Anyone interested, please make check payable to: Chester Historical Society and send to:

 or you may telephone a wish: 413-296-4762.

Thanks to Janice Leone Brown and the Chester Historical Society for this “birthday tip!”

http://imagemuseum.smugmug.com/History/Chester/4299700_JZxTK/8/359160865_LdiR6#394131439_7Fcj8

Some are mis-labeled, some are pretty small… and in a number of cases you’ll find yourself wondering “now where was that?” The point of the site is to get you to buy some images… but there’s no charge for looking! You’ll even find one photo of the Tavern that sat where the Grammar School now stands.

http://www.gofundme.com/7kwqs

Please remember Nancy and the family with your thoughts and prayers. Cards may be sent to Nancy at PO Box 412, Middlefield MA 01243

Thanks to Duane C. Pease and Fay Piergiovanni for sharing the news, even though sad.

Originally posted July 16:

Thanks to Duane C. ’64 for calling with updates… As I understand it our affable scholarship custodian and classmate Maurice Pease has been operated on for pancreatic cancer… he’s at UMass Memorial Medical Center, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester MA 01655. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers… and maybe send a card.

I’ve scanned an issue of Granite Chips she found… from the 1940′s. (I think 1941 based on the list of class reporters.) The cover price is ten cents, but you can have it for free! You might enjoy the article “Is Shorthand for Boys?” Or some of the “Household Hints” And the lengthy article about the plight of the Athletic Association perhaps proves that “the more things change the more they stay the same.” School news?

“Mr. & Mrs. Fillback have given a piano to the school for the gym. The whole school extends their thanks to them for their kindness.”

Edna Cornoni was Junior Prom Queen… David Swicker King… music was provided by the Dukes of Harmony from Pittsfield.

And I learned that my Uncle Bernard left school to work carrying the mail.

Due to the number of pages, this has been uploaded as two files:

1940 Granite Chips Part 1

1940 Granite Chips Part 2

Sorry about the quality… but remember this is 70 years old!

Clara Terry Besancon, after graduating from Westfield Normal School in 1917, taught school in Middlefield. In 1918 she came to Chester to teach fifth grade. Later she became principal of the grammar school, a position she holds now. In 1919 she married Peter Besancon.

Dorothy Keefe McGraw graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1920 and the following two years taught in Platsburg, NY. In 1922 she married Hiram Ward McGraw. After his death, Mrs. McGraw attended the Cortland New York State Normal School and graduated in 1933. She returned to Chester, taught mathematics and science in the seventh and eight grades for a short while and recently accepted a position in the Chester Post Office. She and her two sons, Richard and Frederick, live on Huntington Street.

Donald Haley works at the Albert Steiger Company, Springfield, as a window decorator. He is married and has one child, Robert. He and his family now reside in Chicopee Falls.

Thomas F. Haley, after leaving high school, worked as a clerk in a grocery store. Later in worked in the Boston and Albany Freight Office in Chester and he is now employed in the Cortland Office as an accountant. He and his family live on Middlefield Street.

Cecilia Ledwell Ripley worked at the New England Telephone Company in Chester and in Pittsfield. Later she accepted a position as manager in the Telephone Exchange in Blandford and remained there for twenty-one years. She is now a dietitian at the Westfield State Sanitorium.

Avelina Whitcher Cornoni took a stenographic course at Springfield Business College. She has worked at Whitcher’s Garage and the BLue Ribbon Garage. She is an active worker in the Alumni Association. She has three daughters Anita, Rivera, and Edna.

Geneva Burleigh Shafer graduated from Westfield Normal School in 1917. She has taught several years in the third and fourth grades in Chester. In 1923 she married Seigel Shafer. They one daughter, Verna, and reside on Middlefield Street.

Editor Note: Isn’t good to know these Chester folks went to Normal School?  I’ll be posting some more as time permits…

"Pressing the flesh" was mostly done orderly and the food was incredible

Many will remember that first grade teacher Mrs. Cooney also was a newspaper reporter for a number of years. One of her favorite lines was, “A good time was had by all.” No doubt she would have used it to describe the Chester High School Alumni reception and meeting this year. Attendees again had high praise for the location and arrangements… noting that while it gets a little cramped at times being back in Chester for the day is “the way to go.” Our thanks again go to the Chester Foundation for hosting this event and providing incredible food and accomodations. We’ll be posting some additional information and photos soon…