Archive 2008 - 2019

Ninety-Six Years of Holliston Memories... But Who's Counting?

by Krista Harper
2/23/2010


Ruth Vernon (born Ruth Bradford) and her family moved from Melrose, MA to Holliston when she was two years old, in 1913. They lived in a house on Green Street until she was in the sixth grade. Her father died the same year the family moved to Holliston, so Ruth and her sister were raised by their mother, who did housekeeping and odd jobs to support her family.

When she was young, Vernon says, “everybody knew everybody.” Most people got around by street cars, which came and went from Milford and Framingham all day long. She remembers that when she was a young girl, the family that lived across the street from her still had a horse and buggy.



Vernon can’t remember how old she was when electricity came to Holliston, but she knows her house was the last in town to be hooked up to the grid. Until then, she listened to the radio at friends’ houses and her mother lit the house with lanterns at night. They had a well with a hand pump for water, and the toilet was in an outhouse. “That was awful,” Vernon says, reminiscing about her childhood without sewerage or electricity. “I don’t know how we survived that.”

Vernon remembers most of the major events of the 20th century, starting with America’s entry into World War I. “I can remember seeing the headlines that said, ‘War Declared!’” says Vernon. “I could read that when I was six.”

Vernon’s fond memories of her childhood in Holliston include playing street games, putting on shows with neighborhood children, going on winter sleigh rides and going to the movies. She would scrounge up the ten-cent admission to Holliston’s Town Hall which, among its other roles, played silent films at the time. As the film rolled, a local girl would play a piano to accompany the silent actors on screen. From her regular spot in the first row on the balcony, Vernon says she had a great view of the action. It was a good escape from everyday life, she remembers, at least until the projector would stop. “The movies would always break down."

Vernon graduated from Holliston High School in 1929, one of a class of 24 students. She continued living at home with her mother, and within weeks of her commencement she found a job in Boston doing clerical work at the John Hancock Life Insurance Company, as it was then known. She was lucky to have the job at John Hancock, because that fall, the Great Depression began. Vernon kept her job there until the early 1940s. Every weekday for 15 years, Vernon took the train into Boston and back again, and almost every morning she nearly missed it, she says, laughing. “I would always run to catch it. The engineer would recognize me, wave and wait for me before leaving.”

During her time as a clerical worker, Ruth dated her former HHS classmate Howard “Punk” Vernon, but their relationship had its ups and downs.  After years of on again, off again courtship, the couple eventually made it to the altar in the middle of World War II.



Punk Vernon was an avid ballplayer – skilled in baseball as well as basketball. In those days Holliston had town sports teams for both ball games. Sometimes, when Holliston teams did well against nearby towns, they would have the chance to travel out of state for bigger competitions. Ruth Vernon often went along to cheer on the Holliston team. “It was fun. It was something different to get out of town.” Punk was so good at baseball that he was invited to join Boston’s town team, but declined because it would have required him to move away from Holliston.

The Vernons had a son, Jay, and six years later, their second son, Peter, was born. Ruth, now finished with her job at John Hancock, stayed home with their children. Sadly, after years of smoking, Punk contracted lung cancer in his mid-40s. He passed away at 46 or 47. Some numbers and dates escape her, Ruth says. “It was so long ago now.  In some ways, I just forgot that part of my life.”

Jay, 8, was in grade school by then, but Peter was only 2, so she stayed home until he was in first grade. Then she got a job at the HHS cafeteria, which worked well for her because it meant she was home by early afternoon. “I was one of those people who felt you had to be home when your kids were home from school.  I could have had a good job, but I felt they were more important.” Vernon’s sons grew up, and she kept working at the cafeteria. She finally retired at the age of 70.

She attended all the high school reunions that she could, though the last for her class, the 50th, was held in 1979. About ten of her classmates showed up to that one. The last HHS reunion she went to was an all-class reunion a few years ago, where she was the oldest attendee.

Her family has stayed close to home. Her son Peter and his family moved into a house diagonally across the street from her, so she was able to spend a lot of time with her grandchildren when they were young. Vernon’s eldest son, Jay, spends most nights at her house now, to watch out for her.  “At my age, it’s kind of hard.  When I fall, it helps if they’re nearby.”  Peter’s children are now teenagers. Her granddaughter Amy, 18, is attending Colby-Sawyer College, while her 15-year-od grandson, Adam, is in school at HHS.

Although her house is full of objects that divulge her age, like her parents’ icebox that sits in a corner of her otherwise modernized kitchen, Vernon isn’t one to live in the past. Most of the photos posted on her refrigerator are clearly from the past ten years, and one of Vernon’s hobbies is listening to a police scanner she keeps on the kitchen table. The scanner is turned on most of the time, though she always misses the exciting things, she says. 



Vernon likes to keep up on local news, but she’s never learned how to use a computer, so she’s not a HollistonReporter.com follower.  “I think if I had started using computers when they first came out, I’d be okay,” she says. “Maybe ten years ago… But they flabbergast me, I’m awed by them. They do so much.”  Peter keeps her up to date on Holliston’s news. He’ll print out this article for her.

With more than nine decade’s worth of Holliston memories, what can Ruth Vernon say of the changes that have occurred in her lifetime? “Everything’s changed,” she says, nodding. “Nothing’s the same.” She smiles.  To Ruth Vernon, it seems, that's just fine.

(Krista Harper is a recent journalism graduate and is interning with HollistonReporter.com. How is she doing?)
 

Comments (5)

Thanks, Krista, for a lovely article about a wonderful Mudville grand dame. It would be easy to succumb to longing for the old days, if Ruth weren't so much in the here and now.

Pat Fuller | 2010-02-27 11:29:11

What a great story. What great memories....

JM Brown | 2010-02-25 22:44:24

This is a wonderful article about a very special Holliston resident! It's nice to read the story coming straight from someone that has lived the history first hand. Mrs Vernon seems like a wonderful person. All the best to her. Krista; nice work too as this is a very well written story!

John Del Vecchio | 2010-02-25 20:16:35

Great story. And Krista Harper's a great writer!

Elon Glucklich | 2010-02-24 16:17:50

What a great article. I found this so interesting. I remember watching Punk Vernon play baseball , I believe it was first base for the American Legion. Those were the "good old days". Good luck and best wishes for a healthy happy life to Mrs. Vernon.

Don Driscoll HHclass of 1954. | 2010-02-24 11:51:18