Life During Wartime

June’s father owned a 1938 Ford, but he didn’t take it out often during World War II.  Gas was rationed during the war years so driving was reserved for

The Anderson family's 1938 Ford.

emergencies.  It was an easy walk to his phone company job in town and a pleasant evening stroll to the movie theater or to Tepper Brothers for ice cream and the evening paper.

Food was rationed, too, but June’s father knew plenty about growing his own produce from his youth on the family farm in Connecticut.  He planted his

Victory Garden on the back right corner of their property and it provided plenty of fresh vegetables for the family.

The shades of their house were black on the inside to prevent their house from being visible from above at night.  If the Germans launched a blitz against America, as they had against England, they would not see June’s house.

Soon after the war ended, June's family moved to "the big house."  Located just a block and a half down Lincoln Avenue, their handsome new house was a large rambling affair dating back to the 1850s.  A short concrete wall, perfect for balancing upon, ran along the sidewalks of Griffing and Lincoln Avenues.  Behind the house were two massive pine trees ideal for June's tree climbing adventures (not as common now as June was maturing into a proper teenager).

The Anderson family's new "big house" at the corner of
Lincoln and Griffing Avenues.

(Tomorrow, the Pembroke year…)

Countdown:  Correspondence resumes in 17 days.

© 2010 Lee Price

Art Does "Time"

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…

A budding artist, Art worked on the craft of drawing by making pencil sketches of Time Magazine photographs and artwork.  He drew many of the leading figures of the time.  These drawings are a small sampling of his work.



General George S. Patton, drawing by
Art Price.



Dwight D. Eisenhower, drawing by Art Price.

Prime Minister General Hideki Tojo, drawing by Art Price.

Winston Churchill, drawing by Art Price.

(On Friday, life during wartime…)

Countdown:  Correspondence resumes in 19 days.

© 2010 Lee Price

Two Childhoods

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…

June lived in Patchogue then Riverhead;  Art grew up in Southampton.  They were 15 miles apart and completely unaware of each other – and would remain so until that much-later night in 1949 when “Some Enchanted Evening” played, bringing them together for the first time.

June and Art grew up in the depression.  They survived the Great Hurricane of 1938 which swept directly across the East End of Long Island, causing great devastation and claiming 70 lives.  June’s father always remembered braving the hurricane to bring June home from the grade school.  Over in Southampton, Art’s father saw slates blowing off the roof of the grade school so ran inside to tell the teachers to keep the children inside.  As he left, one of the teachers loaned him a hard hat to wear just to be safe.



Unfinished Art Price sketch,
in the style of Prince Valiant.

The first movie Art remembered seeing was King Kong at the Southampton Movie Theater in 1933.  He liked the matinees and the Tarzan movies most.  Other pleasures included the Sunday comics and the Prince Valiant series of Hal Foster, whose style he would sometimes imitate in his drawings.

There was a big tree behind the house in Riverhead.  June loved climbing it and would pretend she was a jungle princess.  As she moved from childhood to pre-teen, she developed a serious crush on movie actor Alan Ladd when This Gun for Hire came out.  June was 13 and Ladd’s sensitive tough guy look (wavy hair, quiet, gentle with kittens) appealed to her.  She wasn't alone.  All the girls thought he was dreamy.

June (third from left) with friends in front of
Riverhead High School.

(On Thursday, a gallery of faces…)

Countdown:  Correspondence resumes in 20 days.

© 2010 Lee Price

Small Town Southampton

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…

Oil painting by Art of a scene in Noyack.

Although the Hamptons were already popular as a resort area in the 1930s when Art was growing up, this aspect of the community was fairly easy to ignore for many of the locals.  In most other respects, Southampton was simply another small town in America.  Rich people would come in the summer but their lives rarely intersected with those of the old-time locals.  They lived in different worlds.

Art's grade school class.



Art's drawing of his
grade school class.










In 1931, when Art was four years old, the family decided to rent out their house on Cooper Street for the summer so they could retreat to the old family grounds in Noyack, a less developed area of Southampton located along the Peconic Bay inlet on the northern shore of Long Island’s south fork.  Conditions were primitive in Noyack.  Their cottage was next to a small pond fed by a larger creek that led to Noyac Bay.  It was a world of frogs and clams.  There was a small chapel built for the little community by Mrs. Russell Sage, a wealthy relative who lived nearby in Sag Harbor.  The chapel held services on Sunday afternoon, led by the Presbyterian minister from Sag Harbor.  Art’s mother taught Sunday School, and his father played the organ, which had to be constantly pumped by the foot pedals.

For Art, summer was playtime in Noyack.  The rest of the year was dominated by the public school schedule. Art started at the school on Windmill Lane then moved to the newly built grade school on Pine Street.

Although the family’s roots were Presbyterian and Episcopal, a lively young minister attracted Art’s parents to the Southampton United Methodist Church in 1938, where they quickly became dedicated and very active members.

(On Thursday, June goes to college…)

Countdown:  Correspondence resumes in 21 days.

© 2010 Lee Price

Patchogue to Riverhead



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…

June Anderson,
circa 1939.

June spent her early childhood in Patchogue, a small village midway out on Long Island’s south shore.



In 1935, when June was 6 years old, the family bought a house in Riverhead, an easy walk from her father’s job at the regional telephone company office in town.  Approximately 15 miles east of Patchogue, Riverhead is located at the point where Long Island’s two forks meet.  The Peconic River flows into Flanders Bay and the Great Peconic Bay here, with the river functioning as a sort of dividing line between the resort communities of the South Fork and the less developed lands of the North Fork.  Flanders Road was the main route to the Hamptons, a series of villages which stretched along the south shore.

The Anderson family, circa 1938:  Teddy in his mother's lap
and June with her father.

June's brother Teddy (Theodore Carl Anderson, Jr.) was born in 1937.  To June, the eight-year gap between their ages felt large.  She made friends with the local girls and settled into a happy life in Riverhead.  Bright and interested in many subjects, if a little inattentive at times, she did well in the Riverhead public schools.

Most evenings, June's father would take a walk to Tepper Brothers, a popular soda shop in town.  There he would buy the evening paper and a quart of ice cream, fresh scooped from the big tubs, to bring back home for dessert.  June frequently accompanied her father on these evening walks, joined in later years by little Teddy.  June and her father liked the chocolate ice cream the most.

(On Monday, Art grows up in the Hamptons…)

Countdown:  Correspondence resumes in 24 days.

© 2010 Lee Price

An Unusual Strain of Gentleness

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…

As mentioned in yesterday’s entry, Art’s mother was possibly the sweetest person in town.  It’s difficult to describe this, although everyone who knew her could attest to it.  The sweetness wasn’t cloying, but a very unusual and rare strain of gentleness that went hand-in-hand with a very active life.  She was always doing something – organizing a potluck dinner at the church, or cooking in her kitchen, or serving as an airplane spotter at Cooper’s Beach during World War II.  She was quiet, attentive, caring, and never hurtful.  She never said anything negative to anyone about anything.  According to the family, her mother before her (the Pierson side of the family) had these same qualities.

Art's charcocal sketch of his
sister Dorothy.

Both Art and his younger sister Dorothy inherited this strain of gentleness.  Art would always be the quiet one in the group, enjoying good company but rarely joining in if the mood turned critical or insulting.  He always looked for the good in people.  And he also inherited something of that love of activity from his mother, always happy to be on the move – walking, driving, and exploring new places.  June appreciated these qualities in Art right from the start.

(On Sunday, June grows up in Riverhead…)

Countdown:  Correspondence resumes in 25 days.

© 2010 Lee Price

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