Getting to Work

Our son John joined his father. He did all the plumbing and electric work. His brother Tony also quit his job and came to work with his father. He worked in the office taking care of the books. The boys also helped grade roses and watered the plants. We had nine men working for us; one man was named George Jarret. He was foreman. Three men took turns around the clock stoking the boilers with coal, seeing they had enough water, and keeping the area around the boilers clean.

There was a farmer named Tony Monaco who rented most of our land for farming. He grew mostly dill lettuce and endives. He irrigated the farm with water from the brook. Every week he would load a large truck and bring his produce to New York markets. We were allowed to pick as much of his vegetables as we needed. We also had a large garden of our own. We still did our own canning. It was hard work, but it saved money.

I still could not work too hard on account of the operation, so we kept Carm home from work about six months so that I could recuperate. During that time Carm started to hobble around the house. We took her to a foot doctor. He found that she had an ingrown wart under her big toe. The doctor cut it out. For about a week Carm couldn't get around too well, so I had to do the best I could.

Phyl was a junior in high school and Ann in the eighth grade. Changing schools didn't affect them very much. They were both bright and continued getting good marks. The teachers liked them very much. Each made her own set of friends. They would visit at each other's homes. Their friends would love to come and visit the girls, because there was so much to see and do. The girls would give them a tour of the greenhouses, and then give them flowers to take home with them.

Some of the classes would come to our place with their teachers, to have picnics on our grounds. If it rained the picnics would be in the big red barn. They all had a good time and asked if they would be allowed to come some other time.

Phyl became a tutor for younger children, two nights a week. She would also help her father grade roses. The tallest roses were called number one, the medium stemmed roses number two, and the short roses number three. Phyl would put them in separate pails of water and put the pails in the ice box. Ann helped me with the housework. When she had spare time she would go to the greenhouses and help her father by grading roses. She also helped her brother Tony in the office. She loved to help Tony. Carm got a job in Cliffside Park with a real estate and insurance company called Connor's Real Estate. She was a secretary. Carm liked her work; she would travel to work by train. She also made a set of her own friends.

My husband kept his word about working hard in order to keep our business. No man could have worked harder. He was happy he owned his own place. His dream came true.

We left relatives and all our friends. We didn't know anyone in Closter when we moved. We found the people in Closter friendly and easy to get along with. It was a small town when we first moved there. The people there all got to know each other. The salesmen in the stores called us by name. It gave us a feeling of being “A big fish in a small pond.”