Francine Anderson has a front row seat to the garden from her apartment at Decatur House and loves to watch the flowers change, just as she’s enjoyed watching her family grow through the years.
Francine originally hails from New Sweeden, ME where she grew up on a potato farm. She came from a big family and married into her husband, Clyde’s big family (16 siblings) when she was just shy of 17. He had just come home from the war.
When the Tornado of 1953 hit Worcester Massachusetts, Clyde and his brother packed up their toolboxes and their families and headed to Worcester to get jobs in construction and help to rebuild the city.
The Andersons settled down in Millbury, MA. Together, they welcomed 4 children: Dean, Bryan, Jayne and Tamora. They enjoyed frequent weekend road trips. “I would have the kids ready and everything ready to go when my husband got home on a Friday evening.” The Andersons liked to visit family in Maine, where the kids learned to pick potatoes for 25 cents a barrel. They also went camping a lot. Francine says she liked to go fishing and deer hunting.
Francine taught kindergarten for 5 years, and her kids say she was like a mom to their friends and the neighborhood kids as well. They also say she was a wonderful baker. It sounds like Francine’s Swedish coffee bread is a real treat!
After the kids grew up, Francine and Clyde traveled so he could work at different construction jobs for 15 years. Francine loved it. She said that she got to see much of the country this way, and live in states including TX, GA, FL, and CT.
Eventually Clyde retired and the couple split their time between houses in northern Maine and Florida. When he passed away in 2003, Francine kept on driving between the two houses into her eighties. Her kids joked that her address was “Route 95 East Coast.”
Francine will celebrate her 92nd birthday this Sept. 22. In addition to her 4 children, Francine has been blessed with 8 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. She says that her greatest joy has been seeing all of the generations – seeing how it changes over the years.
