"Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents . . .

                                       and grandchildren in order to be a full human being."  ~Margaret Mead

     "My biggest regret in emigrating is that Maureen, Barbara and Darryl did not have the opportunity to live near and get to know my or Frank's parents, their grandparents.  I tried to make up for the loss by saving up and sending ticket money for my mam and dad, Nanna and Dadda, to come to North Carolina for four months.  Darryl was born in January 1962; they came in October of '62 and left in February 1963 after Darryl's first birthday."
                                                                                      --Joan Shelton


Maureen, who was 11 at the time, remembers:

     "When we lived in our first real home on Holland Drive in Statesville, Nanna and Dadda came to visit.  They flew from London to New York on a prop plane, and Mam and Dad drove all the way to New York City from North Carolina to pick them up.  The mother of a neighbor, an elderly lady, stayed with us three kids."

Passport photo for Edward Albert Strutt (Dadda) and
 Hannah Sophia Strutt (Nanna)

     "I wrote an aerogram (a sheet of light blue paper folded and sealed to form a letter for sending by airmail) to Mam and Dad every week, and I remember telling Dad, before he came to visit, to get a good proper haircut.  When we met him and Mam at the airport in New York City, he walked down the boarding stairs of the plane, took off his hat, and swiveled slowly in a circle to show me his 'proper' haircut.

Bit of history:  The aerogram was largely popularized by its use during the Second World

War.  Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Evan proposed that a lightweight self-sealing letter card that weighed 

only 1/10 oz be adopted by the British Army for air mail purposes.

     During the four months Dad stayed with us, he did not go to the barber's again, but once in a while came out of the bathroom with his hair all chopped up (he would hack at it with a razor blade), and I would have to sit him down, tie a towel around his neck, and straighten it out.  Mam would say, 'You old fool!'
     I didn't have a pram for Darryl, so Aunty Gladys, Frank's sister, lent me her's.  It was a big thing which she'd had painted a cream color and reupholstered in turquoise.  It served its purpose.  While they were visiting, Nanna and Dadda took Darryl out every day in the pram for a walk around the block.
     One day I walked into the house and Nanna was holding Darryl under the arms.  She said, 'Stand still,' gave Darryl some encouragement, and he came weaving across to me, toddling and stumbling, but with a big smile on his face.  Nanna and Dadda had been training him when I wasn't about.
   


     Each afternoon, I would take them for a ride, showing them around Statesville.  Their favorite place to go was an old cemetery, Oakwood, where there were graves of soldiers from the Civil War.  A grove of lovely old trees lined the road, and since it was October when they arrived, the trees were in all their autumn splendor.  They were in awe of the golden archway formed by the trees; we would drive up and down the road, admiring the glorious colors.  They never tired of seeing those trees.

                                                                           

Oakwood Cemetery, established 1887, Statesville, NC

   









   
     They spent Darryl's first Christmas and first birthday (January 30, 1963) with us and then left for England in early February.  The family back in England tried to get them to stay longer as England was in the grip of a terrible, icy cold winter, but they were homesick and ready to go."
                                                                                              --Joan Shelton

                                                                          

Maureen remembers:

     "When we drove Nanna and Dadda to the airport in Charlotte for their trip home, Dadda was crying, and I will always remember him waving a white hankie from the window of the plane.  We stood out on an observation deck, watching and waving back, until the plane took off.."

"To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters . . . .

"We know each other as we always were.  We know each other's hearts.  We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  We live outside the touch of time."                                                                                                                       --Clara Ortega

        Maureen 
            Sandra
                Shelton


                       

"When we are children we seldom think of the future . . .

                     This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can.  The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.      
                                                                                                 --Patrick Rothfuss 

     "When we lived in Hickory and Statesville we didn't stay home much on weekends.  We loved to drive up into the Blue Ridge Mountains on the Parkway; on one such drive we saw what we thought were tortoises and so decided to take one home as a pet.  Well, the darn thing started spitting every time we picked it up.   Someone at Frank's work told him it was a spitting turtle, was protected, and shouldn't have been removed from its habitat."
                                                                                     --Joan Shelton 

Bit of information:  The Blue Ridge Mountains are noted for their bluish color when seen from a distance.
Trees put the 'blue' in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their distinctive color.

Bit of information:  The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road, noted for its scenic beauty.  It runs for 469 miles through twenty-nine Virginia and North Carolina counties, mostly along the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains.  The Blue Ridge Parkway was built to connect Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Joan, Barbara (6) and Maureen (11) at Mabry Mill, July 1961

      Mabry Mill is a watermill located on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. According to the date (July 1961) on this photo, Mam was pregnant with Darryl.






    







Maureen, who was 10 years old when we came back to the States in 1960, has many wonderful memories of her childhood in North Carolina:

     "When we came back to the States in 1960, Mam and Dad bought Barbara and me brand new bikes.  I was old enough to ride my bike to Viewmont School in Hickory.  I remember the school had a little store and besides school supplies that I bought for myself, I would buy a small square box of pretzel sticks to take home to Barbara.

     I was also allowed to ride my bike to some shops near Viewmont Apartments in Hickory.  I would buy little wax bottles in a tiny cardboard box; each bottle was filled with a different colored liquid. You bit the top off and drank the liquid.  

     I was over at a friend's house one day, riding bikes down a steep hill with a curve at the bottom.  I flew off the bike on the curve and landed in the gravel at the edge of the road.  I think there was broken glass in the gravel; my ear was nearly cut off.
     Dad came and got me and took me to the emergency room where I needed 13 stitches to sew the ear back in place.  I begged him not to leave me at the hospital.  My greatest fear was having to be away from Mam and Dad.  Once I went to a Girl Scout day camp where all the campers were invited to spend one night at the camp.  I had an excuse ready for why I couldn't stay.

     After coming back from England, Dad bought another car, a big red-and-white station wagon.  It was in that car and in Hickory that Mam learned to drive, which really was a necessity in the United States since, unlike in England, distances were greater.  She couldn't parallel park that big station wagon so failed her first test in Hickory;  Aunty  Gladys took her to a small nearby town, Granite Falls, to retake the test, which she passed the second time.

Mauree sitting on the tail gate of "the bus"

     Friday nights in Hickory always meant a trip downtown to spend my small weekly allowance.  Murphy's Dime Store was the place to go.  Mam says it took me forever to decide what to buy, but I always came away with something.  
     When I was at Viewmont Elementary School, my class took a train trip from Hickory to Ashville.  We went to a craft fair, and having spending money, I came home with several items.  I remember Dad taking me aside afterward and asking if I bought anything for Mam.  I said I hadn's (selfish little thing I was, it hadn't occurred to me), and he made me promise to always bring Mam something back when I went on a trip.  I have tried to follow his good advice ever since."  

"I think the American Dream says that anything can happen . . .

 . . . if you work hard enough at it and are persistent and have some ability.  The sky is the limit to what you can build, and what can happen to you and your family."          - -Sanford I. Weill


     "Even though immigrating to the United States and leaving England was very difficult for me, I think Maureen, Barbara, and Darryl all had opportunities in the States that they would not have had in England.  Here, they all went to and completed college, as did Aunty Glady's three girls, Susan, Karen, and Diane.  I don't think my three, nor Glady's three would've had the chance to go to college if we'd stayed in England where there were definite class distinctions even after the war.  You were either working class, middle class, or upper class, and it took a lot to pull oneself up out of the working class; it was darn near impossible.  I'm not sure we would've ever owned our own home in England had we stayed."
                                                                                                          --Joan Shelton

Bit of history:  Class distinction in England historically has included, ". . . a very wealthy and powerful upper class that owns and controls the means of production; a middle class of professional workers, small business owners, and low-level managers; and a lower class, who rely on low-paying wage jobs for their livelihood and often experience poverty."

     "Up until the outbreak of war in 1939, British society had retained a rigid class structure, with the educated middle and upper classes tending to believe in their own moral and cultural superiority over the working classes. Proper models of behaviour were seen to emanate from this section of society, including correct pronunciation, table manners, appropriate dress and even the courting of wedding partners. With few exceptions, the holders of power and authority came from an upper class background and had a public [private] school education. They saw themselves as the guardians of culture, and those lower down the social order seldom questioned their position. It was a social and cultural hierarchy that was largely self-policed, with members of different classes rarely willing or able to move to alternative social groupings. It was expected that people would conform to the values of their peer group, and any attempt to transcend this hierarchy was restricted by social convention."

Maureen standing in front of the first home we owned in the United States

     "In 1961 we purchased our first home in the United States on Holland Drive in Statesville, NC.
Darryl was born shortly after on January 30, 1962 at Iredell Hospital in Statesville.  He was the first of my three children born in a hospital and not at home which turned out to be a blessing as he was born with a condition known as Rh-induced hemolytic disease.  Rh incompatibility is a condition that develops when a pregnant woman has Rh-negative blood which I had and the baby in her womb has Rh-positive blood, which Darryl had.
                                                                              --Joan Shelton

Darryl Franklin Shelton, born January 30, 1962

Bit of information:  "During pregnancy, red blood cells from the unborn baby can cross into the mother's bloodstream through the placenta.

     If the mother is Rh-negative, her immune system treats Rh-positive fetal cells as if they were a foreign substance and makes antibodies against the fetal blood cells. These anit-Rh antibodies may cross back through the placenta into the developing baby and destroy the baby's circulating red blood cells. 

     When red blood cells are broken down, they make bilirubin.  This causes an infant to become yellow (jaundiced).  The level of bilirubin in the infant's bloodstream may range from mild to dangerously high." 

   

   


     "Today this problem can be prevented with injections to the mother during pregnancy, but the first injection for this condition wasn't given until 1964.  Before 1964 an exchange transfusion was preformed which involves slowly removing the patient's blood and replacing it with fresh donor blood or plasma.  Darryl had an exchange transfusion before coming home from the hospital.  Both he and Mom stayed in the hospital for a week."

Barbara, Joan, and Darryl in the  den at
Holland  Drive

Barbara feeding Darryl

Maureen, who was 11 at the time, remembers:
    "I was called out of class over the intercom by the prinicpal.  When I got to his office, he said Dad had called to say I had a baby brother.  I was not old enough to go up to the hospital as you had to be 12."

"Everywhere immigrants have enriched

                                           and strengthened the fabric of American life.     --John F. Kennedy

Barbara and Maureen sitting on "The Lemon"    

     "We had $750. in our pockets when we landed in New York, and within the first month it was gone.
We had to buy a used car so Frank could get to work and put deposits down on utilities and an apartment.
     We thought it was wonderful when the car dealer delivered the car right to our door.  We were so naive as the car ended up being a complete lemon;  within three months it gave out on us.  We owed money on it, so Frank managed to get it started and drove it up onto the car dealer's front lawn, rang his doorbell, and told him to keep it!
     Years later when we were buying a house in California, the default showed up on our credit report, so we wrote and explained the circumstances and the default was written off.

     After leaving Aunty Glady's house in Lenoir, North Carolina, we moved into a small white frame house and then later into a low income apartment complex, Viewmont Apartments, in Hickory, North Carolina.
     Frank got a job as a tool and die maker at General Electric, and he worked a second job at a tool shop called Herters out in the country near Lincolnton.  Those first months in the States were very difficult. The other workers at General Electric resented Frank, a foreigner, taking a job from an American, so they were quite unkind to him.

Kenworth Elementary School,
Hickory, North Carolina

     Maureen went to the local school, Kenworth Elementary School, in Hickory.
I used to cry in the mornings when I sent her off to school. One of the teachers
said she felt so sorry for her as she
would stand alone on the playground.
There was an older teacher, Miss Monroe, who took Maureen under her wing and was so loving to her.  She eventually made friends and seemed to settle in well.  One time her class went to a television station in Charlotte to perform a skit.  Maureen
kept telling us she was going to be on television, and we were skeptical, but sure enough that afternoon she was on television dressed in a Chinese Mandarin costume!
 

      People were generally friendly, but it was such a different culture, particularly in the South.  The locals would gape at us when we spoke.  One woman told me I had a thick brogue; I was so insulted that I corrected her and told her a brogue was a heavy walking shoe.
     Again, Frank couldn't settle, so after two years, we sold everything we'd acquired in the States, and went back to England!

   

Raleigh Cycle Works, Nottingham,  England

     When we got back to England we had no house to go to, so we went and lived with Mam and Dad for 4 months.  Frank got a job at Raleigh Cycle Works, and destroyed his visa, so he wouldn't be tempted to leave for America again.  When he became convinced that we once again had to leave England, he had to go to Liverpool to get a new visa.  When they questioned why he had returned to the UK, he said his dad had been ill, and he thought he was dying.   We stayed four months at my Mam and Dad's and then came back to the States in January 1960--quite the roller coaster ride!"

                                  --Joan Shelton

Maureen, who was 9 years old when we returned to England, remembers, 

     "During the 4 months back in England from August 1959 to December 1959, I attended the High Street Primary School where Mam went as a little girl.  I still have a red gingham, rectangular embroidery sampler that I made while at High Street School.
     We went back to the States in January 1960, and once again lived in Viewmont Apartments in Hickory, NC.  Later that year Dad got a job at Hunt Pen in Statesville, about 30 miles away.  Mam says we tied the mattresses to the top of the station wagon, piled the furniture and other belongings inside and moved it all in the evenings when Dad was done with work.  We first moved into a two story, red brick, apartment on North Center Street, where I attended sixth grade, and then later to a one story duplex on Oakland Avenue where I attended D. Matt Thompson Junior High School."  
      
                                                                                             --Maureen (Shelton) Wallace



     "The second time we left England for the United States we again sailed out of Southampton, this time on New Year's Day, 1960, on the Queen Elizabeth I.  Barbara was 5 and Maureen was 10.  It was a very rough crossing, and Frank was sick the entire trip.  I remember the Vienna Boy's Choir was on board, traveling to the US to do a series of concerts.  They performed for the passengers on New Year's Eve, but most of the time the boys were up on the top deck, covered in blankets because they were terribly seasick.
     Aunty Gladys and Uncle Collette met us in New York and drove us back down to North Carolina.
We moved into another of the Viewmont Apartments and then shortly after into a two story brick apartment on North Center Street in Statesville, NC.
     Frank got a job at Hunt Pen Company which had just relocated to Statesville, NC from Camden,
New Jersey in 1957.  He was a draftsman and did well enough that we were able to move into a nicer apartment, a duplex, and then in 1961, purchased our first home in the United States at Holland Drive, Statesville, North Carolina."                     --Joan  Shelton

Barbara and Maureen in front of
Viewmont Apartments, Hickory, NC

Barbara, Frank (Dad), Maureen
1959

On the back Mom had written:  "Taken on Barbara's (5th.) birthday.  The two blondes are Glady's girls, Diane and Karen (cousins).  The boy is Bar-bar's boyfriend, Eric.  Maureen just loves that dog (Patches).  Taken in our front yard.
July 1960

“The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources . . .

                            --because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.”
                                                                                      ― Lyndon B. Johnson

 the Standard

     "In 1955, Frank bought a car, a brand new
black Standard.  The Hungarian and Suez Crises both erupted in 1956, causing gas (petrol) in Britian to once again be rationed.  In 1957,
seeking economic prosperity, we all went to
America together.  Maureen was 7 and Barbara
was 2.
     The week before we left two Morman boys
came to the door.  Frank was really pumped up and told them we were leaving the next week
for America so that we could have a better
standard of living.  They turned around and
asked if he didn't think we already had a pretty good standard of living."
             
                                                     --Joan Shelton

Maureen, who was 7, remembers the morning we left England.  She says, 

     "It was around 5 a.m., still dark.  Our neighbor, Mr. Wilson, was going to work and walked us to the bus stop at the bottom of Chestnut Grove.  Mam wanted to walk up Aunty Mick's street and stand in front of her house to see if she was looking out and waving goodbye.  Mam was carrying you, but after seeing no one at Aunty Mick's window, she and I walked back down to the bus stop. She tripped on the way and sprained her ankle.
     Years later, Pop Shelton, told Mam that he had been standing that morning, shielded from view, in a shop doorway, watching us leave.  He saw Mam trip.  I think he must have had a sad heart that day, watching his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters leave, not knowing if he'd see us again."
                                                                                                              --Maureen Wallace
   

Queen Elizabeth I leaving Southampton    

 
     "We sailed out of Southampton in early November, 1957 on the Queen Elizabeth I.  All our belongings were in one large steamer trunk and a few small suitcases.  We also brought two rugs, rolled up in burlap and tied with twine.
     We walked away from our fully furnished home; once we were in the States and felt sure that we'd stay, we had Momma and Aunty Mick go into the house and sell all the furnishings.  Then the house was returned to the council.
     On the ship we had an interior cabin in steerage (accommodations for passengers with the cheapest tickets.)  It had 4 bunk beds and a sink.  Toilets were shared and were outside the room in the passageway.  When we needed a bath we had to make an appointment with a stewardess, who would draw the hot water for us and provide us with special soap that would lather in salt water. She expected a tip for this service.
     The dining room on the ship was quite spacious, the food was excellent.  Barbara, Maureen, and I never missed a meal, but Frank was seasick even before we pulled away from the dock.  He survived on crackers and butter-scotch candies for most of the voyage.  The crew told us to stay in the fresh air to ward off seasickness, so we had Frank outside in a deck chair with blankets over him.  There were refreshment stations up on deck so we could always get tea, coffee, or bouillon (broth) and sandwiches.
     There was plenty to do on board, with a special play area for children.  You and Maureen spent most days up on the top deck roller skating."
                                                                                --Joan Shelton

Maureen remembers, 

     "I had a nice pair of ball bearing roller skates; Mam and Dad must have thought I would use them on shipboard.  I did.  I met a girl my age, and I would let her use one skate while I used the other.  One day there was a children's party on board with hats, masks, and favors.  The ship employees gave us a Queen Elizabeth pin and a tie clip with a picture of the ship on it.  I still have both.  I also remember going to the pictures (movies).  More than once I saw Frank Sinatra in 'High Hopes.'"

                                                                                               --Maureen Wallace

Maureen sharing her skates on the QEI,
November 1957--age 7

Barbara on the deck of the QEI --age 2

The QEI sailing into New York harbor

  "Those on board who were immigrating were the last to get off the ship, so we did not get to see 'Lady Liberty' as we sailed into New York harbor.  We went through immigration on the ship; all our documents and x-rays were checked.  You had to bring chest x-rays with you to prove you didn't have tuberculosis.
     We landed with $750. in our
pockets.  We managed to get a
taxi to Penn Station by waving a five dollar bill.

       
     I remember sitting on a bench in Penn Station in New York City while Frank went to buy tickets for the train to North Carolina.  You were asleep on my lap; Maureen slept leaning on my right shoulder.  We were dressed in our Sunday best, and a police officer came up and asked what we were doing there.   When I explained that we had just come off the ship and that Frank was buying train tickets for us, the officer stayed with us until Frank returned.
     We traveled by train to Greensboro, North Carolina, where Aunty Gladys (Frank's sister) and Uncle Collette met us.  We were tired and hungry, and I've never felt so low in spirit as I did at that time.  Moving to the South was a shock.  As we traveled south by train, we saw a wooden tripod in a yard with a butchered pig hanging from it.  We hadn't seen anything like that in England for 50 years.
     We stayed with Gladys and Collette for ten days. At the time they were living in a small clapboard house in the country with a hand pump in the kitchen and an outdoor privy.  I asked Frank what on earth he was doing bringing us to a place where there was no indoor plumbing and no running water.  It made me shudder to think what we'd left behind in England.  We stayed with them for ten days, and then moved to Hickory, N.C., where Frank was hired as a tool and die maker by G.E. (General  Electric)."
                                                         
                                                                                                       --Joan Shelton

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be . . .

. . .  the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ― Anna Quindlen


     "When Maureen was about 2, Frank caught the immigration 'bug.'  He was working at Ericsson's, an engineering firm, and some employees had immigrated to Canada and were sending their pay stubs  back to Ericsson's.   When he saw what they were making, he left England with a group of men and went by ship to Canada, intending to send for me and Maureen when he got settled.   He came back after only three months,.  We weren't expecting him, and at the time I was living with Maureen at Nanna's house, not wanting to be alone in our big house.  He walked through the front door, and I screamed.  Thereafter, he was quite restless, so we thought maybe another baby would help him settle in England.
     July 14, 1955, began as a very warm, sunny summer day.  Since I was almost two weeks overdue with my second child, I was very uncomfortable in the heat.  My friend across the street was also pregnant in July, but her baby had come early.  My sister Doll was staying with me, waiting for something to happen, when she saw the midwife leave my friend's house.  She dashed out and asked Nurse/Midwife Greensmith to come in and take a look at me.  The nurse asked a few questions, gave me a two ounce bottle of castor oil, told me to take it in a glass of orange juice and call her if things began to start.

     The smell and taste of the castor oil made me gag, but I managed to keep it down.  To this day just the thought of it makes me feel sick.  That was in the late afternoon and things did start moving!  By 5 p.m. we were calling for Nurse to come back, and when she arrived I was well into labor.  Nurse joked about it, saying, "Well that sure got things moving!"
     You popped into the world between 6:30-7 p.m., making yourself heard loud and clear.  I guess you were objecting to being snatched away from your comfort zone.  You were a big baby, 8 and 1/2 pounds.
     In those days midwives did not measure the length of newborns.  The scales were a small hand held thing with a hook on the end.   The nurse would swaddle the baby, put it in a sling, hook the sling onto the scale and hold the scale aloft.  A needle at the top would register the baby's weight.
     You were beautiful with a round face and dark curly hair, and you were hungry.  Dad came home around 5:30 p.m., gathered up Maureen and took her down to Mamma Shelton's for the night.  When he was running back up Chestmut Grove he heard your first cry through the open windows.  He came in, took a quick look at you and raced back to Momma Shelton's on his bike to get Maureen.

Modern version of a weigh sling

   
                     

     Maureen was 5 1/2 when you were born on July 14, 1955--two weeks overdue.  She would hover over you protectively.  She loved to put her finger near your hand and watch you respond by grabbing it.  She would spend what seemed like hours doing that.   She loved to push you in the pram and would fuss over the covers.  There was a real bonding between the two of you right from the start.
     In those days the nurse/midwife made new mothers stay in bed for 14 days and would stop in most days and check on mother and baby.  As soon as the nurse left for the day, I would be up and downstairs.  Like any new baby, you wanted plenty of attention, and you surely did get it from Maureen and from visiting friends and family


   

Ostermilk

   








     I never breast fed my babies as my milk was sour, so we put you on a very good formula called Ostermilk (non-homoginzed).  You thrived on it.
     We got rid of the motorcycle and sidecar before you were born, and bought a brand new, black Standard car.  Dad borrowed money for it from Momma Shelton.  Pop was always game for a ride, but Momma was reluctant.  One time she watched your Dad drive down the street, and remarked, 'Oh, look, he managed to get around the corner okay.'  We'd only had the car a few months when petrol was rationed because of the Hungarian and Suez crisies in 1956, so Frank put kerosene in the gas tank.  The car caused a lot of jealousy amongst my sisters, and we felt compelled to take each sister and family out for rides, just to keep the peace.
     I would try to sit in the backseat and hold you, but you were such a live wire, pushing up and down on my lap and banging your hands on the window.  I felt worn out by the time we got home again.  Seat belts and safety car seats for babies and children were unheard of in those days.

Maureen pushing Barbara in the pram on
Mapperly Plain

     Pop would call you, "my little cock sparrow" and bounce you on his knee.  When you were able to walk, Maureen would take you by the hand and visit Aunty Mick, down the lane.  I would follow discreetly behind you both until you were safely in her house."
                         --Joan Shelton

Barbara and Maureen