We moved to Rahway, N.J. in 1928. Daddy chose Rahway because he was told that they needed an Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist there. Our first home was a large apartment at 54 Elm Ave. Daddy's office was across the hall. We lived there for four years.

I went to Lincoln School for the fifth, sixth and seventh grades. My teachers were Miss Clark, Miss Royer and Miss Martin.

1929 was the year of the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. I guess it must have been a difficult time for my parents starting over in such bad times but I wasn't aware of any hardships. I do remember Aunt Mabel Harlan buying us winter coats though. Daddy must have borrowed some money from Uncle Harry and paid it back pretty promptly because one time he told me that Daddy was the only one in the family that ever paid him back.

In 1930 I became a Girl Scout and felt very important when we marched in the Memorial Day Parade. That summer Mamma signed me up for two weeks at the Scout Camp in Bear Mt. N.Y. She was afraid that I would get homesick. I did not ! I loved it and stayed four weeks. The camp was on Lake Tiorati near Suffern, N.Y. I learned to swim and dive and eat that summer. I even ate beet greens! Camp did me a lot of good in many ways. In 1931 the camp site was changed to Lake Kanawaukee,also in Bear Mt;. Camp Wanakena was the name. We won a lot of swimming meets with other camps. I was the diving champion. By that time my sister, Carolyn, and cousin Eileen Herrington were there too. We spent the whole summer there and also every summer from then until 1934.

In 1932 we moved to 100 West Milton Ave. It was a beautiful, big, white Victorian house. Daddy had bought it so he must have been doing quite well even during the depression. I loved living there. Daddy's office was on one side of the house. Our telephone number was Fulton 8-1698.

This was the year of the Lindberg baby kidnapping. I remember how worried everyone was. We were shocked over the outcome.

In 1934 I went to Roosevelt School for the 8th grade. Jeannette Thornton came from Franklin School, Charlotte Williams and I were from Lincoln. From then on we were pals. We did all the usual things. We went to lots of parties and sports events. We were in plays etc. Austin Singer was the Principal. He was a friend of the family. He and his wife were at my wedding in 1939.

My sister's friend, Kathryn Walter invited her to spend the summer at the family camp in Readfield, Maine. It was on Crotch Pond or Echo Lake. It was a wonderful place and she had a marvelous time. The next year (1935) I was invited. Also Eileen, Jeannette and Charlotte. It was great. We had three canoes. Eileen and I shared one. We called it the CEHMEC. Carolyn and Kathryn's was the HAHA. Jeannette and Charlotte named their's the GUSGOLDIE.

The Singers had a camp near by and so did Dave Bender, the football coach of Rahway High. There was also a boy's camp called Camp Mowana. They were all nice fellows and we got to know them all quite well. My special guy was Grainger Collins of Cleveland, Ohio. We wrote each other for a year or so. When I met Eddie it stopped.

We took a lot of canoe trips around Crotch Pond and some to Mt. Vernon. On this trip we had to carry the canoes over beaver dams and roads. Another time we took the canoes in the station wagon to Rangely Lake in northern Maine. We paddled out to an island where we set up camp. From there we took side trips, one of which was a hike up Saddleback Mt. That hike about did us all in. Then we rode over the Arnold Trail and across the border into Canada. We did a lot of swimming any time of the day or night. Since it was a private camp we did whatever we wanted within reason. As Eddie always says, "I would still be going to camp if I hadn't gotten married"! We went there until the summer of 1937. We called it Camp Samaguan, the Indian word for water.

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