My mother, Sally (Harter) Sargent, and her twin sister, Nancy, grew up next door to Marion on Market Street in Berwick, and her life and death made a lasting impression on my mother. When I asked her about her saddest childhood memory, she wrote this, at the age of 87. --Ellen (Sargent) Johnson - [email protected], 5/9/2021
"When asked, "What was the saddest time in your childhood?" Without any hesitation, I thought of Marion. She was our friend who had moved next door with her parents Ethel and Joe Abel, and her grandmother, "Nana", who was in her 80's. Marion was 14 - Nancy and I were 11. We became friends! Marion wasn't a healthy kid. When she was quite young she had rheumatic fever which left her with heart damage, so she was very delicate but so well cared for. She had a great imagination. Our bedroom windows were across from one another and we had our little signal system set up! We even had a little teenager clubhouse area set up in their finished attic. Marion was the baby of the family and wasn't denied much but she wasn't "spoiled". She had a lot of angora sweaters from Nellie Welliver's Dress Shop! They were all the rage! Nancy and I had one!
She couldn't do much physically but I do recall sledding in the winter. One year we got a small toboggan for Christmas. There was a great hill back of our house. We'd go down the hill on the toboggan with Marion and pull her back up! She didn't have to do anything but enjoy the ride!
Of course we were back and forth between houses. We liked going over to hang out in her bedroom. We'd walk past Nana's bedroom and if it were early evening, she'd call out to us and we'd go in to see her. Without fail, she'll be sitting up in bed with a glass of beer and her rosary on the bedside table. She had been a nurse for many years - tiny, wrinkled, and adorable!
It was March 23, 1945. We came home from school for lunch. Mother was standing at the stove, stirring soup, crying! We were puzzled. She turned to us and said "Marion died this morning." You can't imagine our shock or disbelief hearing those words. Our friend was dead! Marion had been in the hospital. Our family doctor was also the Abel's doctor and being the friend he was to Mother and Daddy, had stopped at our house to tell Mother what had happened. Of course she had gone over immediately. If medicine had been more advanced as it is now, she could have been saved by heart surgery. So sad –
The time frame has failed me but this I will never forget - they brought Marion's body back home and and Nana came over to our house. Mother was already there. Nana said that Marion would have wanted us to come over. We had never seen a dead person, particularly in this situation, but we went. Marion was in the front sunroom. She was dressed in a pale yellow taffeta pinafore with a white blouse with puffed sleeves. It's burned into my memory! It was difficult for us to see her, but I'm so glad that we did!
Something else traumatic happened. Her funeral service was at the Episcopal Church on Market Street (where Nancy was married.) I don't know who's idea it was, but there were several of us little girls who carried flower baskets to the altar before the service. Somehow, the Vice Principal, who was a terror in her own right, and everybody was afraid of, impressed upon us that we were "NOT TO CRY!" because she said that when her mother died, there was a lady who attended a lot of funerals and always made a scene at all of them! Can you imagine our hearts pounding at that?! Unspeakable - so you can see the whole thing was a nightmare!!
Soon after Marion's death, her big sister and husband had a baby, and visited frequently. Nancy and I loved to push him in his carriage up and down Market Street when they would come to visit. That was such a blessing to Mrs. Abel who was just grieving for so long - and Ruthie, who got a break from baby care!!
To lighten up this sad tale, I recall this - it was a beautiful late March day shortly after the funeral. Nancy and I were out in the backyard. Joe Abel came out into his yard and expelled a huge gust of flatulence! Nancy and I were thrilled to giggle hysterically. It was badly needed. In time, life went back to normal for us but we missed Marion."
I hope that a descendent of Marion's will read this, and get a glimpse into her short life, and know that she was loved, and missed! - Ellen (Sargent) Johnson
"When asked, "What was the saddest time in your childhood?" Without any hesitation, I thought of Marion. She was our friend who had moved next door with her parents Ethel and Joe Abel, and her grandmother, "Nana", who was in her 80's. Marion was 14 - Nancy and I were 11. We became friends! Marion wasn't a healthy kid. When she was quite young she had rheumatic fever which left her with heart damage, so she was very delicate but so well cared for. She had a great imagination. Our bedroom windows were across from one another and we had our little signal system set up! We even had a little teenager clubhouse area set up in their finished attic. Marion was the baby of the family and wasn't denied much but she wasn't "spoiled". She had a lot of angora sweaters from Nellie Welliver's Dress Shop! They were all the rage! Nancy and I had one!
She couldn't do much physically but I do recall sledding in the winter. One year we got a small toboggan for Christmas. There was a great hill back of our house. We'd go down the hill on the toboggan with Marion and pull her back up! She didn't have to do anything but enjoy the ride!
Of course we were back and forth between houses. We liked going over to hang out in her bedroom. We'd walk past Nana's bedroom and if it were early evening, she'd call out to us and we'd go in to see her. Without fail, she'll be sitting up in bed with a glass of beer and her rosary on the bedside table. She had been a nurse for many years - tiny, wrinkled, and adorable!
It was March 23, 1945. We came home from school for lunch. Mother was standing at the stove, stirring soup, crying! We were puzzled. She turned to us and said "Marion died this morning." You can't imagine our shock or disbelief hearing those words. Our friend was dead! Marion had been in the hospital. Our family doctor was also the Abel's doctor and being the friend he was to Mother and Daddy, had stopped at our house to tell Mother what had happened. Of course she had gone over immediately. If medicine had been more advanced as it is now, she could have been saved by heart surgery. So sad –
The time frame has failed me but this I will never forget - they brought Marion's body back home and and Nana came over to our house. Mother was already there. Nana said that Marion would have wanted us to come over. We had never seen a dead person, particularly in this situation, but we went. Marion was in the front sunroom. She was dressed in a pale yellow taffeta pinafore with a white blouse with puffed sleeves. It's burned into my memory! It was difficult for us to see her, but I'm so glad that we did!
Something else traumatic happened. Her funeral service was at the Episcopal Church on Market Street (where Nancy was married.) I don't know who's idea it was, but there were several of us little girls who carried flower baskets to the altar before the service. Somehow, the Vice Principal, who was a terror in her own right, and everybody was afraid of, impressed upon us that we were "NOT TO CRY!" because she said that when her mother died, there was a lady who attended a lot of funerals and always made a scene at all of them! Can you imagine our hearts pounding at that?! Unspeakable - so you can see the whole thing was a nightmare!!
Soon after Marion's death, her big sister and husband had a baby, and visited frequently. Nancy and I loved to push him in his carriage up and down Market Street when they would come to visit. That was such a blessing to Mrs. Abel who was just grieving for so long - and Ruthie, who got a break from baby care!!
To lighten up this sad tale, I recall this - it was a beautiful late March day shortly after the funeral. Nancy and I were out in the backyard. Joe Abel came out into his yard and expelled a huge gust of flatulence! Nancy and I were thrilled to giggle hysterically. It was badly needed. In time, life went back to normal for us but we missed Marion."
I hope that a descendent of Marion's will read this, and get a glimpse into her short life, and know that she was loved, and missed! - Ellen (Sargent) Johnson
My mother, Sally (Harter) Sargent, and her twin sister, Nancy, grew up next door to Marion on Market Street in Berwick, and her life and death made a lasting impression on my mother. When I asked her about her saddest childhood memory, she wrote this, at the age of 87. --Ellen (Sargent) Johnson - [email protected], 5/9/2021
"When asked, "What was the saddest time in your childhood?" Without any hesitation, I thought of Marion. She was our friend who had moved next door with her parents Ethel and Joe Abel, and her grandmother, "Nana", who was in her 80's. Marion was 14 - Nancy and I were 11. We became friends! Marion wasn't a healthy kid. When she was quite young she had rheumatic fever which left her with heart damage, so she was very delicate but so well cared for. She had a great imagination. Our bedroom windows were across from one another and we had our little signal system set up! We even had a little teenager clubhouse area set up in their finished attic. Marion was the baby of the family and wasn't denied much but she wasn't "spoiled". She had a lot of angora sweaters from Nellie Welliver's Dress Shop! They were all the rage! Nancy and I had one!
She couldn't do much physically but I do recall sledding in the winter. One year we got a small toboggan for Christmas. There was a great hill back of our house. We'd go down the hill on the toboggan with Marion and pull her back up! She didn't have to do anything but enjoy the ride!
Of course we were back and forth between houses. We liked going over to hang out in her bedroom. We'd walk past Nana's bedroom and if it were early evening, she'd call out to us and we'd go in to see her. Without fail, she'll be sitting up in bed with a glass of beer and her rosary on the bedside table. She had been a nurse for many years - tiny, wrinkled, and adorable!
It was March 23, 1945. We came home from school for lunch. Mother was standing at the stove, stirring soup, crying! We were puzzled. She turned to us and said "Marion died this morning." You can't imagine our shock or disbelief hearing those words. Our friend was dead! Marion had been in the hospital. Our family doctor was also the Abel's doctor and being the friend he was to Mother and Daddy, had stopped at our house to tell Mother what had happened. Of course she had gone over immediately. If medicine had been more advanced as it is now, she could have been saved by heart surgery. So sad –
The time frame has failed me but this I will never forget - they brought Marion's body back home and and Nana came over to our house. Mother was already there. Nana said that Marion would have wanted us to come over. We had never seen a dead person, particularly in this situation, but we went. Marion was in the front sunroom. She was dressed in a pale yellow taffeta pinafore with a white blouse with puffed sleeves. It's burned into my memory! It was difficult for us to see her, but I'm so glad that we did!
Something else traumatic happened. Her funeral service was at the Episcopal Church on Market Street (where Nancy was married.) I don't know who's idea it was, but there were several of us little girls who carried flower baskets to the altar before the service. Somehow, the Vice Principal, who was a terror in her own right, and everybody was afraid of, impressed upon us that we were "NOT TO CRY!" because she said that when her mother died, there was a lady who attended a lot of funerals and always made a scene at all of them! Can you imagine our hearts pounding at that?! Unspeakable - so you can see the whole thing was a nightmare!!
Soon after Marion's death, her big sister and husband had a baby, and visited frequently. Nancy and I loved to push him in his carriage up and down Market Street when they would come to visit. That was such a blessing to Mrs. Abel who was just grieving for so long - and Ruthie, who got a break from baby care!!
To lighten up this sad tale, I recall this - it was a beautiful late March day shortly after the funeral. Nancy and I were out in the backyard. Joe Abel came out into his yard and expelled a huge gust of flatulence! Nancy and I were thrilled to giggle hysterically. It was badly needed. In time, life went back to normal for us but we missed Marion."
I hope that a descendent of Marion's will read this, and get a glimpse into her short life, and know that she was loved, and missed! - Ellen (Sargent) Johnson
"When asked, "What was the saddest time in your childhood?" Without any hesitation, I thought of Marion. She was our friend who had moved next door with her parents Ethel and Joe Abel, and her grandmother, "Nana", who was in her 80's. Marion was 14 - Nancy and I were 11. We became friends! Marion wasn't a healthy kid. When she was quite young she had rheumatic fever which left her with heart damage, so she was very delicate but so well cared for. She had a great imagination. Our bedroom windows were across from one another and we had our little signal system set up! We even had a little teenager clubhouse area set up in their finished attic. Marion was the baby of the family and wasn't denied much but she wasn't "spoiled". She had a lot of angora sweaters from Nellie Welliver's Dress Shop! They were all the rage! Nancy and I had one!
She couldn't do much physically but I do recall sledding in the winter. One year we got a small toboggan for Christmas. There was a great hill back of our house. We'd go down the hill on the toboggan with Marion and pull her back up! She didn't have to do anything but enjoy the ride!
Of course we were back and forth between houses. We liked going over to hang out in her bedroom. We'd walk past Nana's bedroom and if it were early evening, she'd call out to us and we'd go in to see her. Without fail, she'll be sitting up in bed with a glass of beer and her rosary on the bedside table. She had been a nurse for many years - tiny, wrinkled, and adorable!
It was March 23, 1945. We came home from school for lunch. Mother was standing at the stove, stirring soup, crying! We were puzzled. She turned to us and said "Marion died this morning." You can't imagine our shock or disbelief hearing those words. Our friend was dead! Marion had been in the hospital. Our family doctor was also the Abel's doctor and being the friend he was to Mother and Daddy, had stopped at our house to tell Mother what had happened. Of course she had gone over immediately. If medicine had been more advanced as it is now, she could have been saved by heart surgery. So sad –
The time frame has failed me but this I will never forget - they brought Marion's body back home and and Nana came over to our house. Mother was already there. Nana said that Marion would have wanted us to come over. We had never seen a dead person, particularly in this situation, but we went. Marion was in the front sunroom. She was dressed in a pale yellow taffeta pinafore with a white blouse with puffed sleeves. It's burned into my memory! It was difficult for us to see her, but I'm so glad that we did!
Something else traumatic happened. Her funeral service was at the Episcopal Church on Market Street (where Nancy was married.) I don't know who's idea it was, but there were several of us little girls who carried flower baskets to the altar before the service. Somehow, the Vice Principal, who was a terror in her own right, and everybody was afraid of, impressed upon us that we were "NOT TO CRY!" because she said that when her mother died, there was a lady who attended a lot of funerals and always made a scene at all of them! Can you imagine our hearts pounding at that?! Unspeakable - so you can see the whole thing was a nightmare!!
Soon after Marion's death, her big sister and husband had a baby, and visited frequently. Nancy and I loved to push him in his carriage up and down Market Street when they would come to visit. That was such a blessing to Mrs. Abel who was just grieving for so long - and Ruthie, who got a break from baby care!!
To lighten up this sad tale, I recall this - it was a beautiful late March day shortly after the funeral. Nancy and I were out in the backyard. Joe Abel came out into his yard and expelled a huge gust of flatulence! Nancy and I were thrilled to giggle hysterically. It was badly needed. In time, life went back to normal for us but we missed Marion."
I hope that a descendent of Marion's will read this, and get a glimpse into her short life, and know that she was loved, and missed! - Ellen (Sargent) Johnson
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