One Man's Family: Growing Up in Peterborough & Other Stories

by Sydney M. Williams

Overview

These essaysor as Sydney Williams calls them: musingsare evocative of a time and a placeof growing up in a New Hampshire village in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Sydney Williams was the second of nine children whose parents were sculptors and who was raised on a small farm, with horses, goats and chickensan unconventional life in an unconventional place, but during a conventional time. They include memories of his parents and their families, of books and of skiing. While they are personal, their message is universal message. It is one of remembrancethe closeness of families and the effect genes and environment have on how we become who we are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780872331754
Publisher:	Bauhan Publishing
Publication date:	07/23/2014
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

SYDNEY M. WILLIAMS left Peterborough in 1956 to go off to school, yet his bonds to Peterborough persist. His brother Willard owns and manages the Toadstool Bookshop. Besides Willard, three sisters—Betsy, Charlotte and Jenny—live nearby.

Table of Contents

Foreword 9

A Tour of Past and Present 13

Peterborough, New Hampshire, in the 1940s and ?50s 27

The Death of My Father, Some Forty Years On 45

My Mother-Some Vignettes 53

Eulogy for My Sister, Mary Williams Gregg 69

Stuart Hotchkiss Williams 75

The Toadstool 83

Books 91

Remembering December 2 97

Sixty-Nine Years on Skis 99

Family Reunions and the Miracle of Life 111

Two Days in New Hampshire 115

Remembering Memorial Day 117

Christmas Past and Present 121

On Great-Grandparents 125

A Letter on V-J Day 133

Fifty Years of Marriage 135

Fiftieth Reunion-Williston '59 143

On Turning Seventy 147

We Are All Kin 151

Afterword 157

Acknowledgments 159

What People are Saying About This

P.J. O’Rourke

“In One Man’s Family, Sydney Williams captures the true spirit of small-town New Hampshire. With his thoughtful memories he opens the doors of relations,community, and economic transition that have turned the mountains and forests of the Northeast into what we love today. Visitors and residents alike will treasurethis inside look at the Monadnock Region.”

Steve Hannah

“For years I have jump-started my day by reading Sydney Williams’ trenchant observations on everything from the sorry state of politics to the perplexing state of theeconomy. But I have to confess that my most enjoyable wake-up call comes when I find one of Sydney’s “musings” about growing up in a big family in rural NewHampshire. His writing reminds me of what I loved about reading and re-reading Russell Baker’s autobiography, Growing Up. It’s not fancy, it’s just true. And in thattruth lies pure pleasure.”

Martha Stewart

“Reading Sydney Williams’s quintessential New England family memoirmade me realize that each of us should take the time to “revisit” our personalpast, to contemplate what has been and what can be, and to understand theidiosyncrasies and varied characteristics that comprise everyone’s family.”