December 1941 is the only month I have not posted. Here are the links to the previous months of 1941.
January 1941; February 1941; Aida and Lon, March 1941; The Village and the A&P, April 1941;May and June 1941; Clambake Summer 1941; September 1941; October 1941; November 1941
December 1941
Monday morning, December 1, Aida went to the A&P. The weather was very cold and it felt like snow. Lon and Arthur went to church in Barryville.
Wednesday morning, on his day off, Arthur visited his aunt
and uncle.
It was much colder on Friday when Jim started work again for Narrowsburg Lumber Company.
Sunday, December 7, Pearl Harbor was attacked. “Anthony arrived about three p.m. War declared,” recorded Anna Leavenworth of Islip on Monday. Tuesday Anna noted, “Radio humming all day. War declared on Japan. Worked on Christmas towels.”
Tuesday morning in Eldred, Aida went to the A&P and then to see Ed Myers, where her Austin nieces stayed.
Wednesday in Islip Aunt Anna worked on guest towels for Christmas gifts. Anthony Hirsch stayed there during the week. Thursday Chef Anthony made a duck dinner for Anna’s guests. “A good time,” Anna jotted down in her diary.
Thursday Katherine Dunlap called on Ella on the west side of Eldred. Stella was in for a while. “Hitler and Italy declared war on the U.S.A.,” Ella wrote that night. The Austin and Leavenworth aunts and uncles would be quite concerned during the next several years as Art, Bill, and Bob Austin and Jim Leavenworth would eventually serve overseas.
With the U.S. now in a war, the townsfolk took turns watching for planes at the golf course on what was once Dr. DeVenoge’s property. Jim and Goldie watched for planes on Friday.
Sunday afternoon, December 21, Arthur was up to Aida’s for his skates. The Methodist had their Christmas Tree in the evening.
Monday in Islip Aunt Anna worked on “Xmas cards of which there seems no end.”
Tuesday morning Aida went to Mae’s and the A&P. Martin Myers drove her home. At noon on Christmas Eve, Mae stopped by Aida’s with some candy and cake.
Christmas Day was a beautiful day in East Islip. Anna went to a friend’s for dinner. When they returned at 4 p.m. they found part of South Highway patrolled and guarded by anti-aircraft guns.
Christmas morning in Eldred, Arthur visited Aida for a little while. He went to Ed Myers’ for dinner to be with his brother Raymond and his family. Late in the afternoon Emma Stevens and Teenie called on Lon and Aida. They had brought a basket of fruit for each of them.
Sunday, December 28, Arthur drove Lon home from church. Towards evening Arthur took over his trunk and other things. Perhaps he was getting ready to enlist, and stored his belongings with his Austin uncle and aunt.
Sunday night Garfield watched at the golf course.
Sunday in East Islip, Charlee and Anthony Hirsch arrived before Anna’s supper was over. Monday Charlee made an apron with Anna’s new machine. Anthony arrived late from his work, so Anna cooked supper.
Even though Monday morning in Eldred was very, very cold, Aida took her usual jaunt to the A&P. It was still cold on Tuesday when Margie Bosch took a bottle of milk to both Lon and Aida.
In Islip, Anna and her niece Charlee went to the Singer Machine Company and Charlee took lessons. Anna went to the eye doctor. Her eyes were not too good. She would gradually become blind. “Anthony did not come home so I had to cook supper Tuesday. I sure miss Anthony’s cooking,” Anna wrote wistfully on the last day of 1941.
