Posts Tagged Aunt Di

Audrey and Milton’s home, 420 East Greenwich Avenue, West Warwick, Rhode Island

“Aunt” Jeannie Campbell and her sister, Di Wicks

Audrey: I went to Spen and Bren’s house for the weekend. I go in and sit down in comfort. Julie now lives on Amanda Street with two other girls. Brenda takes medicine all the time, and she looks good, even though her stomach swells. We (Spen, Brenda and all) went to Doreen’s house for dinner. We had a lovely meal. David was puttering around his house. They have a three-sided room with half the wall being a TV. (When you kids were little) I had a big, old house. I didn’t know any better then. I didn’t feel put down at all. We had plenty of room and it was fine. Aunt Jeannie (Jeannie Campbell)^* next door was just like another mother to me. Aunt Jeannie was an angel in disguise. She took care of everybody. Her husband (or son I can not remember which) was killed in a train accident going to the First World Fair in New York. Franklin, her first son, died. However, Aunt Di, Jeannie’s sister, was a pain in the neck. She had her mouth going. She was cross.  She was always coming into the house with a broom.

*Aunt Jeannie was not a blood relative, but we all called her aunt because she was so great to all of us.  Her name was Jeannie Campbell.  Her husband was killed in a train accident returning from the World’s Fair in 1939, I believe.

Aunt Jeanie and Aunt Di

Audrey: She is buried in Knotty Oak Cemetery, Coventry. Her family lived in that area. Her first husband, or was it her son Franklin, was killed in a train accident. He was going to the World’s Fair in New York when the train got in an accident. There was a big (popular) song written about it (the incident of the train accident on the way to the world’s Fair). The train fell off the tracks.

Aunt Di married twice. ^*Her first husband fell off  a load of hay and it killed him.  Aunt Di lived in a big mansion until her husband died. Then she came to live with Aunt Jeanie.

*Julia Rogers, a local member of the community, only knows Aunt Di being married once – to Ed Wicks. When Ed Wicks died, the property went to his family of origin and Aunt Di came to live with her sister, Aunt Jeanie.

Audrey: Grandma told nursery stories to me. She sang a song, one-half a story and one-half a song. Grandma would fall asleep, but I was first.

Aunt Jeannie was a second mother. Vaughn went over there as it was a second home. Vaughn didn’t like Aunt Di at all. She took his toys and put them on top of the ice box, where Vaughn couldn’t get them. Addy hollered at her to not take Vaughn’s toys.

Aunt Di had lived in a mansion. When Di’s husband died, she couldn’t live there alone. She was miserable to everyone. Aunt Jeannie was older than she, so aunt Jeannie had to boss her around.

Aunt Di kept out of Dick’s way. He hollered at her. If Dick would get a hold of Di, he would shake her. Addy kept out of Dick’s way. Addy was named out of a book that Aunt Jeannie was reading.

Dick blamed his mother, Aunt Jeannie, for letting the doctors do an operation on him. The doctor said Dick would be cured, but in the end all Dick could do is walk with crutches. (He had polio as a child.) He could drive his car. Here he was an old bachelor and he never harmed any of us. He always said we girls were his legs. He was a wonderful old bachelor. He was always reading. Addy didn’t care to read. Addy didn’t even have a car. Dick would back his truck to the grocery store and they (grocery store help) would put the food in the back of his truck. Addy would bring food into house.

Audrey: You were all about the same height. Crystal would pull you two along and do crazy things. Aunt Jeannie was like a mother to me. I would wheel Deardra over in Aunt Jeannie’s yard in that basket carriage with the top that goes back and forth. Aunt Jeannie would watch Deardra while she slept. Aunt Jeannie loved children. She helped me with Deardra and Vaughn. (They were the last two born and the only two born when we lived on East Greenwich Avenue, next to Aunt Jeannie.) Since Aunt Di didn’t like children, Aunt Jeannie kept Di away from the kids.

Doug, he was always reading and Spen, he was always on a horse, saddle or no. He didn’t have time to read.

Dawn, she was putting on shows for Aunt Jeannie and Dick. She would dance like she saw on TV.

Heather, you were always quiet. Always kind of fat, until you started to walk and on the go and didn’t have time to put on weight.

When you were all kids, I’d go back to that in a minute. To have you all screaming, no you kids didn’t do too much hollering. I enjoyed it when you were all kids.