Sarajean and Suzanne. You may call them Sally and Susie or Sue. But, just remember it is Sarajean, no h, no capital j, just one word.
Suzanne here. Yes, my sister is very specific about the spelling of her name. Sally was born on July 31, 1937 to Bill and Irene Lippert who lived on Main Street in Greenwood in a Sears Kit House. I was born two years later on July 20, 1939.
Sarajean here. Before we get started. To clarify, I was the more studious of the two. Susie, was the fun girl.
Sue here. Sally may have been the most studious; but, in my opinion, she was the prettiest.
Irene Chaffee here. I have to agree with all of that. Pretty girls, always well dressed. Sally was a wonderful person, tried to be perfect in every way...a perfect teacher.
Duane Chaffee here. I call Sarajean, more prime and proper. She was detail-oriented, precise. You had to have your facts together for her. And, Sue, she was more fun. She liked the best of everything. Either Sally or Sue babysat us after school. And, one or the other or both sometimes went on vacation with us.
Gary Chaffee here. I second the more fun comment. Sue still is. We spend our winters in Florida nearby and still have a lot of fun.
Sue back. We are getting ahead of ourselves. Gary already has me all grown and living in Florida and I haven't had a chance to share about growing up in Greenwood.
Our clothing has been mentioned. Well, Mom's mother worked at Wineburg and Gleason, a clothing store in Hornell, and kept us well stocked in pretty things. I guess since Mom liked those petal pushes and tee-shirts, she had to dress us up more. Now, that is not to say that Mom didn't wear dresses, she did and pretty one's from Grandmother's store too.
Just as all the kids of the business owners in town have mentioned, we mixed school and playing with friends with work even as children. Sally and I helped out at the store of course.
Sally back. The worst job was scraping the meat block.
Suzanne back. I have to agree. We couldn't go to the movies at the school on Saturday until that block was completely clean. Sally and I both helped out with the switchboard for Blanche Wallace sometimes too.
Bill Lippert here. I used to have Sally paint the specials on the store windows. You have heard a bit about the trucks coming down Andover Street and not quite making the turn onto Main Street. Well, we had about 3 or 4 come right into our store. It was just the day before one such instance that I had Sally in that window. That was a bit heart-stopping.
Sue back. They used to come to the school to get us when the trucks flipped. I remember Dad pointing out to Sally that she had just been in the window the day before. Scary.
Sundays, Dad and Mom closed the store and we would go off somewhere for lunch; Dansville or Hornell. And, Sally and I would get a candy bar to share.
The Lipperts and the Chaffees sure did spend a lot of time together. It started with Irene babysitting us when she was in high school and then Sally and I babysitting those boys too.
Duane back. Gary and I even babysat for Sally and Sue's kids when they were little.
Sue here. I just have to share this one. Duane and Gary fought a lot as brothers do. Lloyd and Irene even had to stock the globes for their living room lamps at the hardware store, they were broken so often.
Duane back. As I remember it, Gary was Sue's favorite. When we fought, I had to "sit in the corner" and Gary got to go off somewhere.
Sally here. Yes, one day, Sue was watching them and when she sent Duane to the corner, he took off running to the hardware store with Sue in hot pursuit after him. He made it there and told his mother that "Gary is Sue's favorite." I am sure Gary has some stories that paint a different picture.
Gary here. Well, I may have; but, I plead the fifth. But, I will remind Sue about those back stairs and the back room at their house. Ha ha.
Sue here. Gary, yes, we did have some good times in that back room. And, I need to plead the fifth about the back stairs.
Evelyn Lounsberry Cornell here. I remember hanging out in that back room. It was Sue and Clair and Gary Reimann and me. Definite small town stuff. I went on to marry Clair Cornell. I can picture Irene in her petal pushes and a shirt with Bambi on it hanging out and talking with us back there.
Sue back. We had a lot of fun at the Lounsberry farm too. I remember the hayride Ezzy shared.
Ellen Murray Kilbourn here. Susie and I would run around together.
Sue here. I remember one day I went home for lunch with Ellen. Mrs. Murray served us liver. Definitely not my favorite. But, Ellen's Grandma Pearl's sugar cookies with just the three raisins on top were.
My very best friend was Shirley Higgins. Ellen, Shirley and I graduated from Greenwood Central School together. I was a member of the Future Homemakers of America, in the choir, a cheerleader and played the trumpet in the band. We would march in local Fireman's parades all over the county. High school was a lot of fun. Our senior trip in 1956, the nine of us went to Washington DC as Greenwood always did in those days. We combined our group with Sevona. Their principal was Lou Salem a previous principal of GCS.
Sally here. I was more inclined to be a scorekeeper.
Sue here. Brainiac.
Sally back. Yes, I was more interested in getting good grades than doing all the popular activities. My friends growing up were Mary Jo Kernan and Shirley Clark. She lived in the house next to the Wallaces, down the street from us.
Lippert holidays were spent with Mom's family in Hornell. She had one brother and we had one cousin Bonnie. Grandma would cook and cook and cook for days.
Sue again. Holidays were fun; but summers were more fun. We would go to the Chaffee's lake house.
Duane back. The girls, we just always call them the girls, and Bill and Irene would come to the lake. Bill would bring steaks. Steaks as big as a plate. I loved those days. I also remember us tipping the sailboat, a Sunfish, and getting the mast stuck in the mud. Good times.
Irene Chaffee here. Bill and Irene passed when the girls were pretty young, but, past being raised. Lloyd and I "adopted" them. Some of my best times were our girls weekends. Once a year we would take 3 to 5 days and travel somewhere together. It may have been just Corning or a cottage at Avoca Lake. Or, back to my old stomping grounds in Niagra Falls. What a treat!
Sue here. I went to nursing school when I was just 17 and Sarajean, of course, was already at Geneseo College to become a teacher. She taught for years in Wellsville.
Sally here. I took Elementary Education and Speech Therapy. In 1955, I married Richard Ewell. We have two children, Cynthia (Cindy) was born in 1958 and Richard (Richie) in 1964.
Sue back. Well if Sally is going to catch you up, I guess I will too. No, I did not marry Clair as Ezzy told you. I went on to marry Edward (Ed/Eddie) Palmer in November of 1959. We lived in the apartment at Blanche Goodnoe's for about a year or so. I was working at St James Hospital and Eddie at Air Preheater. We have two boys, Todd born in 1963 and Michael in 1965.
Sally was the first to move to Avon Park in Florida where Ed and I live now.
Sally back. We then moved to Naples and later back to Wellsville to be around our kids.
Sue back. Duane and Betsy Chaffee used to have a townhouse about 60 miles from us in Avon Park and would visit us a lot. Duane winters in Houston now. But, Gary winters near us here in Florida.
Sally, well, she is in an assisted living facility in Wellsville these days. Many of those that help with her care there are past students of hers. I am long retired from nursing. Although at 64 years old, I did help out at the Health Department when the United States had the H1N1 epidemic.
I don't physically get home to Greenwood often; but I think of you and the time I spent there. Greenwood will always be a part of me. And, if you get to Florida, come by and visit.