PAULINE IRISH BELIEVES IN OLD-FASHIONED HOSPITALITY

The following article appeared in the June 1, 2006 issue of the Mountain Gazette which is a free weekly newspaper I get in the mail because I am on the Cambridge mail route. A very interesting little newspaper that is published in Underhill, I believe and covers the towns of Bolton, Cambridge, Jericho, Underhill, Westford and Jeffersonville, Vermont. This week they had interviews from eight (8) Vermont Ladies, the one below with a connection to Fairfax I thought you might be interested in reading.

Pauline Irish believes in old-fashioned hospitality

By Brenda Boutin - Mountain Gazette Staff

Tea steeps in a silver pot and a small plate of cookies lies on a tray; a black and while cat wanders through the living room. A beautiful cardinal hops across the lawn. Pauline Paige Irish lives off Rollin Irish Road in a quiet part of Westford.

She was born to Carl and Helen Paige at Doctor Grace Sherwood Sanatorium in St. Albans, VT during the 1918 flu epidemic. When her father brought her mother to the sanatorium for Pauline's birth, the admitting nurse, on seeing him said, "You are the sick one - you need to stay and be cared for!" Apparently her father was ill with flu. After Pauline's birth, her family moved from St. Albans to Fairfax to live with her grandparents.

Later, they moved from there to a house near Fairfax Falls.

"We were near the falls during the 1927 flood. We had lo leave our house and stay with a neighbor whose house was flooded on three sides." she says. "We could hear the bridge going down. There was a horrible grinding sound. Pigs and horses were going over the damn and we could hear the squealing. It was just awful." Pauline was around nine years old at the time.

Her grandfather was electrocuted, which Pauline witnessed, and her family moved to Westford so her father could help his brother run the farm. "I was in fifth grade then." she says.

Local Westford boys used to gather at the building that is now the Westford Library. They went there to play basketball.

That was where she first saw the Parker Irish. "I was thirteen and I went home and wrote about him in my diary" Pauline comments.

He nas a lot older than she was. He was a senior in high school and she was in the eighth grade. "I had a girlfriend in Essex Junction that I went to see sometimes; Parker was her cousin."

There was a point in her life where she had to have her appendix out and when she came home from the hospital, there was a piano in the living room. "I took lessons from Miss Drinkwine; an hour lesson cost 50 cents. I had always wanted to play."

Pauline furthered her education at the Burlington Business College, and after graduation she worked for the Vermont Employment Service. Parker also worked in Burlington and they would run into each other at a local coffee shop.

Through those years, she enjoyed the company of other young men. "There were a couple of young fellows who rode their horses up from Amherst and the Berkshires to see me," she says. "One time the horses got sick, and they had to stay until they were well. Later my father told me it was bad enough that the horses got sick, but he had to feed the horses and those big guys, too. I was young, (hadn't thought about that.)

"I went with Parker off and on for five years. It was a lovely romantic time. I'd visit his grandmother and he'd leave notes in a bathroom closet for me," Pauline reminisced. "I'd hear his car come in the driveway. He was a real gentleman; he never stayed late.

"I went to a dance in Stowe, and Parker was there with another girl. At intermission, a group of us went down to Waterbury for refreshments, but he didn't bring his friend," she smiled. "Of course, he went back to take her home. But he was with me for a little bit."

The Irish family farm was where they became engaged. They drove to Preston's Jewelers in Burlington and picked out their ring together. It was during World War II and Parker was home on leave. They were married, and Pauline went back to Texas to live with him while he finished his military service.

Parker and Pauline settled in Milton. VT and started raising their family. Parker's grandmother died, leaving the Essex Junction house empty. "Our family had grown," Pauline said. "We still had room but grandma's house was larger." One day, Parker asked her what she thought about buying it, and they enjoyed living there for many years. "First it was the Parker home, then the Irish house,'' she says. "Then it was the Parker Irish house."

Parker and Pauline had a wonderful life together; they had four daughters and two sons; Mary Tuure, Beth Menut, Stephen Irish, Colleen Irish. William Irish, and Patricia Irish.

Pauline didn't work outside of the house; Parker took care of the family. He worked at the Allen Agency. But once he put a sign for real estate in front of their house. One night a family drove into their yard. They had a truck loaded with all their worldly possessions. "They came to the door looking for a house." she said, "like we could just hand them one. "Pauline got her realtor's license and worked at showing homes for three or four years.

"I don't know how he did it, but our children all went to college," she said. She made sure that the children all had the opportunity to play the piano.

They built a house off Rollin Irish Road just a little way from the farm. Parker died in 1986. They were married 42 years. Pauline spent 10 years as a volunteer for hospice. Today she keeps busy by playing Bridge with her friends and is a volunteer at the Essex Senior Center. She enioys her family.