Chapter 1 - Leahy Court, New Britain, CT 1949-1952

Prologue

These are my best recollections of my life. Sometimes I think I remember being told things. I don't remember too much of my life as a toddler. 

The best, and in some ways, the worst times of my life were in Coventry, Connecticut. 

My first forty years on this earth were split pretty evenly: 1949-1969 in Connecticut, and 1969-1990 in Ontario, Canada. And from December 1990 until the present, the West. These are my remembrances.

The Connecticut years started in New Britain, a period I really don’t remember except through what I’ve been told and seen in photographs.  Then there were the Seagraves Road, Coventry, CT years, followed by the Dark Ages, otherwise known as Bridgeport, and South Street in Coventry, then the turning point of Wall Street and Avery Shores Drive, Coventry.

Chapter One - Leahy Court, New Britain

New Britain 1949-1952

I was born at 4:58 PM, on March 28, 1949, in New Britain General Hospital, New Britain, Connecticut. Of course, I don’t remember being born at all. I do remember some of my first few years, the years we lived in New Britain, or at least I think I do. I could be remembering things I’ve been told.

Yup, that's me.

I was the second son (the first, John Edward Hotchkiss, died shortly after birth) and second of three children (after my sister Sandra Jean Hotchkiss and before my brother, Douglas John Hotchkiss) of Elaine C. Hotchkiss (nee Clark) and William C. Hotchkiss. We lived at 37A Leahy Court in temporary housing for returning G.I.s. Each one-story unit had two separate apartments with four rooms (two bedrooms, kitchen/dining room, living room) and a bathroom. My sister and I shared a bedroom with a bunkbed (liberated from the Army), my parents had their bedroom, and the living room had a TV!

This is my family on my Dad's side taken in 1952. Back row from left: Laura Ann Donahue (cousin in her father's arms), Leo Donahue (uncle), Elaine C. Hotchkiss (Mom), William C. Hotchkiss (Dad), Gordon B. Hotchkiss (Grandfather), Gilbert Hotchkiss (uncle). Front row from left: Sandra Hotchkiss (sister), Lucille Hotchkiss (aunt and wife of Gilbert), Bruce Hotchkiss (me), Dorothy Hotchkiss (Grandmother), Gregg Hotchkiss (cousin and Lucille and Gilbert's first), Cyrus J. Hotchkiss (Great-grandfather), Laura Donahue (aunt, wife of Leo and my Dad's sister), and Richard Donahue (cousin with his mom). Mom was not happy because Dad didn't dress up.

Although my memories are limited, I do remember my mom had her upright piano in the living room as well. It must have been crowded. I remember mom singing “Little Curly Hair In A High Chair” to me (I had curly blond hair):

Little curly hair in a high chair
What's your order for today
Little curly hair in a high chair
I'll do anything you say
When you're near the room seems to brighten
The sun comes streaming through you're eyes
You're the reason they still keep writin'
All those tender lullabies
Hm, there you go
Bangin' with your blocks
Pullin' off your socks
Hm, there you go
Tryin' to make your toes
Touch your baby nose
Heaven's close to your chair and my chair
When you smile the way you do
Little curly hair in a high chair
My day begins and ends with you

I know I did a somersault off the top bunk of the bunkbed, but I don’t remember it – my sister told me the story. I landed on my feet! 

My sister was my best friend and playmate. Sandy is two and a half years older than I am. There was a field behind the houses with a small wooded area and a hill with a water tank at the top. In the spring, the field was full of Black-eyed Susans and Buttercups. Sandy taught me “she loves me, she loves me not” as you pluck off the petals of the Black-eyed Susans, and showed me that you could find out if someone liked butter by holding a Buttercup under their chin to see if there was a yellow reflection.

My time in New Britain was idyllic, but for some reason, I don’t remember much of my Dad. I know he worked long hours as a mechanic. I think he worked at a Texaco station. It was near a firehouse, I do remember that. A firehouse with a brass pole to slide down. Dad took us there at least once.

My Uncle Kenny (mom’s younger brother, who was in the Navy and saw action in the South Pacific), Aunt Rose, and Cousin Judy lived nearby.

Living in that housing complex must have been like living in an American Legion or VFW; every man, and maybe some women, had served. I suspect everyone couldn't wait to move out and get back into the real world.

My grandparents on my mom’s side, Frank and Edna Clark, lived at 57 Ridgewood Street, New Britain. My Dad’s parents, Gordon and Dorothy Hotchkiss, lived at 38 Foxon Place, New Britain. I have fond memories of both houses, probably more of Ridgewood because my grandparents lived there until 1979. My grandfather Hotchkiss died in 1952, and not long after that, my grandmother moved to Kensington to live with her father-in-law, my great-grandfather, Cyrus Hotchkiss, on 272 Corbin Avenue near Doerr’s Pond.

57 Ridgewood Street, New Britain as it is today. 

38 Foxon Place, New Britain as it is today. 

272 Corbin Avenue as it is today. (Pictures of the houses taken from Google). 

Our car was a 1949 Packard, a huge 4-door sedan. I think Dad drove it most of the time; I’m pretty sure we were a one-car family. I don’t know how we afforded it. Maybe Dad got a lump sum when he left the Army? A Super Eight was just over $2,600 brand new in ’49.

Dad painted our Packard a couple of times, trying to get this color. It was close. (This is not our car.)

We had a lot of family in and around New Britain. My grandparents, of course, but also aunts and uncles, and cousins. My parents had friends they'd grown up with. That is what made New Britain so special for me, all the love around us. I had no idea of the hurt and scars so many of these young men and women bore. War is hell. 

Life went on. We moved to Coventry in 1952.