For my Mother’s Day post, I
thought I’d write about my late grandmother, Mildred (Milly) Booth Rollins, whom
we called Nanny, especially since her birthday is this week as well.
Nanny was absolutely my favorite
person on the planet, and I miss her dearly. She had such a huge impact on my
life—she wasn’t able to be the best mother in the world but she sure was a
special grandmother!
She was born in West Dennis,
Mass. on 15 May 1917, the daughter of Wallace and Ethel (Kelley) Booth. Wallace
was from Quebec of Anglo-Irish heritage. Despite Ethel’s Irish last name, she
had deep Cape Cod roots with her ancestors founding all the original towns there
and several coming over on the Mayflower.
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| Milly with her brother Cedric ca 1918 |
Milly was raised mostly in
Brockton, Mass., in a house her father built, but during hard economic times her
family lived at the Ferry Street, West Dennis home of her grandparents, David
and Mary Ann (Kelley) Kelley. Nanny told me how her mother couldn’t wait to
leave “backwards” Cape Cod, so she didn’t enjoy staying there. But Ethel loved
her family beyond all else, so I would imagine spending a lot of time with her
parents had its upside.
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| House Wallace Booth built in Brockton |
Nanny said she loved living on
the Cape. She adored the ocean and the Ferry Street land ended at the Bass River
where her grandfather had a fishing shanty and small boats. They had chickens
and an orchard in the yard. She didn’t mind the lack of amenities as a child.
It felt like an adventure to sleep in the roughly finished attic of the Cape Cod style home where her job
was to trim the wicks of the oil lamps each morning and refill them with
kerosene. Nanny remembered the horse-drawn ice truck coming around and selling
blocks of ice to keep the food in the ice chest cool. Her
grandparents were resistant to installing indoor plumbing and electricity, but
their children finally insisted on it.
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| Ferry Street, West Dennis house where Milly was born |
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It was Nanny’s stories about
the Cape that really sparked my interest in family history and she loved hearing
about my discoveries, even the “skeletons” that many people of her generation would
have preferred to stay in the closet.
Excepting the years of the
Depression, Wallace Booth provided well for his family. He always drove a
Cadillac, and he liked to be the first on his block to have any new home
invention, like a dishwasher. They frequently traveled to Florida in the winter
and to Canada and Vermont to visit his family. Wallace and Ethel were devout
Christians and members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter
Day Saints (RLDS). Nanny did not share their depth of religious beliefs, and she
resented not be able to wear a bathing suit or go to dances like the other girls
did.
Nanny was a very beautiful
young woman. She had brown hair worn in the latest style, trendy clothes and a
gorgeous smile. As she grew older and became inactive she gained a lot of
weight, but she was still very pretty. No matter how badly she felt, she was
never without red polish on her fingers and toes.
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| Photo of Milly that Al carried in his wallet (he also carried the silver leaves from their wedding cake) |
When she was a teenager, her
parents’ marriage faltered and they were separated (although they would reunite
and always seemed to have a strong marriage). Her mother lived in a house in
Hyannis with her three children and took in borders to make ends meet. Nanny was
miserable—she had to do a tremendous amount of household chores and some of the
men made sexual advances toward her.
This unhappiness at home likely
led her to be swept off her feet by Arthur "Art" Davis, a young man four years older
who was from Falmouth. (He was born Arthur Washburn but took the surname of his
step-Aunt and Uncle who raised him.) Arthur was handsome, personable and seemed
so mature to 15 year-old Milly. He worked and had plenty of spending money and
took her places in his car or on his motorcycle. He was athletic and had been a
competitive swimmer. Nanny said she also got along famously with his step-Aunt
Grace (Ellis) Davis and that the family was quite comfortable financially and
very welcoming to her. They were church going people, but their household wasn’t
nearly as religious as the Booth one.
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| Art Davis |
Milly became pregnant and her
father insisted on them being married and they did so in Ayer, Mass., on 23
September 1933. I have never figured out what connection either family had with
Ayer.
At age 16, Milly gave birth to
my father, Robert Davis, on 26 March 1934 in Somerville, Mass. His last name was
later changed to Rollins when Milly’s second husband adopted him. There were
complications during the home delivery leading to a hysterectomy, so she was
unable to have additional children.
Milly quickly realized the
mistake she had made in her marriage. Arthur wasn’t so charming as a young
husband and father—he drank and had violent outbursts. He also had trouble
holding down a job and Milly had couldn’t afford to buy much food. They were
living somewhere on the Cape and her parents came down and were shocked to see
the conditions their daughter and grandson were living in—no decent food to be
seen and Milly had bruises from Arthur’s violent rages. They packed up their
meager belongings, and took Milly and Bob to Somerville to live with them.
Eventually Milly and Arthur were divorced.
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| Milly and son Bob 1934 |
Milly went to school to become
a hair dresser, and Ethel watched her grandson Bob while Milly went to school
and then worked. She also went out evenings with friends and on dates, so her
parents had a large role in raising their grandson.
After Nanny’s death, I met some
of her first cousins at a Booth family reunion. They were such lovely people and
very welcoming. Her cousin Pearl said that she loved spending time with Milly
when they were kids because she was so much fun; always up for an adventure on
the Vermont farm where Pearl lived.
On 22 January 1942, Milly
married the most wonderful man, Alfred Addison Rollins, who was from Dorchester.
He was handsome and very loving and attentive. They dated off and on for years
before they were married. Al, whom I called Gagi, served in the Air Force on the
front lines in World War II. He loved my father and signed the papers to adopt
him when he was overseas.
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| Alfred Rollins 1944 |
I’ve never witnessed anyone as
much in love with someone as Gagi was with Nanny. He called her nicknames like
“Peach Blossom” and “My Bride.” She’d pretend to be annoyed with him and tell
him to stop acting like a fool, but she loved him too. After they both died, I
found all these slips of paper--little notes and poems he’d leave for her to
find around the house. Nanny had kept them all.
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| One of the notes from Gagi |
It touches me that Gagi married
Nanny knowing they would not have children together. In the 1950s
they were foster parents to Steven and Richie Block, who eventually reunited
with their father. Millie kept pictures of them and other items, such as
Steven's 1958 Boston University application and Richie’s 7th Grade
report card from Concord Junior High. Steven played the drums in a musical combo
while at Concord High, worked as bus boy, bell hop and dishwasher at the
Colonial Inn. He was interested in BU’s school of Fine and Applied Arts and
wanted to be cartoon or commercial artist. Milly also saved some Mother's Day
and Christmas cards they gave her.
Before they bought the Onset house, Nanny, Gagi and my Dad would vacation throughout New England. They loved to jump in the car and drive to new places, most of which were on the ocean or a lake.
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| Milly and Bob at Newfound Lake, NH |
Nanny and Gagi had a nice life
together and did a lot with the money he made as a truck driver. They lived in
Concord, then Lexington in the same neighborhood where we lived (both were Cape
Cod style homes). At times they had apartments in Boston and elsewhere,
splitting time between an apartment and their ocean front home in Onset on the
Cape Cod Canal. Eventually they stayed in Onset year round.
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| Cove-side view of the Onset House on Sias Point |
That summer house was my
favorite place and looms large in my childhood memories. The house wasn’t much
to look at but the location was sublime. The fresh sea air, the combination of
the warmth of the sun and the constant breezes, the sound of the ocean and the
sight of boats going through the Canal equaled nirvana for me. They had a very
large private beach—one side facing the Canal and the other a quiet cove. My
sister, Beth, and I spent hours each day in the water and on the beach.
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| View from the house toward Wicket's Island. We loved playing on the rock exposed at low tide. |
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| View from the Canal side of the house |
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We would
bring our cabin cruiser boat down for visits, either moored off Nanny’s beach or
at a nearby yacht club. We could watch the Onset fireworks from the patio on
each 4th of July. We’d take the boat to see other fireworks in
different towns as well.
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| Nanny in her element--on board our boat the Sanderling 1965 |
I don’t think anyone loved
being out on the boat more than Nanny, something she passed on to my father and
to me. We always said we had salt-water in our veins, which makes sense since
I’ve found many mariners in our family history. Nanny was the kind of women who
wasn’t bothered by things like many of us are—she loved fishing and was the one
who helped me bait my hook because I found the worms “gross” and she gutted and
cleaned the fish without batting an eye. She was not the least bit squeamish.
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| Nanny at the helm of the Sanderling |
In addition to the fish we
caught, we often ate lobster and Nanny would make clam chowder or stuffed clams
with the clams and quahogs we dug. Sometimes Beth and I would play with the
lobsters on the floor before they were plunged into the boiling water—that could
be one of the reasons Beth became a vegetarian!
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| Gagi, Beth and I 1967 |
Unfortunately as she grew older
she and Gagi became reclusive and became estranged from many family members and
friends. She was always good to her parents, though, and she renovated one side
of her house for them to live with her when they were aged.She then took in my father when he was sick with Parkinson's Disease.
Nanny had health problems,
particularly issues with her heart, and clearly suffered from depression,
although she never was in therapy or received a diagnosis. She and Gagi both
drank too much, but when they were younger that was what most people in their
circle were doing. They sure knew how to throw a party at their beach house or
on the boat. As they got older it became more of a problem and took its toll on
their health.
The house and boats were also
chocked full of dogs, another love everyone in our family shares. Nanny and Gagi
were partial to Dalmatians—some of them were high strung, living up to the
breed’s reputation, but some of them were wonderful. They usually had three dogs
at a time, so there were a lot of them over the years, but my favorites were
Josie and Aggie. Nanny loved to tell the story of how she took me to the
breeders to see Josie. She was in a pen and no one was home. She had the
sweetest face imaginable and a birth defect I adored—a crook in her tale. I
begged Nanny to slip the check under the door and just take her with us then and
there!
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| Josie | |
In addition to the “Dallies,”
they occasionally had other breeds of dogs. They had a terrier, Ronnie, and then
a Boxer named Major when my Dad was young. There was a Cocker Spaniel named
Sandy who was stolen and never found and a miniature Poodle named Muffin who was
left behind by one of their tenants. After Nanny died, we took Muffin home with
us. She was the sweetest thing but quite old herself. One day she her breath was
laboring and she was laying under a tree in our yard. I carried her into the
house and called the vet, but she died as I was getting ready to take her to
likely be put to sleep. She’s buried in our yard, next to our beloved Chocolate
Lab, Beau.
Another passion of Nanny’s that
I share is home decorating. We would spend so much time talking about home
design and antiques. As she got older she had way too much stuff in her house,
so all the nice things she had weren’t as noticeable. We would poke fun at her
for not being able to throw things away. A set of broken outdoor metal furniture
wouldn’t be thrown out and she told us they’d look fine with seat cushions on
it. She didn’t listen to the fact that if anyone sat on said cushion, they’d
fall through and suffer some scrapes in the process!
I would always give her a
Country Living magazine subscription as a gift and we’d talk about everything we
liked in the magazine. She subscribed to Better Homes and Gardens for years and
after she read them, she’d pass them onto me. I still subscribe to both
magazines and think of her as I read them. I especially notice how many things
in them she did before anyone else was—she would buy antique bureaus and have
bathroom sinks put in them in all of her bathrooms, she painted and “antiqued”
furniture which is popular again today, she electrified old oil lamps, crocks
and pitchers to make unique lamps.
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| Milly and Chippy at their Concord House, showing her Asian phase of decorating |
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I have some of her things,
although sadly my father sold or gave away much of her furniture and
collectibles when he sold the Onset house. Our master bathroom is a definite “ode to Nanny” as it contains
her marble topped commode, her pitcher and basin, various vintage perfume
bottles, botanical prints she had that I framed, her small mirror with a marble base, her partial set of a china dresser
set, an antique medicine cabinet she never used that I stripped and added a new mirror, a unique antique mirror that has lost its silvering, the beautiful
flow-blue slop pail she saved from her sister-in-law Elsie’s zealous
housekeeping which had already broken the lid and gave it multiple chips. I even
have her ancient Christmas Cactus under the window. I know she’d love the
pedestal sink and Toile wallpaper I chose.
Nanny and Gagi also loved
gardening and until age and illness slowed them down, their yard was gorgeous.
Nanny even sunk a kiddie pool in the ground where we put small fish in the
summer and it surrounded by flowers and a cute bench she made from an old marble
counter.
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| An example of Nanny's green thumb and creativity |
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Nanny and my mother were
incredibly close until my parents divorced in 1988. She had a huge impact on my
mother for the same reasons she did on me. She was so creative, interesting and
told such great stories. She was warm, generous and loving to the people she
cared about and that included my Mom. She knew her own son had some issues so
she was thrilled he married such a nice girl from a good family. She even had an
impact on my other grandmother who decorated her house just like Milly’s, even
buying some of her furniture when she was changing things up. All three of them
loved the Early American style of decorating, but Nanny went through other
phases like leaning towards Asian decor. If Nanny was out shopping for household
items, she’d often pick something up for my Mother as well, so they had some of
the same things in their homes.
From the time I was small,
Nanny talked and listened to me like I was a grown up and made me feel
important, and that’s the way she made my Mom feel as well. Mom was from a
family of four kids, but Nanny made her feel so special. Milly finally had a
daughter!
When Beth and I were kids,
Nanny made Christmas magical for us. We were showered with gifts and attention.
Nanny loved dolls, so I received paper dolls, baby dolls, Little Kiddle dolls
and later Dawn Dolls and Barbies. She always gave Beth and me new nightgowns as
well. They would be identical except that Beth’s would always be pink and mine
would be blue.
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| Beth and me at Nanny's. I'm wearing a Little Kiddle Pendant she gave me |
The beach house was so quiet in
the winter. You could hear any sounds travel across the water in winter, sounds
that would have just blend with the hum of noise over the summer.
If someone yelled on one of the nearby islands, it was like they
were in the yard. Walking on the deserted beach, all bundled up and looking for
treasures that might have washed ashore was so special. There was also a fire in
the fireplace in the cold weather (Nanny called Gagi a “firebug” and was
thrilled my husband Dave was the same way) and we often toasted marshmallows in
it year round. Beth had the patience to make hers nice and evenly brown, but I
tended to rush and burn mine.
I remember often crying when it
came time to leave—I didn’t want to leave my grandparents or that magical place.
I also always felt like they needed us so much. I hated leaving them so very
much alone.
We also saw a lot of wild
storms at the house. Once the flooding was so bad that instead of being
surrounded by water on three sides, the house was completely surrounded. Nanny
and Gagi never wanted to leave the house, though, surviving many storms. I
always felt excited by the storms; another thing Nanny passed on to me. One of
her nicknames was “Hurricane Milly.” It was crazy seeing all the damage after
the storm passed. Houses on Onset Island literally washed out to sea, a boat
left in the middle of the lawn, the ramp down to the beach washed away but a set
of stairs left in almost the exact location. When they weren’t claimed, Dave
installed them in place of the ramp. A large picnic table washed up on the beach
once in a nice spot for picnics and it stayed there for years until another big
storm reclaimed it.
On 9 February 1999, at age 81,
Nanny died suddenly of an apparent heart attack. It was an incredibly sad time,
as she was like a second mother to me, as well as a good friend. I hopped in
Dave’s truck for the 1 ½ hour drive, so upset and worried that I didn’t take
heed when the engine light came on, causing major engine problems.
Beth came down the next day and
we got silly driving around in Nanny’s big Cadillac. It’s so odd when I’m
emotional, what a fine line it can be between crying and laughing. The funeral
director was a small man with a noticeable limp whose name was Mr. Moose. Just
introducing him to Beth made me even sillier. They probably thought we were
heartless grandchildren who were getting some big inheritance! They remembered
us from 8 years earlier when Gagi died and we came down with the cremated
remains of their Dally Sparky who had also just died. Nanny insisted they be
buried together, and I didn’t have the heart to disagree with her even though
Gagi hated that dog! He had bitten him, which got infected and required a skin
graft and hospitalization when he was already sick with lung cancer.
Nanny and Gagi (and Sparky) are
buried at Agawam Cemetery in Wareham. It always struck the rest of us as morbid,
but she loved that cemetery. They could have been buried free of charge at the
National Cemetery in Bourne, but she wouldn’t consider it. Her parents and her
brother and some of his family are buried there also. We didn’t know it at the
time, but some of Art’s early ancestors are buried in the same cemetery.
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| Rollins and Booth shared headstone at Agawam |
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I think about Nanny a lot in my
day-to-day life. I wish she got to see my kids grow up. I wish she knew my three
dogs. I would love to still talk to her about interior design. I wish she knew
how many Mayflower and other interesting ancestors she had and that she and her
first husband were distantly related. I wish I recorded some of our
conversations about the past so I wouldn’t have to rely on my faulty memory.
I wish you were still here to celebrate Mother’s Day and and your Birthday, Nanny. You are missed!
