sally

Everybody loved my grandmother Sally (or as we called her, nanna). My sister Jean even named her daughter after her.

My maternal grandparents, Sally and Jack, 1927 

Growing up, every week my family would have dinner with my grandparents. They lived at 45 Favre Street in Mattapan, about a half hour drive from my home. My grandparents lived on the first floor; their landlords, the Bellos, lived upstairs.



Their apartment, though small, holds big memories. 

My grandparents made a walk-through (no-doors) dining room into their bedroom. The front bedroom (with the window on the left)  was my Aunt Rozzie's, who was still in high school.  And the back bedroom was for Bubbe. Bubbe spoke no English, and I remember her always sitting in a chair in her room, not saying a word. She was very very old, and looked like she could leave this world at any time. She was probably younger than my mom is now, but looked centuries older.

Bubbe's room also housed a real barber's chair. My grandfather was a barber at Filenes and on weekends local customers would come to his home.

Because my family visited so often, we knew the neighborhood well. My sisters and I played with the neighborhood twins, Barbara and Harriet. We bought penny candy at Cantors, a block away. And we sometimes played in the park at the end of the street.  

We weren't allowed to walk into Mattapan Square, because that would mean walking alone down Cummins Highway. But I do remember the Oriental Theater  where we'd often go with my grandparents for the double feature when my parents left us with our grandparents while they vacationed.

Great aunt Celia (I think), my mom, Rozzie, Sally, me and Valerie, around 1957

Occasionally we'd take the trolley into town. Unlike NYC, where you "go into the city,"  in Massachusetts, going into Boston is "going into town."  And we'd sometimes dress up. Nana (as we called Grandma Sally) would let us use her one-inch tall lipsticks of varying shades of red. It made us feel very grown up.

My grandmother wasn't the best cook, but she was known for her stuffed veal. Her carrot-based stuffing is still a family favorite.

When I was 15, my grandmother got sick and had to be hospitalized. I remember one day being home, and looking out the kitchen window. There I saw my mom and dad in the backyard talking. I watched as my dad took my mom in his arms to comfort her. Later I would learn my mom had just found out that my grandmother's illness had been diagnosed as breast cancer, and the prognosis was not good. 

On my grandmother's birthday, she succumbed to her illness. She was 60 years old. 

50 years ago today.