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- Letter from John Richard WEBSTER;
Eugene F. VOGT received a letter from John Richard WEBSTER on 22 July 1997 listing the people pictured in a photograph given to Eugene & Joanne GONSLAVES pictuing a gathering in July 1946 for the Wedding Shower of John's parents; Helen Florence NELSON and Richard Blaine WEBSTER.
Contents of the letter:
July 18, 1997
Dear Joanne & Gene,
I have received today the package of photographs that Joanne sent to me. I certainly appreciate having them and will distribute to others some that I have copies of. Howard mentioned to my mother at Marjorie's funeral that he had some pictures for her and I suppose these are the ones.
I am interested to know if Howard or any of you have any of the immigration papers that the Nelsons or Olivers would have come from Sweden with. I would love to see them or copies. I always suspected that Marjorie had them as she was one to keep such stuff but not one to freely inform others about them. She was so secretive about the darndest things.
I will not only give you a rundown of who is who in the photograph that you sent but a few background notes as well. I think a photo like this deserves some additional information even for the Vogts, who may be interested in extended family information.
July 1946? Probably.
This is a Webster photograph showing a few of the people who came for a combined wedding shower for Richard and Helen Webster and a Twenty Fifth Wedding Anniversary celebration for Leigh and Alice Webster. Pictured are the wedding shower gifts for Richie and Helen. The Broil Maid box on the ground held an elaborate 1946 style broiler contraption with a domed cover and very much a shiny stainless steel marvel of the era, it was an anniversary gift for Leigh and Alice, this is not in the picture.
The location is at the very wooded lot of Levitt and Eunice Gagnon in Reading. For years as kids we went to the Gagnons for cookouts on Sunday afternoons with mother and dad and other Websters' and many others. Grammy Nelson came on occasion as did Marjorie and Howard and Howard Jr. The Vogts' may have come at some time but I do not remember them coming. Of course with your grandparents living with you I suppose on Sundays you stayed close to home.
Helen and Richard were married: August 10, 1946, at Wilmington, Mass.
Leigh and Alice were married: July 12, 1921, Cristobal, Canal Zone, Panama
Left to Right: Leigh H. Webster (Richard's father), Charles L. Webster (Richard's oldest brother, was a Wilmington fire official and the Wilmington Electrical Inspector), Ellen Christina (Oliver, Vogt) Nelson (Helen's mother), Mrs. Robert Webster (Marion). Helen Florence (Nelson) Webster, Robert Webster (son of Fred and Eva Webster, cousin to Richard Webster), Mrs. Leigh Webster (Alice Chloe Lake), Fred Webster (Leigh Webster's brother, lived in Reading), Mrs. Fred Webster (Eva), Richard Blaine Webster. Little Robert (Bobby) Webster, Jr.
Joanne's comment about the cute little guy in the front is right, he is cute. As a child my brothers and I were envious of him because he was an only child and could have a talking parrot. But he has had his share of problems. He was injured in Vietnam and had one of his legs amputated. He could not get his act together in New England so he went to California and was there several years then married an Asian girl an immigrant or an American-Asian I do not recall . About fifteen years ago while working as an insurance executive in San Francisco he was a victim in a shooting that got national attention at the time. I recall that an unhappy boyfriend or lover or husband walked into this insurance office and shot everyone in sight to get to his girl. I believe some were killed. Bobby was badly injured but lived. I know no more as his parents are now diseased and he does not keep in touch with anyone anymore.
Fred Webster for some reason (work I suppose though I do not know what he did for work), had moved from Lewiston Maine to Reading in the early 1920's. I have a postcard he sent to his brother Leigh in Balboa stating "I have found you and Alice a house in Reading, near me. It is a nice big house with several acres". It was of course 96 John St. Leigh Webster was a Master Carpenter and was employed by the Boston Naval Shipyards. He took the bus to and from work until his retirement around 1955, they never had a car, he never drove.
Leigh and Alice met and were married in Panama. Leigh from an old Maine family of farmers and carpenters. He was born in 1887 on Mackworth Island, in Casco Bay off Portland. Now it is the site of the Baxter School for the Deaf and one can drive to the island on a causeway.
Alice was born in 1888 in Shade Gap, Pennsylvania. Shade Gap was the site in the 1960's of a series of terrible murders in the mountains that caused a national sensation. Shade Gap has no other claim to fame. She had 4 brothers, they were a poor Pennsylvania Dutch farming family who moved to Harrisburg "the city" and all 5 children eventually went to college. All the brothers were doctors or lawyers and Alice became a nurse and went to Panama to work in the malaria hospitals. Leigh was a carpentry foreman on the lock construction projects and they were married in Panama.
When my mother and father eventually sold 96 John Street, there was still a lot of Leigh and Alice to clean out also. One group of things were my grandmothers syringes and other implements she used during her career, many from the Panama days (during my early childhood she worked as a private duty nurse at night and she always slept during the day). None of us thought they had any real value, I even recommended to toss them so a drug user could not get hold of them. David had a bright idea and took them to Harvard Medical School where they were overjoyed with them and they were donated to the School Museum. The glowing letter received from Harvard tells about having some of the things in their collection but none as complete sets in original packaging, original leather cases etc.
This is perhaps more then you wanted, but now I can attach one of these notes to my copy of the picture. I have so much sorting and organizing to do, and as retired, I do not have to time to deal with it. I have made inquiries though about transferring Uncle Harry's vintage movies to video tape. I am controlling some of the income from the sale of 3616 so when I get back from Maine in October I will have duplicates made for everybody and send them along. I want to get this done before mother can no longer help identify some of the people who may be pictured on the films.
I have two pictures I am sending along to Joanne that were in Harry's things. There are other pictures to be sorted still at Toms apartment and a few I have taken to NC but will deal with it in the fall.
I will also enclose a copy of a letter I recently wrote to some close friends about how I have spent the last year.
Sincerely,
John
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