Introducing Art's Parents

Filling in with some background information during a letter-writing hiatus from October 6 to November 9, 1949, as June recuperates at the hospital from a ruptured appendix…

Art’s ancestry can be traced back to the early years of Long Island settlement, even as far back as the first European colony in Southampton.  His parents were Arthur Nixon Price and Ada Belle Werner, who were married in Southampton in 1925.  At the time of the wedding, Arthur, a carpenter, was

Art's drawing of the family house where Art's parents,
Arthur and Ada Belle Price, were married.

already working on building a house for them on Cooper Street in Southampton.  This partially built house was right across the street from Ada Belle’s parent’s new house, which is where they were married.  The first-born in the family (just as June was first-born in hers), Art was born to Arthur and Ada Belle on December 7, 1926.

Arthur and Ada Belle with Art
as a baby.

There were many relatives in the Southampton area, and this included a number who would spend nine months of the year in the thriving small town of Southampton and then escape to the more rural area of Noyack for the summer.  Starting in 1931, Ada Belle and Arthur settled into this family routine, joining various aunts, uncles, and cousins for the months of June, July, and August.

Art’s father was strict but kind, tending toward the quiet side.  He was very work-oriented, always ready to volunteer for any task that needed done.  He worked for George Price, a local building contractor and relative, up until World War II, when he took a job at the Agawam Aircraft plant in Sag Harbor.

Ada Belle was possibly the sweetest person in town.  She was always busy helping someone or preparing for some church dinner or event.  She worked at the post office from the time she graduated from Southampton High School in 1922 until her marriage.  During World War II, she proudly accepted a position as an airplane spotter.  She would report to a little building near Cooper’s Beach in Southampton and would watch the sky for airplanes.  When she saw a plane, she would attempt to identify the kind of plane using her binoculars and then report it in, using a phone in the makeshift building.  She led a small group of people charged with this task, and she handled the job enthusiastically and conscientiously.

It was a very happy household – Mom, Pop, Art, and his younger sister Dorothy (born in 1929).

(For tomorrow, more sweetness…)

Countdown:  Correspondence resumes in 26 days.

© 2010 Lee Price