Sepia Saturday 719. L is for Laurence Childhood: My mom’s early years. Twelfth of 26 posts in the April 2024 Blogging From #AtoZChallenge. Theme, My Life: The Prequel (in Snapshots) — adding my parents’ story to the family history mix.
My Mom, Peg Antoinette Laurence1Anglicized from the Italian surname Di Lorenzo, was born on May 4, 1926, in Gloversville, Fulton Co., N.Y., on the cusp of the Great Depression.
After moving around town a couple of times, Mom, her sister Rita and their parents Antonio and Liz (Stoutner) Laurence arrived at 12 Hollywood Avenue.
That’s where mom grew up, went to school, connected with extended family, and fell in love with music (her lifelong calling). For health, fitness and friendship, she also joined Brownies and Girl Scouts — which will be the focus of this post.
Sleep-away Camp with the Girl Scouts
According to announcements in the Gloversville papers, Mom enrolled in Brownies — the youth version of scouts — in 1934 at the age of 10. By 1936, at age 12, she “flew up” to Girl Scouts.
The scouts had regular meetings in Gloversville throughout the year — but the big event everyone looked forward to was going to the summer sleepovers at the Fulton County Girl Scout Camp at nearby Caroga Lake.
Scouts could sign up to stay there for two weeks — or the whole summer. I’m not sure which Mom was enrolled in, but my grandparents dutifully signed her up, along with her younger sister Rita, for the summer sleepovers. There she connected with nature and became an adept swimmer.
Sending post cards home
As a family historian, I fascinated by what my parents kept in their “baby box” of mementos from youth because those were those were the objects and ephemera they held dear.
In my mom’s case, there are a handful of brief postcards that she sent home from scout camp — one of which is reprinted below, front and back.
Today, these would be text messages from children to their parents — but in 1937, when Mom wrote this card, penny postcards were the message equivalent.
Nature and diving: Mom’s scout camp hobbies
Mom wrote, “I am taking up nature and diving for my hobbies” then asked her folks to bring the funny pages of the paper and a funny book (aka comic book), since they were allowed at camp.
In other post cards, however, she had the same lament as my Uncle Fred when he was stationed abroad during WWII — asking her parents when-oh-when they were going to write!
My grandparents’ investment in camp was a good one, because Mom did indeed continue her love of nature and the water throughout life — taking us five kids swimming, fishing, to the beach at Cape Cod, and to our lakeside camp on weekends so we could enjoy the outdoors just as she had during her Laurence childhood.
Up next, fast forwarding to my parents’ wedding in “M is for Married in Gloversville, N.Y., in 1948.” Please stop back! Meanwhile, please visit the other intrepid weekly bloggers over at Sepia Saturday.
© 2024 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.
One of the reasons why I enjoyed Brownies was because we were permitted to wear our uniforms for Friday Assembly at our elementary school. I earned several badges but ended up quitting Girl Scouts not long after I flew up. But at a non-Scout sleepaway camp I found some of the experiences I was looking for. I’m happy that both your Mom and I had that opportunity. Alana ramblinwitham
I dropped out of the Brownies after a very short stint. But my sister and I went to the Congregational Church Camp. I think we must have gotten a good discount as the children of a minister. The girls were never allowed to sleep out in tents. We got to go cook dinner over a campfire but had to return to our rustic cabins before night.
Suppose there had been text messages during your mother’s youth, I bet these would not have been on display here some 90 years later. So cherish your penny postcard! I am afraid our great-grandchildren will have to do without our today’s communications.
I remember Girl Scout camp although I was only allowed to do the weekend overnighters. Still, I loved sleeping in a tent cabin and being in the woods. And that love stayed with me all my life because I wound up marrying a handsome fellow in a U.S. Forest Service uniform and have lived in the woods, mountains, & small foothill towns for the past 55 years! I also went camping with my growing-up family from the time I was 7 years old, so I’ve always loved being outdoors by a lake or river in the woods & mountains. 🙂