At age 86, Ida’s daily accomplishments are remarkable. Up until three years ago when she got ill, she was walking five miles a day, outside. She has currently worked up to one mile a day outside and two miles a day on the treadmill. She also reads a book a day, usually murder mysteries without reading glasses. Marion Page once asked her how such a kind person could be interested in reading about such a gory topic. She just smiled. We are complicated, aren’t we?
Her delight and happiness has multiplied as much as the numbers as far as her offspring are concerned: she has four children, 14 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren, and five great great grandchildren. Family is very important to Ida, she adores her children and they are devoted to her. Joe and his wife, Sandy, live in Connecticut, Sandy telephones everyday and Gary spends a couple hours every Sunday with his mother Linda calls once a week and Kelly stops by often. She loves spending time with her grandchildren, and especially loves cuddling the babies. I remember that it was a very exciting time for the whole community, less than two years ago, when Gary’s son, Tony, and his wife Sarah, had their twins, Emma and John.
Her Heritage and Childhood
Much to my surprise, within a few minutes of my visit with Ida, I discovered that her parents and siblings had very familiar names, and will forever have significant historical value to the Groton community. Her father was George Welch of Groton. Many will recognize the name as the George S. Welch Apartments or the Block as some of old-timers still call it. That apartment
building was the first Gilman Housing restoration project in Groton. George was a farmer and logger and picked up milk at farms to deliver to the South Ryegate Creamery, he held two terms in the State Legislature. This very industrious and hard-working man was 85 years old when he retired. I saw a picture of him when he was 81 with a load of logs that he would later chop up for winter heat.
Ida’s mother sounds particularly impressive with her business ventures and membership associations. Goldie, grew up in Plainfield and was raised by the Reverend and Mrs. Edwin and Nettie Hutchins. Goldie raised nine children, did home parties in area homes to sell cookware for the woodstove, and sold Spirilla Corsets as well as real estate. She was the state president for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. I have always been fascinated with this particular cause, as it was born from the straw that broke the camels back in the unfair legal treatment of women. When women were empowered by what they were able to accomplish with the WCTU they went on to move mountains with the Women’s Suffrage Movement and eventually win us the vote. As President of the State WCTU, Goldie was able to meet and board many international speakers. They also boarded many different schoolteachers over the years.
Ida falls number seven of the nine children, in order of appearance is: Alice who is Harold Puffer’s mother; Lester who was called Tat, he married my third grade teacher, Kizzie Welch; Then Nellie who was Doug French’s mother; Austin was next, who went by Aut; Carlos who went by Carly; then Nettie named after her maternal grandmother; Ida, her mom was 32 and her dad 37 when she was born; Minnie, who is still living and married to Paul Tinkham’s brother Sid, and finally; Clayton. Ida remembers that when Clayton was born her older siblings teased the younger ones that they had already seen the baby because the doctor had opened his doctor’s bag and shown it to them.
Goldie’s last three children were born at the Hotel in Groton, which was located across the street from Toby’s Garage. Mary Dennis attended the births, she was later known to Ida as her husband Gene’s grandmother, Dr. Isaac Eastman delivered the babies, he was a local who resided in Earnest Cilley’s home next to the present Town Clerk’s Office.
When Ida was born they lived on what we refer to as the Hap White Farm, which just crossed the Groton/Ryegate line, this Farm is located on Witherspoon Road (I will always remember that particular farm by the small pond across the road that hosts the wild ducks. When Ida was five she began getting severe migraine headaches accompanied by vomiting, whenever she was afflicted with these attacks her grandmother Nettie would attend to her. She went to Park School Number 3 for eight years, often times her father dropped her off at school in the horse and buggy or on a sleigh while transporting the milk he picked up from the local farmers en route to the creamery. She attended and graduated from the Groton High School.
Once when they were on the sleigh and it was quite icy, Ida’s brother Tat tried to guide the stubborn horse who he had named after his girlfriend Kizzie. The horse was very nervous and ended up going down the hill her own way, which was to slide down on her butt, passengers in tow. It was unusual and was the ride of a life time which Ida will never forget. Tat teased his mother that it was her fault because she was so heavy. With some families this sort of teasing is acceptable and even funny, apparently the latter is true for this family, because Ida recalled it giggling. I know Ida’s son, Gary, as having a very quick dry wit. I believe a sense of humor is hereditary, and an appreciation for it adds years to your life.
Ida remembers that she labored hard all morning picking strawberries that they planned to sell for 25 cents a basket. She came in for lunch exhausted, and did not help with the lunch preparations so her mother teased her about being a lady of leisure, which inspired Ida to write a poem about that topic. With the families sense of humor I’m sure it was very much tongue-in-cheek. Ida has gone on to write lots of poetry throughout her life.
At one of her moms WCTU meetings they had demonstrated a worm sitting in alcohol and the effect it had on the worm after not so long a period of time. Shortly after that the Barre police called and asked Goldie to pick up her brother as he was sitting in a jail cell for being drunk. Ida went with her mother to pick him up. Uncle Arthur made the comment that at least she knew he wouldn’t get worms. Ida remembers her mother asking him: as president of the WCTU, what she should do about this situation. His reply, "I guess you’ll just have to resign," and the humor in which it is relayed just goes to show us: their sense of family and humor helped them get through a lot of sticky situations. There were a couple of incidents which today might cause some speculation but at the time was considered quite scandalous that involved members of her family. In both cases the actions from the family say a lot about the miraculous healing power of unconditional love and support.
Role Models
When I asked Ida, who her role model was, without hesitation she said it was her father, he was gentle and hard working, and he was well liked. He read Bible stories to all the children each night from a unique book that included questions at the end of each story, and he never failed to ask the questions. She still has the Bible storybook, which is so precious to her. Ida’s maternal grandmother, Nellie Hutchins, lived with them when she was growing up, and naturally thought that even a wonderful man like George Welch was not quite good enough for her daughter Goldie. Though the undercurrent was not always strong, Ida was impressed with her father’s easy-going manner and understanding. He was gentle and supportive with Ida through thick and thin throughout his life, and apparently was absolutely and thoroughly devoted to Ida’s first born, Linda. Ida’s mother had to have been a good sport as well as a positive role model. Check out the poem that Ida and Minnie wrote about their mom’s dieting practices and their feelings about it.
My Mother's on a diet
She can't eat this and that
You see she's on a diet
Because she is so fat
She can't eat potatoe
She can't eat meat
She can't eat much of anything
That other people eat
Vegetable and fruit
Is her daily diet
Maybe that will fill her up
But I would hate to try it
Mother lost four pounds
In just a week or so
Now she has us worrying
That she'll get too thin you know
For what would Mother be
Without her big fat pod
We pray that she may keep it
Don't let her loose it God
God made Mother as she is
He meant her to be fat
We liked her even tho' she had
More stomach than of lap
It seems that Mothers should be plump
They look comfy and cozy somehow
That's how our Mother used to be
But you ought to see her now
She's getting awfully skinny
She'll soon be thin as a rail
She vowed that diet would have effect
That diet cannot fail
While Mother's on a diet
Our hats to her we'll doff
And as the days go by
We'll watch the fat roll off
Written by: Ida and Minnie
Her Family and Career
Ida worked at Park and Pollard Feed Store which is still standing and is now owned by Charles Frost, it is located just after the Station House, across from Herm Clarks old farm which is where the remaining family was living at that time. Ida did not have far to walk to work. When the War broke out in 1941 many of Groton’s local boys were in the National Guard, knowing that they would be called to duty, they all signed up together with the Army so that they would not be split up, however, several were split up despite their plan. Back at home the girls wrote to their local boys who were in the war, Ida had three young men that she wrote to in order to help them keep up their spirits. One of them was Gene Dennis, who came home on a month-long leave to nurse an injury to his eyes that he sustained during a welding mishap, he won Ida’s heart and took her as his bride on February 17, 1945, the year the war ended.
In the beginning it was rough with Gene working for and living at the Gerald Morse chicken farm. Back then he was working seven days a week. Their son Joe was born at this time. When a small house located on Powder Spring Road came on the market they wanted to buy it, but since they had no credit, having always paid for things with cash, they had a difficult time getting a loan. Gene’s mother, Fannie Dennis, came through with a loan.
Gary was born in 1952 and their family was growing. Later Gene worked at the quarry and after that for Gandin Brothers in South Ryegate. Ida took a job as assistant to the town clerk, George Millis. When he died his wife, Lizzy became the new town clerk, and when she died Ida found herself elected as the new town clerk. The town clerks office was located in the basement of the Post Office. The Post Office was in the small building next to Toby’s Garage where Dean and Ruth Hatch used to have their small Antique furniture business not so many years ago, it’s currently owned by David Correira and is for sale. The town’s clerk’s office did not have a telephone so Ida used to leave a sign in the window as a signal for the selectman or road crew that she needed to speak to them. In 1957 Groton voted to move the town clerk’s office to the library and they have shared the space ever since. Ida had her home telephone number ring into the town clerks office to save the town some money.
Here are two prose that Ida wrote about her time as town clerk:
The summer I was 16 years old, I got a couple of jobs, one was through the state. On my first day at that job I was to meet someone at the Groton Community Building to find out my job assignment. It turned out it was Aut Welch, he was surprised I was a girl, but he put me to work painting the side of the building. That afternoon, he told me he wasn’t comfortable having me do work like that, so he would find something more suitable. He arranged for me to work, assisting his sister, Ida Dennis, in the Town Clerk’s Office. Ida was pleased to have some summer help, and surprised me with her trust in me. She even left the office in my sole care for several hours each week, when she would normally be closed while she went to Newbury to make necessary copies. I was put to work recording data with a fountain pen (oh, the pressure) into the big journals that were kept in the vault. Her unhesitant trust in me was awe inspiring, and went a long way in developing my personal self-worth, for that I am eternally grateful.