Audrey Mae SpencerSpencer Historical CemeteryHenry Straight / William Spencer Family Cemetery
Vaughn Historical CemeterySpencers of East Greenwich, RI

Posts Tagged Rocky Hill Chapel

21 February 2004

Heather: Did you have any music lessons when you were on the farm?

Audrey: I took piano lessons until my teacher Lizzy died. She was a nice sweet lady. I had learned one scale but I couldn’t play fast. I felt so bad when she died. I didn’t have any other teacher. We had no way of getting anywhere.

Billy Tarbox always came down and played the organ and piano. He played The Last Rose of Summer.  He sang and played. He grew beautiful dahlias so we called him the Dahlia King. He always had a Sunday each year when he would decorate an iron chair with dahlias that he picked. Every Fall, he would dig them up and give (a bulb) to everybody to plant. The one who brought back the best Dahlia would be the winner. One year he had a doll within the dahlias. I couldn’t wait to see it. I had a plain old doll, the Dahlia Doll was beautiful and fancy and sitting there all summer for the winner to get.

We went to Rocky Hill Chapel and Hannah Barton was the head of the Church. Everyone had a horse and wagon and there was not enough space to park. When I went to Rocky Hill Chapel, my teacher was Hoxsie. She had three or four girls. She taught school and had played the organ. She played the piano in the Sunday school.

29 May 2004

Heather: You were ahead of your times. I couldn’t understand why you were so upset when they tore down the Rocky Hill Chapel because it was in the way of the 95 Freeway. You wanted them to move it to the Fairgrounds as a historical building. The ignorant people, with lack of foresight, tore it down. Now as I age, I understand why you were upset. If that building were still standing today, the county could use it as a tourist attraction or the historical society could use it as meeting room. After all, how long ago was that building built and it was kept up all those years.

Audrey: I am glad I’m old. I would not want to be 20 years old now.

I am so upset when they take the older reporters on TV off and put a younger person in the older person’s place.  Old newscasters are taken off. I’m reading Tom Brokaw’s book. That’s a different story. It’s nice and interesting. I’ll grab a book and pick it up anywhere I am and begin reading. I’m always reading back and forth. I keep reading. All those I’m meant to read, I really want to read it. Every book get everything upset or up in arms in the first part of the book and then the end is what happens. I have been so busy. I’ve got a lot of books to read!

Tom (Audrey’s friend at Alpine Nursing Home), he’s about to die. He’ll he dead.