When DAD Spelled Delicious

Here's a great clipping from the Portland Press Herald* publicizing the annual DAD dinner at Stevens Avenue Congregational Church in Portland, Maine. I'm guessing this is around 1965, since Lawrence Bustin, my great uncle, died in 1969. This is how I remember him.

Stevens Avenue Congregational Church is where my mother went to Sunday School and sang in the Choir.  The wife of  Dorrance A. Douglas, for whom this dinner was named, was Virginia Douglas, and she was the Choir Director. My mother says that whenever she sang off key, Virginia would slide her foot off the organ pedal and kick my mother in the shin!

Look at those heaping plates of food!

 370 people in less than 2 hours!

Now that's a church suppa!!

*from my great grandmother's crumbling scrapbook

Fearless Females Blog Post: March 24 ~ She Could Never Disown Me

My Mother
Marilyn Louise Bustin Seavey
21 years old

Yours Truly

Pamela Gayle Seavey Schaffner

22 years old

SEE WHAT I MEAN ?!

Lisa Alzo of  The Accidental Genealogist blog is presenting her Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month series in honor of National Women’s History Month.

Fearless Females Blog Post: March 17 ~ Like Mother, Like Daughter

Being surrounded by people, whether as a hostess, a member of a service organization, or just spending their leisure time with family and friends, has been, and continues to be for my mother, the most fulfilling aspect of life, for both my grandmother, Harriet Bustin, and my mother, Marilyn Bustin Seavey.

Harriet Bustin
1953

Harriet was an enthusiastic homemaker, hosting many holiday gatherings at 24 Mayfield Street. She was active as a member of the women’s Ever-Ready Club of Immanuel Baptist Church, and played Bridge regularly with women friends she had known all her life.

From her days at Deering High School, Marilyn has always loved to participate in social activities and endeavors.  She has always been on, and has occasionally chaired, the Reunion Committee for the DHS Class of 1949. Church groups, South Portland PTO’s, Eastern Star (which she joined so she could come to our Rainbow Girl meetings!), as well as couples groups, where she and my father loved to dance to those Big Band tunes, have kept her active and committed all her life.

Marilyn Seavey
[center]
promoting a PTO school fair
for Henley School

There is nothing my mother loves more than feeding people (she actually ran a small catering business out of her home for a while).  Following one of my church camp sessions, she helped me organize a winter reunion of campers and counselors at our church. Out of the church kitchen, with very little help, she fed the whole bunch of us  - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - for the whole weekend!








Lisa Alzo of  The Accidental Genealogist blog is presenting her Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month series in honor of National Women’s History Month.

Fearless Females Blog Post: March 10 ~ Keepin’ The Faith

One could make the argument that the most religious ancestor I have is my great grandfather, Wylie Herbert Smith (1874-1952), an ordained Baptist preacher.

It stands to reason, then, that my great grandmother, Bertha “Bertie” McCain Smith (1882-1930), would instill a religious fervor in their two daughters.

I do know that their younger daughter, Harriet, my grandmother, was a very active member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Portland, even though my grandfather wouldn’t be caught dead in the place!

I have very fond memories of attending the annual Mother-Daughter Dinner in the social hall at Emmanuel, along with my grandmother, my mother, my two sisters, my Aunt Norma, and my cousin. Following a three course dinner, there was always a program afterward, possibly an author, or a piano player, or a puppeteer.  We would dutifully stand as the roll was called for “Most Generations Present,” and my grandmother would just beam.

Emmanuel was in downtown Portland (my grandmother may have taken the bus, or been dropped off by my grandfather for Sunday services or Ever-ready Club meetings), and so my mother went to Sunday School at Stevens Avenue Congregational Church, a church she could walk to in Morrill’s Corner. It was there she also attended Pilgrim Fellowship (youth group), sang in the Choir, and where she would be married.

It wasn’t long after they were married that my mother joined my father’s church in South Portland, First Congregational Church, on Meeting House Hill.  As a young mother, she readily became active in this burgeoning congregation. She taught Sunday School, attended women's guild meetings, and helped organize such events at the Antique Show and the Annual Holy Daze Bazaar.

Since my father frequently worked at the Bakery on Sundays, there were many wintry mornings when she would traipse all four of us up that snowy hill to attend church and Sunday School. As the years went by, she encouraged us to be active in church activities, be confirmed, participate in youth activities, and attend church camp.

When she can get a ride, she attends services and meetings to this day.





Lisa Alzo of  The Accidental Genealogist blog is presenting her Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month series in honor of National Women’s History Month.

Fearless Females Blog Post: March 7 ~ Recipes In Their Head

How many times have I called my mother to ask for a recipe, only to hear her say, “I don’t have the recipe written down; it’s in my head.”?

Both my mother and my grandmother were excellent cooks. Nothing exotic or complicated; just good home-cooked meals for growing families and family gatherings.

There were always sweets in our house growing up - a batch of homemade cookies or squares at an arm’s length.

Here are a couple of sweet recipes: my grandmother’s  Never Fail Chocolate Cake, and my mother’s Rhubarb Pie (still made by request).

I really cannot explain why it was called "Never Fail" Chocolate Cake; maybe because it was from scratch. And I love the old name for margarine, oleo.

Lisa Alzo of  The Accidental Genealogist blog is presenting her Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month series in honor of National Women’s History Month.

Fearless Female Blog Post: March 5 ~ At the Corner of Bread and Cookies

My father, Dick Seavey, and my mother, Marilyn Bustin, met at a place I have written about before. And dear Cupid, in the guise of mutual friend, Winnie Cooper, found the perfect assignment at Cushman’s Bakery in Portland, Maine, in the early Spring of 1954.

Fresh out of the Navy, Dick was working in the Bread Room at the Bakery’s Store #5 at 107 Elm Street. Following a couple of summers working there during high school, and with no money for college, it was only natural for Marilyn to return to work there following graduation from Deering High School in 1949.

Having graduated from South Portland High School the same year, Dick knew many of the same people, many of whom would remain friends of theirs for years to come.

The above pictures were taken while they visited 

with Dick's sister and brother-in-law 

in their mobile home

While visiting Washington with friends that Spring, Marilyn sent Dick this postcard (postmarked March 29, 1954):

“Dear Dick -
Hello again and how are you today? It is real warm here today. Just been shopping. Going to a show tonight. Don’t know if another letter will get to you before I do or not. Gee wiz, I really never knew I could miss anyone so much, but I do. Should be home by 6 Sunday night. I wish you would call me. If you want to that is. Hope you miss me a little. See you soon. Love, Marilyn”

I guess he did, because they were married the following September, and were married for 56 years.





Lisa Alzo of  The Accidental Genealogist blog is presenting her Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month series in honor of National Women’s History Month.

Morrill’s Corner in the 1940 Census

My grandfather (S. Ross Bustin) was fond of saying that he could stand in the middle of Morrill’s Corner in Portland, Maine, and see every place he ever lived.

When the 1940 census was taken he was 31, living at 1158 Forest Avenue, working as a truck driver for a food manufacturer (undoubtedly Cushman’s Bakery), right in the Corner, with my grandmother and my mother, age 8 (my grandmother, Harriet, and my mother (Marilyn Louise Bustin) are on the following page).

The apartment building now has a store front attached and is barely recognizable as a residence.

My great grandparents, Fred and Melvina Bustin, also lived at Morrill’s Corner in 1940, with their youngest son Marvin, at 827 Stevens Avenue. They appear on the same page of the Census, with my great grandfather working as a laborer for the steam railroad (He worked for the Maine Central Railroad for over 50 years).

In this fantastic picture, I believe that is my mother standing on the front porch,

 probably about 8 years old.

Happy Mother's Day - The Moms I Remember

I love multi-generational pictures, and this one is a wonderful remembrance for today.

From left to right: my mother, Marilyn Louise Bustin Seavey, holding my sister Robyn, my paternal grandmother, Mattie Louise Leighton Seavey, My maternal great grandmother, Melvina Jane Hamilton Bustin, and my maternal grandmother, Harriet Cheney Smith Bustin. And, yes, that's me in the front!

Given the ages of Robyn and I, I would guess this was 1957, and I believe it was at 24 Mayfield St., Portland, the home of Harriet and Ross Bustin. Robyn was born in March of that year, and Mom always had us baptized on the Mother's Day after our birth, so this could be Mother's Day 1957!