Grandpa's journal

While in in-home hospice, my aunt asked her father to summarize his life in a journal.

I was a very happy young child. Sister Susan says I used to run around the outside of our house at 223 Dewitt St singing, “Oh what a beautiful day.” There was a big hill behind our house called “Dey’s Hollow”. All four of the Albright brats slid down the hill on sleds and sometimes cardboard when an ice strip started to develop. We probably also started our love of skiing on that hill. About 1932, when I was 6 years of age, my mother’s mother, Grandmother Parson, moved in with us along with her servants and chauffeur. She had a big Cadillac with folding jump seats between the front and back seats. In 1936, when I was 10, we moved into a large home around the corner at 7 Brattle Rd. It had a 20 x 40’ living room, dining room, sun porch, library, kitchen with 2 pantries, servants sitting room, front and back halls on the first floor. The basement had 5 rooms plus a finished game room and a 4 car garage. The attic had 4 servants bedrooms and a bath and 2 attic rooms. We kids would go out an attic window to the sleeping porch roof and then climb up to the main roof to a flat roof at the top of the house. ( Bad organization ) The second floor has 6 bedrooms, 3 baths and a sleeping porch above the downstairs sunroom. We lived there from 1936 ‘till 1949 and from my age of 10-23. The gruinch were not? extreme and as I got older I had to mow the whole lawn with a hand-push red mower. It also had a slight hill in the back that went down to the driveway. I did a lot of skiing on that little hill. At one time when all four of the brats were adults, three were giving skiing lessons. Dorothy a private ski school in Dewitt, John at the Skaneateles Ski Club (a paid job), and Sue teaching at Cazenovia Ski Club. (I was the black sheep.)

Because of my lame arm I wasn’t very good at things. I learned to do certain things a little later than my siblings. I can remember the day that I finally learned to ride a 2-wheel bike. I coasted down a slight incline without pedaling. Then the next time after walking the bike up the hill, I pedaled down, turned, and rode it back up. I was so proud. When we were at Wilmurt, we would always take a boat out to the raft and swam from the raft. Because I couldn’t really swim, my parents made me wear a rubber blow up ring to swim. Well, eventually, I thought I could swim so I kept letting the air out of when they weren’t looking. After the air was out one day, I left it on the raft and swam out a little way and let everyone know I could swim. I was very proud. (Probably an obnoxious show-off) Going back to my biking day. When I was 14 I bought with my own money a lightweight bicycle for $25. I rode that bike all over East side & North side of Syracuse. As an adult I had it fixed up and re-painted it for my son Art. We probably sold it for $25.

I was a very happy young child. Sister Susan says I used to run around the outside of our house at 223 Dewitt St singing, “Oh what a beautiful day.” There was a big hill behind our house called “Dey’s Hollow”. All four of the Albright brats slid down the hill on sleds and sometimes cardboard when an ice strip started to develop. We probably also started our love of skiing on that hill. About 1932, when I was 6 years of age, my mother’s mother, Grandmother Parson, moved in with us along with her servants and chauffeur. She had a big Cadillac with folding jump seats between the front and back seats. In 1936, when I was 10, we moved into a large home around the corner at 7 Brattle Rd. It had a 20 x 40’ living room, dining room, sun porch, library, kitchen with 2 pantries, servants sitting room, front and back halls on the first floor. The basement had 5 rooms plus a finished game room and a 4 car garage. The attic had 4 servants bedrooms and a bath and 2 attic rooms. We kids would go out an attic window to the sleeping porch roof and then climb up to the main roof to a flat roof at the top of the house. ( Bad organization ) The second floor has 6 bedrooms, 3 baths and a sleeping porch above the downstairs sunroom. We lived there from 1936 ‘till 1949 and from my age of 10-23. The gruinch were not? extreme and as I got older I had to mow the whole lawn with a hand-push red mower. It also had a slight hill in the back that went down to the driveway. I did a lot of skiing on that little hill. At one time when all four of the brats were adults, three were giving skiing lessons. Dorothy a private ski school in Dewitt, John at the Skaneateles Ski Club (a paid job), and Sue teaching at Cazenovia Ski Club. (I was the black sheep.)

Because of my lame arm I wasn’t very good at things. I learned to do certain things a little later than my siblings. I can remember the day that I finally learned to ride a 2-wheel bike. I coasted down a slight incline without pedaling. Then the next time after walking the bike up the hill, I pedaled down, turned, and rode it back up. I was so proud. When we were at Wilmurt, we would always take a boat out to the raft and swam from the raft. Because I couldn’t really swim, my parents made me wear a rubber blow up ring to swim. Well, eventually, I thought I could swim so I kept letting the air out of when they weren’t looking. After the air was out one day, I left it on the raft and swam out a little way and let everyone know I could swim. I was very proud. (Probably an obnoxious show-off) Going back to my biking day. When I was 14 I bought with my own money a lightweight bicycle for $25. I rode that bike all over East side & North side of Syracuse. As an adult I had it fixed up and re-painted it for my son Art. We probably sold it for $25.