Mom and Riverside in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Mom, Marjorie Fuller, did the hand coloring of photographs for dad's photography copying and photographic enlargement business. She really liked to work on the pictures when sitting outside in Fort Lauderdale, FL, enjoying balmy breezes and sunny days. Mom grew a small garden along the porch canopy and railings and garden beds surrounding the porch. Chameleons visited her regularly and watched her color.

One day the Miami Herald stopped by to see if she would chat with them for an article about her neighborhood, Riverside...along the New River.  This photo was snapped for the front page of the Broward section of the Miami Herald dated Friday, July 12, 1974.

Below is the section of the article that resulted from her interview with the reporter.  In the article "Rehard" is the owner of Rehard's Grocery store in Riverside.  

Mom was a history buff and read much about Florida's history when we all first moved to Ft. Lauderdale from Connecticut.  It is interesting that she is quoted in the article about the roads in Riverside originally being Indian paths. I did not remember this.  
  

Eddie and Jane

Grammy, Alice Southworth Healey, our Aunt Jane Southworth, and Eddie Dionne lived just a house or two from the swing bridge that the article mentions.  Many enjoyable memories were created here in our teenage years.  After we married and moved away, Mom and Dad moved to the cottage and she took pleasure in time spent on the porch everyday.

Alice Healey (Grammy...Nanny)

A Sparkler Bridges Heaven and Earth (Southworth)

My Great Aunt Jane Southworth was 1 year old when her niece sweet, sweet baby Ann Southworth was born. This aunt, her niece, and my Dad Bob Fuller played together as they grew up in Belfast Maine. Different generations so close in age!

Ann, though, lived only five years. When she died my father was 2 and my Aunt was 6. Ann got sick with respiratory diphtheria  a then common bacterial infection, prior to the DPT immunization against it. In 1925 there was no such shot. Diphtheria usually passed from person to person by coughing and sneezing. In olden days it had even been called the "strangling angel of children."

Approximately a year or two after Ann's death, my Great Aunt Jane was playing with a sparkler on the streets of Belfast. It caught her outfit on fire and severely burned her underarm and breast. Jane said then and always that Ann stood beside her and "told me to lay down and roll over", which is exactly what Jane did. The fire ceased, but Jane was ultimately scarred from the sparkler. Jane was forever thankful to sweet Ann, a child who had appeared to Jane as an angel to save her.

Sparklers were not allowed in my childhood.


For Ashley: Ann's parents with Dana and Hazel Southworth. After Ann died, they moved to Boston from Belfast. Hazel became a violinist with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

"...family is the link to our past, bridge to our future."

                                                             Alex Haley