This is my maternal grandmother Virginia Rose Carpenter. She was born in a small town in Massachusetts called Ipswich on the 24th of January 1928. Family and close friends called her “Ginny” but I called her Grammy. As a child my family was extremely close and Grammy was the center of it all. I’ll talk more about that later, but for right now I’m talking about her teen years, starting with this stunning Class picture. What about that hair … I just love it! I only wish that I had a more clear picture!
Below is a picture of Ipswich High School~ the High School that she attended and graduated from in 1946.
Construction for the new school on Green Street began sometime in 1935 and completed construction in 1937. The High School has since closed and is now the current home of the Town Hall.
Ipswich High School located on Green Street circa 1937
A copy of a map from 1945. The ‘yellow highlighted’ area depicts where Ipswich High School was located. The ‘blue highlighted’ area is Mineral Street where the Carpenter family lived. This is roughly a 15 minute walk.
This next picture is a page from the 1946 High School yearbook. “Go Tigers!” When I saw this, it really made me smile. It was so nice to read what some of her peers thought about her at the time. Her nickname “Carpy” was a little something that I didn’t know about.
Also, I noticed the comment about her being from Rowley. It peaked my interest a little. After some digging I came to the conclusion that at some point between April 1941 and August 1944 they moved from Mineral Street in Ipswich to the town of Rowley. Here’s how I came to that conclusion:
This directory page shows her parents Benjamin and Catherine living on Mineral St. in Ipswich 1932-34.
Source: U.S. city directories 1821-1998
Next is the1940 Federal Census. This shows the family still living in Ipswich.
Source: 1940 United States Federal Census
This document leads us to August 1, 1944. The birth of Grammy’s brother John David Carpenter is recorded in the town of Rowley.
Source: Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620-1988
So to recap, we know that the Carpenter family is still living in Ipswich in 1940 and at least by August of 1944 they were living in Rowley. Their home in Rowley was located on Hammond Street which is about 4 miles from Ipswich High School. That’s a long walk…I hope Grammy had a bicycle to get to school!
More pages from the 1946 yearbook:
A section in the yearbook titled “Gifts to the girls”
My grandmother’s sister Barbara tells me that Frances Canejo was her best friend, and Virginia Stewart was her very best friend.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time...
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