The seasons were too short and cold. We raised corn beens potatos squashes cucumbers etc. etc. string beens was a staple article in these days.

Tuesday, May 12, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 12, 1964
Tuesday, lovely, warm day Clifton and I went to Mother's for dinner.  Sue went to Cobleskill with us.  Clifton went to Union meeting at night alone.  Boys mowed lawn.

Comment: To Cobleskill for unemployment then to Richmondville for "dinner". Here is a black and white picture of the lawn facing east. Sometimes we would use the mower on the tractor when it got too long or we did not have a lawn mower for some reason.....

Monday, May, 11, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May, 11, 1964
Monday, partly cloudy windy upper 50's.  I washed in am.  Clifton poured concrete on lower part of walk.  David worked for Earl.  Clifton planted the weeping willow tree LaVerne and Roberta gave me for Mothers Day.

Comment:  And another weeks starts....the walk was gravel when I was a small child and evolved to field stone.  The ditch probably washed out the lower part so Dad is fixing it with concrete.  Here is a picture of the walk with Carol and Susan on Susan's first day of school.  In the background you can see the concrete blocks bordering the walk.  In the background is a large dog I think is Prince, the one that fell off the tower and broke his hip and leg.....

Sunday, May 10, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 10, 1964
Sunday, Mothers Day, cloudy, real windy and cooler, 50's.  Mother, Norm, Gerald were here for dinner.  David and Wayne went to Robert Schemerhorn's.  Winnie, Rudy and LaVerne and Roberta here in pm.  Girls and I went to church at night.
Comment:  And the family gathers, here is a picture of Rudy and Winnie at the house about that time

Saturday, May 9, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 9, 1964
Saturday, real warm, upper 70's, becoming windy in pm.  Carol and I went to shower for Sandy K at Flat Creek Hall in pm.  Took Sue and Patty up to Mrs. Blakes.  Wayne painted for LaVerne, they were here for supper and went to Fonda after.  Clifton, the girls and I went to Jefferson at night, good program.  Gerald came home.  LaVerne and Roberta brought me weeping willow tree for Mothers Day.

Susan, Roberta, Carol
Gerald, David, LaVerne, Wayne

Comment:  Everybody pretty busy, I came home from SUNY Albany....here is picture of us in 1964 sans Dougie in the Navy and Marilyn in CA. It even might have been Mother's Day.

Friday, May 8, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 8, 1964
Friday, cloudy but warm.  I washed, cleaned front room and changed it around.  Clifton and the girls and I went to a concert at school at night.  Called on Madelyn and borrowed a bread tin of hers.  

Comment: Madelyn and Lyle Blakesley lived about a mile and a half west of us just off Hubbard Road on Bull Hill Road. The sign for Blakesley Road runs up by their homestead. They were the aunt and uncle of Rudy Blakesley who married my Aunt Winnie. We used to buy eggs and raw milk from them. Here is a picture of them at their 50th wedding anniversary.....

Thursday, May 7, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 7, 1964
Thursday, beautiful day, warm.  Clifton and I went to Cobleskill to mother's for lunch.  Sue and I went to prayer meeting at parsonage.  Wrote to Marilyn and Dougie.

Comment:.....view from the house in 2001....

Wednesday, May 6, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 6, 1964
Wednesday, beautiful, clear day, 70.  David, Clifton and I went to Cobleskill in am.  David and Ronnie Schemerhorn worked for Earl in pm.  Clifton worked on garage door.  Saw first barn swallows.
Comment: Another beautiful day on the hill. Barn swallows are amazing fliers and I always loved watching them....here is what I said about them in one of my Songpoemstories: 

"Swallows from the barn would swoop and dive to dine in flight
Their slate-blue wings would flash and gleam with flicking, glinting lights."


Here are swallows drinking on-the-wing. I saw a video of one, while roosting during rain, catch individual rain drops.....

Tuesday, May 5, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 5, 1964
Tuesday, lovely day, 60's, did some ironing.  Ronnie Schemerhorn here for dinner they used our truck and Ronnie helped David at Earl's in pm.  Clifton and I called on Grandpa and Louise in afternoon and took some clothes over.  LaVerne and Roberta up at night and we went to Middleburgh and looked at Plymouths.

1964 Plymouth Belvedere

Comment:  Not sure why they are looking at cars, maybe the California trip did the old one in...

Monday, May 4, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 4, 1964
Monday, nice day, 60's.  Clifton and I went to Cobleskill in am to Briggs Lumber Company.  I washed in pm.  David took horse for Earl and did some work for him.  Lillian was in city working and Earl stayed at Grandpa and Louise's.  Clifton and I went to Dr's.

Comment:  Another week starts, somebody is sick, not sure who.  Lot's of activity with Grandpa and Louise.....the house in the early fifties...Dad is working on the Packard....

Sunday, May 3, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 3, 1964
Sunday, beautiful, warm day.  Girls and I went to church and Sunday School.  Went down to see LaVerne's after dinner and they went with us to Lexington, Roxbury and back home.  Sue and I went to church at night.  Carol and I called on Ella.

Aunt Ella's 81st Birthday, NOV 25, 1995, Maude Haskin Left,
Frances Hubbard Right

Comment:  I'll bet they had some chocolate cake at Aunt Ella's or an apple pie.  My mouth waters to think about it.  Here is a picture of Aunt Ella and her best friends on her 81st birthday......

Saturday, May 2, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

May 2, 1964
Saturday, beautiful, sunny day, 58, east wind.  I finished Carol's dress, cleaned house all thru, did some ironing.  Donna went home 12:30.  David's unemployment check came.

Comment:  View To South Mountain from up back......

Friday, May 1, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaires

May 1, 1964
Friday, cloudy, east wind, 40's.  I washed in am.  Carol and Donna walked down to her house.  David worked for Earl and Wayne for Alton, the last day for both of them.  Evelyn, Clifford, and Grandpa stopped in am but didn't get out of the car.  Girls went to party at church hall.  Had letters from Marilyn and the kids.  An unemployment check came for Clifton.

Comment:  East wind in the '40s, not a pleasant day to be outside.  Here is a picture of Evelyn and Clifford on their wedding day.  A very good-looking couple....their youngest son Glenn Taylor has just died of kidney disease 20 days before on Saturday, April 11 1964 at three am.  He was 21 years old.