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Lucille Cooper Wilkinson Johnson Born October 9, 1922 Based on interviews of August 28, 2012 and later Lucille Cooper was born at home near the top of the hill on the east side of Victory Street, Fair Haven. At that time, her Grandfather, Frank Howell, an undertaker, and a farmer, owned this house. Today, Mert Mahaney lives at that residence. The year Lucille was born, her grandfather, Frank Howell, discontinued the furniture business at his store in the Lyon Building, known by then as the Howell Block, and started the Lakeside Theatre. Soon Lucille Cooper’s family moved to a farm on the east side of Springbrook Cemetery, later known as the MacArthur residence. During the time they lived at the farm, Lucille’s sister Margaret Cooper (Ward) was born. Lucille’s father was a dairy farmer at this time. When Lucille began attending elementary school in Fair Haven at the age of six, her father would bring his milk into the village to the milk station next to the railroad tracks. He would drop Lucille off at her grandparents’ home at the same time. When it was time for the school to open for the day, she would walk there. No school lunches were served at that time so at noon time Lucille would walk to her grandparents’ home and take the stairs to the second floor apartment in the Lyon Building. There, she had her lunch and visited with her grandmother and perhaps her Aunt Florence before heading back to school for the afternoon session. During one summer Lucille remembers looking out the oriel window from her grandparents’ upstairs apartment into the corner of South Richmond and Main Streets, in order to watch the Fair Haven Citizens Band concert. In those days the moveable bandstand was placed at this spot one week and at the corner of Lake and Main Streets the next to create equal opportunity for various merchants. Lucille was not allowed to attend this particular band concert because she was suffering from whooping cough. During this time period, Lucille’s only sibling was born. Margaret Cooper (Ward) arrived on June 11, 1926. She attended Fair Haven School, graduating in 1944. Margaret has three daughters. Today she lives in Arizona. ---PAGE BREAK--- Looking eastward on Main Street, milk station is in center of photo; milk cans were loaded onto daily trains to be taken south; note railroad crossing sign on left; Baggs Feed Mill was to the left of the milk station When Lucille was about seven, her family moved into town to a huge upstairs apartment on the west side of her grandparents’ home, in what was known as the Spaulding Block. Its location was at the corner of Main Street and Fancher Avenue. The eastern, one-story portion of the same Spaulding Block later housed Ryder’s Barber Shop. Lucille can remember climbing out her bedroom window, walking on the roof of the one-story portion of the block and then climbing in her grandparents’ dining room window! She did not have to go downstairs, walk to the next building and walk back upstairs. The downstairs of the west side of the Spaulding block housed Griggs Grocery at the time. Later, Earl Houtaling took it over. Over that store, Lucille’s family took up residence. Lucille remembers it as being a huge apartment; two rooms were not used even with the growing Cooper family. Lucille remembers roller skating on Main Street and ---PAGE BREAK--- Fancher Avenue, right around where she lived. She remembers that her grandparents had a garden behind their apartment nearby. Her Grandmother, Bessie, grew beautiful tulips there, too. Next to Lucille’s grandparents’ theater/apartment on the east side was the Robinson & Phillips Block. The upstairs in that portion had several different offices over the years, including its last use as an apartment for the Harold Wallace family over their Red & White Store. All of these blocks: the Spaulding, the Lyon/ Howell and the Robinson & Phillips, were completely destroyed by fire in 1955. From left, Methodist Church, (Fancher Avenue-unseen), Spaulding Block including one-story portion, Lyon-Howell Block, Robinson & Phillips Block ---PAGE BREAK--- Spaulding, Lyon-Howell and Robinson & Phillips Blocks, perhaps late 1940’s; note the one-story portion and the Howell upstairs dining room window Lucille in the tulip patch ---PAGE BREAK--- Lucille as a toddler standing on the roof outside her grandparents’ dining room window ---PAGE BREAK--- After the block fire, 1955; Mendel block in background Lucille said that her parents brought her to the silent movies at her grandfather’s, even as a baby. There, she slept in her carriage. The Lakeside Theater was in business for about eight years. It ---PAGE BREAK--- could hold about 350 movie-goers. Lucille remembers it as a huge dark room with a movie screen in the back. Lucille recalls that when she got a bit older she would listen to the talented lady piano player playing to the moods of the various silent movie scenes. Advertisement from a 1927 Fair Haven High School Yearbook Lucille’s mother, Marion, worked at the telephone switchboard, which early on, was located in Frank Howell’s store in the Lyon-Howell Block. A 1919 entry in Marion’s diary mentions Marion having to go downstairs to work in the office at the switchboard. Lucille says that Marion and all her sisters probably worked at that switchboard. The Cato Telephone Company bought the line around 1928 and later moved the switchboard office across the street into what is now known as Hair Haven, once probably known as the Jackson Block. Lucille thinks that the Cato Telephone Company may have owned the Jackson Block. So when the switchboard was moved, the Cooper family moved, as well. In the Jackson Block, the switchboard faced northward. The operator could look out the window while working and wearing a headphone. Bill McIntyre would come to repair the switchboard when needed. Marion Cooper ran the switchboard with help from others, such as Marian Ingersoll, Ryder and Beulah Longley. Lucille’s father, Maurice, worked the switchboard at night. A night bell would ring and Maurice would get out of bed and run the switchboard. (At that time only one operator was needed at a time.) When Lucille was older, if her parents went somewhere, such as to dances at the Odd Fellows Hall, Lucille had to stay with the switchboard, because Lucille says “someone had to stay home with the phone.” When Lucille was in college her parents bought the house on the Corner of Main Street and Fancher Avenue where Mr. and Mrs. Jay John Sawyer now live. They lived there until Marion died in 1970. Maurice continued living there for a time; however, as he got older he moved into the upstairs apartment at his daughter Lucille’s house on Richmond Avenue. He lived there until his death in 1992. PATERNAL LINEAGE: Lucille’s father, Maurice Cooper (1895-1992), was originally from Sterling; he had grown up on his father’s farm and began his working life as a farmer. On his farm east of Springbrook Cemetery, Maurice milked his cows and brought the milk to the milk station in Fair Haven. He also “worked on the ice.” In those days, many local men took winter jobs helping cut ice from ---PAGE BREAK--- the bay and moving it to one of the several Fair Haven ice houses. During warm weather ice was sold to local customers as well as being hauled to large cities to be used in refrigeration. One winter, Maurice’s team of horses fell through the ice. The men used ropes as well as manpower to grab onto any part of the horses available. Using brute force to pull them out of the icy water, the men were able to save the horses. Maurice trotted them all the way home which warmed them up Then he dried them off, fed them a good supply of oats and later in the day brought them back for more work. They had recovered nicely. Maurice Cooper and his brother, Kenneth, with the horse team working on the ice by the Pleasant Beach Hotel. ---PAGE BREAK--- Maurice Cooper, sometime after his bout with influenza and lost all his hair; before the epidemic of 1918, he had wavy hair ---PAGE BREAK--- When the Cooper family moved into the village, Maurice went to work at Nestlé’s Chocolate Company in Fulton. On weekends he worked at Fair Haven Beach State Park parking cars and later at the gate selling entry passes. He retired from Nestlé’s but continued working at the Park until he was 80. He was one of the longest-working seasonal employees at the Park, having worked there from 1930-1975. He was president of the Fair Haven School Board for a time, including 1946 when the last high school class graduated from there. Fair Haven merged with the Red Creek Central School District at that time. Students from grades 7-12 began attending school in Red Creek in the fall of 1946. Maurice died in 1992 at nearly 97. He is buried at Springbrook Cemetery. Several of Lucille’s paternal ancestors were from the local area. Her grandparents on her father’s side, John (1858-1941) and Sarah Taber Cooper (1865-1948) are buried at Sterling Center Cemetery. Sarah was a sister to Charles Taber. Charles’ family included Eddie and George Taber, Red Creek residents, and Alfred, who created Taber Motors in Cato. John was a life-long farmer. After becoming widowed, Sarah Taber Cooper kept house for Irving Silliman in Fair Haven. One day in 1948, she was a passenger in a car with other local women who were on their way to attend a friend’s funeral in Baldwinsville, when the car was struck by a truck at Benton’s Corners in Ira. Sarah died about an hour after being taken to Fulton Hospital. John Cooper’s parents, Lucille’s great grandparents, John (1817-1901) and Frances (1828-1864) are also buried at Sterling Center Cemetery. Lucille can trace her paternal ancestry back several generations including some of Sterling’s first settlers; many Coopers still live in the area. MATERNAL LINEAGE: Marion Howell Cooper (1898-1970), Lucille’s mother, was a telephone switchboard operator for many years as previously stated. She also worked at Fair Haven State Park selling tickets at the bathhouse. At that time Park visitors had to pay to change clothes at the bathhouse. She is buried at Springbrook Cemetery. Lucille’s Mother, Marion, on lunch break at the Park ---PAGE BREAK--- Frank Brewster Howell (1870-1950), Lucille’s maternal grandfather, owned several businesses during his life including farms, furniture store, funeral business, dairy business and silent film theater. Today he would have been known as an entrepreneur. In the days that funerals were held at home, Frank took folding chairs to people’s homes to be used for funeral seating, as part of his professional services. Lucille still has one of those old chairs. Frank Howell died in 1950 at age 80. He is buried at Springbrook Cemetery. Bessie Wyman Howell (1871-1931), Lucille’s maternal grandmother, was an educator. Together, she and Frank had seven children including Lucille’s mother and Fair Haven resident Bob Howell’s father. Bessie’s ancestor was listed as postmaster in 1847, at Wyman’s Corners, the former center of town (now the corner of West Bay Road and 104A). Frank Howell, 1948, two years before his death ---PAGE BREAK--- John Cooper John Cooper Frances Cooper Maurice Cooper Sarah Taber Cooper Lucille Cooper Marion Howell Cooper Frank B. Howell Bessie Wyman Howell Lucille’s mother and siblings: back row left to right, Marion, (Lucille’s mother) Florence, Wyman Front row, March, Virginia, Donald, Robert (Bob Howell’s father) CHILDHOOD and SCHOOL DAYS: In the summer, Lucille sometimes would ride with her grandfather Howell on the milk route as he delivered glass bottles of milk. Mostly she spent time with him as he delivered on the north end of the village and in the Park. They delivered to the concession stand—John Martin ran it then. On the other side of the bridge, around the curve, facing the pond was another stand. It was a smaller version of the concession stand. It stocked convenience items for campers. So Mr. Howell delivered milk there as well. Once in a while grandpa bought her a candy bar, a real memory creating treat, says Lucille. ---PAGE BREAK--- Lucille’s mother would make arrangements to have Edna Williams, noted local photographer, take photographs of her children. It was exciting to pose for Edna, who did not use a studio, but photographed the children with natural backgrounds. Mother, baby Margaret and Lucille Cooper at the farm ---PAGE BREAK--- Lucille, Margaret and Teddy at the farmhouse next to Springbrook Cemetery ---PAGE BREAK--- Edna Williams photo of Lucille and Margaret Cooper When Lucille began school at age six, there was no kindergarten, and classes were small. For grades one and two Iva Wright was her teacher. For 3rd and 4th grades she had Ruth Wilkinson, ---PAGE BREAK--- who was her future husband Robert Wilkinson’s aunt by marriage. Her teacher for grade five was Miss Wall, Frances McIntyre’s and Walt Wall’s sister. During her elementary school years, the school had no inside plumbing. So students had to go outside to use the outhouses at the north side of the school. In the winter, this meant that students had to put on their winter coats to go to the outhouses. Students took their turns at the outhouses during recess. Lucille remembers that during decent weather a teacher would come outside the school at the end of recess and ring a hand bell as a signal that recess was over. Fair Haven Union School, before addition, (1899 photo) Lucille’s sixth grade class had an unusual experience; they had a male teacher named Rudy Klossner when it was very unusual to have a man teaching elementary students. She found him to be a good teacher. He later coached the basketball team. The Fair Haven School had no gym at the time so the teams had to go to Hannibal School gym to practice! Lucille was on the girls’ basketball team with some other Fair Haven girls, like Evelyn Forscutt (Lalik), Doris Hadden (Clark), and Carol Wright. Lucille recalls that the basketball team had “ugly uniforms” of black and orange. When Lucille became a senior in high school the building sported a new addition, including a gymnasium and some much needed classrooms. Lucille and the other girls in her class wanted a new offering so they took the first home economics class the school had ever offered. She recalls the class as consisting of several small projects including sewing and cooking. The school addition also offered the opportunity for basketball teams to practice and compete in their home school, much to the delight of the community. For the first time school dances were held as well. Lucille played the clarinet in the school band. She recalls that band practice had not been held during the school day, but after school. Lessons were given at the Legion Hall, across Lake Street from the school. During Lucille’s last year, lessons and band were held in the new gymnasium. ---PAGE BREAK--- Fair Haven School after addition, 1946—bell tower still attached; the bell tower was later removed. Note American Legion Hall in right background In high school a friend of Lucille’s was Theresa “Tessie” Williams. The two girls would occasionally spend some time after school at Roy Maynard’s garage. Tessie was waiting to ride home with her father who worked for Roy. Lucille remembers Roy shouting out to her to “stand up straight” as she walked from her home to school. ---PAGE BREAK--- Roy Maynard’s Garage, mid to late 1920’s; it was across the street from Lucille’s home when her family lived in the Lyon-Howell Block It was during her high school years that Lucille’s family moved from the Spaulding block into the Jackson block across the street so her family could remain with the switchboard. When she was in college, her parents bought the house on the north side of Main Street, next to Fancher Avenue. Lucille can recall that after her grandfather’s theater closed, she would be taken to the Palace Theater in Wolcott to see Shirley Temple or Will Rogers movies. Luckily, Maurice, Lucille’s father, liked movies so she could sometimes talk him into taking her. If she got quarters she would go to Mendel’s store and buy movie magazines. She would cut out pictures of movie stars and pin them on the walls of her bedroom. She hung up photos of stars like Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Robert Young and Robert Taylor. Her dad was very upset when one day he saw all the pin holes in the walls of her bedroom! Lucille stresses that she was NOT allowed to buy True Confessions magazines. Such “trash” was off-limits. Lucille points out that “Hollywood was glamorous then.” Once, as an older teen, Lucille got to see Robert Taylor live because he was in a production in Syracuse. She said “he was really handsome!” Lucille went to the Presbyterian Church as a child and still attends church there. Muriel Rasbeck was her Sunday school teacher for a number of years. On Sunday evenings as a teen, she and other local young residents went to Christian Endeavor meetings. The teens had some social time together after the formal meeting as well. Rev. Harold Austin was the pastor then. ---PAGE BREAK--- During high school, Lucille became a member of the 4-H Club with Reva Martini and Edie Eaton as the leaders. Sometimes the group met at the Fowler Farm near Juniper Hill. They might walk to the farm and then get a car ride home. A news article says “next time roll call will be answered with something unusual about a famous person.” So the girls would have to study. The article states that Phillips & Silliman’s Store was soon to have a public demonstration of pillows, record books, and a banner, all made by the girls. At this time some other members of the club were Clarissa Fowler, Margaret Hadcock, and Dorothea Pickett. Lucille was a member of the Fair Haven High School Dramatics Club and in her senior year was a star in the play “Aunt Tillie Goes to Town.” She still has an autographed playbill of the play, presented December 19, 1939. Playbill, Lucille’s High school Play Lucille graduated from high school as Salutatorian in a class of ten. She went to college at Geneseo, majoring in Library Science Education. She graduated from college in 1944. World War II was declared while she was away at school. It soon had an impact on her in that gas was rationed, so she was not able to come home as often as she would have liked. She sometimes took the bus from Fair Haven to Rochester where she might stay with her uncle. She would take another bus from Rochester to school in Geneseo. War took most of the men out of college. “It didn’t help at dances,” she said. She said that her major of library science contained only women as well. ---PAGE BREAK--- During high school and college Lucille worked summers at Mrs. Gardner’s Restaurant which was located by the Bay on Lake Street. One summer she and a college friend got an apartment in Rochester. They took a bus from the apartment to the Taylor Instrument factory and worked on an assembly line making thermometers and other instruments used in World War II. Thus, she was a “Rosie the Riveter” for a time. ---PAGE BREAK--- Lucille Cooper ADULT YEARS: Upon graduation from college, Lucille took a job at Interlaken Schools near Ithaca. She worked there one year and then started a job at Oswego City junior high schools which at that time included Fitzhugh and Kingsford Park. Part of her contract requirement was to work in the Oswego Public Library. She was working in Oswego when the Jewish refugees were being held at Fort Ontario, known as “Safe Haven.” She remembered one frequent male visitor to the public library from the refugee camp. At that time she lived in an apartment on West First Street, Oswego. She began dating Robert Wilkinson from Fair Haven and when they got married in 1946, she had to leave her job. Schools did not hire married women teachers. From left, Sarah Cooper, Lucille Wilkinson, Robert Wilkinson and Frank Howell on Lucille and Robert’s wedding day. After her marriage, Lucille worked on the milk route with her husband, Robert, because his brother Charles Wilkinson was in the military. Her father-in-law, Paul Wilkinson, owned Hillside Farms Dairy. Previously, milk had to be taken to Wolcott’s Green’s Farms Dairy to be pasteurized, but Paul built a milk house so the family began pasteurizing their milk there. ---PAGE BREAK--- In 1949, Lucille’s and Robert’s daughter Susan was born, followed by Christine in 1952. Robert continued working on the farm and on the milk route. He also worked at the Dairy Bar and later the little restaurant next door. These were located on the present site of Screwy Louie’s Sport Shop. Lucille was a substitute teacher in the Red Creek district. In 1955, Red Creek Principal, Eleen Garnet, asked Lucille to teach grade six at Fair Haven School; the district had not been able to fill the position. So Lucille went back to work full- time. The next year, Miss Helena Growney, librarian, left the school district so Lucille became the elementary and high school librarian for the district, working there until 1961. When the Fair Haven Public Library was moved from the Phillips home to its present site, in the old village hall building, Lucille volunteered to help. She did most of the set-up and created a card catalog, all by hand. Mildred Wilkinson, her mother-in-law, helped her. From left, Mildred Wilkinson, Lucille Wilkinson and daughter; Lucille is working on the card catalog at the new library. ---PAGE BREAK--- Lucille used to bowl on a league with her friend, Carol Wallace, who, with Carol’s husband, Harold, owned the Red & White Grocery Store in the Robinson and Phillips block. One night in March of 1955, the women drove home from bowling to find there was a fire burning in the village. It turned out to be Carol’s and Harold’s store and their apartment above it. It was a shock to both women. Carol and their four children stayed with Robert and Lucille that night while Harold, “Wally” was at the fire, watching his place burn to the ground. Carol and Wally stayed with Lucille and Robert for a while after the fire. After the block fire, looking west; Lucille’s parents’ home is on right. Because of Robert’s declining health, Lucille and Robert moved to Florida in 1961, hoping that the change of climate would help his lungs. Unfortunately, it did not. They rented out the downstairs of their house to a teacher and the next year to Merrill and Ginny Parker. In 1963 the Wilkinsons moved back to the village. Lucille went back to work for the Oswego School district. She worked first at Kingsford Park and then at Oswego Middle School until she retired in 1978. During that winter she and Robert began going to Arizona for the winter seasons to try to stabilize Robert’s lungs. She has continued to winter in Arizona for the past 34 years, with one exception. Robert‘s health declined and he died in the winter of 1990. He is buried at Springbrook Cemetery. Her daughters were a great comfort. Chris stayed with Lucille for a time. Lucille would go to Susan’s home on weekends. The next fall Lucille went by herself to Arizona. One spring Lucille did not return to Fair Haven. She married Bob Johnson in 1993 and went with him to Washington State where he had a summer cabin. The two of them cleared out the ---PAGE BREAK--- cabin and sold it that fall. Thereafter, each spring the couple would return to Fair Haven. In 2009 Bob’s heart gave out. He is buried in Richland, Washington. Lucille continues to live in Fair Haven and winter in Arizona. Family and friends remain very meaningful to her. She continues to be an active citizen of Fair Haven and is considered to be a decent, kind, and pleasant person to all who meet her. At age 90, it is an honor to know her.