Audrey Mae Spencer

May 23-25 2003 Day Trips to RISD, RI Historical Society and Woonsocket Museum
(Audrey, Chuck, Heather and Spencer)

Audrey: Yes, but I should have gotten more dressed up.  Why didn’t I?

(Heather:  Mother, don’t say that. You look fine.   You sit here with Spencer at this table.  Chuck and I will go look for the Spencer and Vaughn geneology books.  We will bring the books to the table.)

Weekly Phone Conversations change from Wednesdays to every Saturday at 8:30AM (EST)

June 21, 2003 through September 4, 2004
(Alpine Nursing Home, Coventry, Rhode Island)

Audrey: Oh, it is really nice. Spencer put up a bird feeder by the dumpster because the crows eat out of the dumpster. Crystal put a bird feeder by the window.

Audrey: I’m doing fine. We went to Aunt Carrie’s Chowder and Clam Cakes Restaurant in a bus. It was white chowder and very good. It was a lot (of food). We had a nice long drive. There is always something going on in the dining room. I’m looking out at the birds—red cardinal, gold finch (stocking) and a brown bird.

Audrey: Yes, right after breakfast around 8:30 AM (EST) is the best time. I’m still in my room by then.

MaryJane Vaughn Spencer

Audrey: My mother (MaryJane [née Vaughn] Spencer) always drank tea. We always had tea. There was a white dish with a handle always sitting on top of the stove with the tea. It was not a teapot. It always had tea in it, however. I never knew what coffee was until I was married. Dad’s folks drank coffee. I liked coffee. I thought it was good.

Mother had an old wooden box that played the records—the round plate record. She would put the needle on the record. The handle had a needle on the edge. Mother played the song “Yama Yama Man” and it scared me to death. I was a quiet kid. I never talked with anybody, not even to Aunt Mandy.

Audrey: “Yama Yama Yama Man

Horrible eyes with a face of tan.

Run to your mother as fast as you can

Here comes the Yama Yama Man.”

The kids would run into the house. I guess he was a mean man who hurt people.

Mary Jane Vaughn Spencer and her first daughter, Edith Anna

Audrey: She was so much older than I was. Her teddy bear was “Prince”. The most beautiful doll was “Princess”. Edith had a beautiful doll that was put together with string inside it. I was not supposed to touch it. As soon as Edith got in the car (or horse and buggy, I can’t remember which) to leave for Providence, I ran to get the doll in a little black trunk. The doll had clothes and I would dress and undress it—very carefully and I never got caught. Edith named her old rag doll, Cinderella Angelina Rachel Maude Portia Elizabeth. Everyone cut out rag dolls themselves. I don’t think we could buy them. Rag dolls were the size of a pillowcase. The arms went out straight and were stuffed with cotton. The doll’s lips were black—penciled in. I don’t remember dolls with yellow hair or red lips. That would come later. I played with Cinderella. I remember my phone number. It was 70J4. When they first began, the numbers were shorter.