Growing Up In Lowell X
Lowell Remembrances
By Donna Tevepaugh’s
My name is Donna Tevepaugh (nee Silvia), I was born on May 31, 1952 in the Shaw Hospital in Lowell. I was delivered by Dr. Shaw. My mom was a first-generation French Canadian and worked as a gluer at the Robie Shoe Company and also at Grace Shoe. She glued the soles of shoes onto the uppers all day long. Later she worked at Honeywell Corporation for 25 years. Before she retired, she had worked her way up to a manager for Honeywell. My father was Portugese and worked as a sanitary engineer for the city. His family had come over from Lisbon and settled in Fall River, Mass.
I have one sister, Dianne, who was born on October 8, 1953. She was born at the Fort Devens Army base. My dad was a Korean War vet and was in the army stationed at Tooley, Greenland (Thule Air Force Base) when she was born. When we were young, Ma and Dad didn’t get a car until we were 13 or 14 years old. We used our legs and walked to everything.
I lived at 77 Adams St in the heart of the Acre till I was 13 years old. Our house was about a five minute walk to the North Common. It was a twofamily house. We lived on the second floor and my nana and grandpa on my mother’s side lived on the first floor. My parents tried to get us in the St. Patrick’s School but my dad always said we didn’t have an Irish name so we couldn’t get in. Both my sister and I went to the Morrill School that was across the street from St. Pat’s. [Morrill School officially was on Common St. but the back of the school was across the street from St. Patrick’s School.– Ed.] I went to that old rickety school, through the third grade, you could hear the floors squeak. Then we went to the Green School. I guess there was an overflow because I ended up at an even worse school called the Eliot. What a horror show. The worst dumpy school you could ever imagine. I went there for fourth grade. My teacher was Charles Manouses, he was a great teacher, from there I went to school at the Bartlett on Wannalancit St. for 5th-9th grade. Not only did I have Mr. Manousas, as my fourth grade teacher, but then at Bartlett he was my math teacher till I left Bartlett for High School. I had that same teacher for six years straight. His sister was a friend of my mother’s and he even would make me tow the line. I can remember another teacher but this one really drove me nuts. His name was Mr. Brunelle, he was the music teacher at Bartlett School. If you talked in class, he would make you tip toe around his piano to the tune of “Tip Toe Through the Tulips”. I’ll never forget that. When I was going on 14 years old we moved to 44 Rock St. so that my sister and I could have our own rooms. I went to Lowell High School till I graduated in 1970.
In those early years, my sister and I both went to dancing school at the Marshall Sisters on Central St. We went on Saturday morning for both tap and ballet. Most kids only went to one of the classes but we went to both – mom paid for one class and nana paid for the other. We would walk downtown to go to class. After dance classes, mom would take us to the Woolworth 5 and 10 cent store for little things like hair ribbons, crayons, stickers or barrettes. Then we would go up to the Chin Lee Restaurant over the 5 and 10cent store for lunch. It was so much fun. We also went to Kresge’s 5 and 10 cent store. That was my favorite. It had a soda fountain. We loved to go there for ice cream and a grilled cheese sandwich.
Sunday in our house was church, then dinner, then maybe the movies at the Royal or Strand Theater. I can remember it costing us 25 cents for the movie and 5 cents for the candy bar, 10 cents was the popcorn and tonic. We went almost every Sunday. When we were young, my grandma would go to the Poor Clare Nuns home and get wafer scraps that were the leftover, after the hosts were cut. And she would give them to us. I remember that she told us abut the shrine that is over by the river and she would have us walk to Pawtucket St. to see it. I remember going to so many places when I was young. I remember on the day we would have my birthday party, my mother first would go visit the graves. Also we would go to Fall River, for the May processional activities. Where all the girls dressed like the Virgin Mary and the boys like Jesus and the people would carry the statues from the church in the street. Many old people would walk bare footed in the street to be forgiven for sins. Afterward, we would have a great cookout, and food at Tia Gloria’s house (Aunt Gloria’s). Then we came home. Every year we did this till my grandmother died.
Years ago when we were small, my grandfather would take us around in his wagon, he would take us around our yard and up n’ down the street. Grandfather was a scrap dealer and had a large truck that he used to carry scrap metal. He would use this big truck to take friends and family to the lakes and beaches. He would have lots of the kids and family jump in the back of the truck and he would take us to Redtop or Salisbury Beach, Willowdale and Lakeview. Lakeview was my favorite place. It had a giant Merry-go-round. We got to ride on it, then go across the street, and ride on all these rides they had. It was so much fun! In summer, grandpa would take us to Willowdale, it had a place to swim, and a really big dining room to eat in. They also had a bar where grandpa would get a beer while we swam in the lake.
When I was thirteen years old, we could go to the Boy’s Club Dance on Friday nights. Then we went next door to the Club diner for french fries and gravy. Then we had to be home by 10:30. Lots of the kids in the neighborhood went to the Boy’s Club Dance. There were many kids in our neighborhood. The families I remember most included the LaMarche’s, they had I think twelve kids. Then there was the Croateau’s who had about ten children while the Betty’s had eight or more. Then there was us, we were two.
Other places for dancing included a place called the Hullabaloo in N.H. We also enjoyed the Commodore Ballroom in Lowell by the train station. We saw many famous singers there like James Brown, Gene Pitney (he sang “Town Without Pity”, and the music group The Platters. There were also the dances at St. Joseph’s. The disk jockey there was Ray Trembley he was great. After going to St. Joseph’s Dance, we would go to George’s Pizza. Another thing we like to do was go bowling. After bowling, wewent to Espresso Pizza.
I earned money by going to the store for people in the rooming house behind our home on Suffolk St. I got paid to shop for the men that lived there. Martha was the owner and she would send me to the DeMoulas Store and other neighborhood stores. I would carry kerosene for them up the back stairs. I got $5.00 from each of them on Saturday and during the week. Sometimes I made as much as $20 in a day from them. I remember one man named David Chelveler. He made a church out of match sticks, it was so beautiful. The church was two to three feet wide and almost two feet tall. He died there, as did the other men. After Martha died they tore the building down.
Grandfather had a still. He made his own whiskey in the basement of our house. I remember the beat cops coming to the house for a shot.
I am of French and Portuguese decent. My mother was easy going. My dad, well he was another story. If I was going out with a boy, he wanted to meet him before we could go out on a date. When I was thirteen years old, I met Jerry. He was almost eighteen. Jerry worked at Prince’s [Pasta]. My parents liked him so it was OK for me to go to the dances and movies with him. We dated from the time I was thirteen until I was eighteen. I married him on July 25, 1970, just after I graduated from high school in May.
