Author Archive for Ruthie Douglas
Ruthie Douglas is originally from Springfield but has called Chester her home for 58 years, and has been writing the Chester Chatter column for more than 40 of those years. Ruthie is also a longtime volunteer throughout the community.
Chester Chatter: Ice skating a family affair
By Ruthie Douglas © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC When it comes to winter sports, I always lacked the skills but for two things, sledding and ice skating. A neighbor gave me a pair of ice skates and I learned to skate on a frozen patch on my aunt’s lawn. I would put on the skates […]
Chester Chatter: Holiday memories in old traditions, new ones
Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing, LLC I have been enjoying a merry little Christmas during the month of December. Daughter Jeanie every year gives me a wrapped gift for each day. They consist of small items that she knows I would like. Each morning with my second cup of coffee, I chose one to […]
Chester Chatter: Friends brighten Christmas after terrible loss
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Soon after Christmas one year our farmhouse burned down, mostly to the ground. We lost everything along with our new Christmas gifts. We decided to rebuild and slowly began to start work. Come spring and summer, we worked hard and by fall began to replace belongings inside. […]
Chester Chatter: The Christmas tree-filled living room
By Ruthie Douglas ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Finding the Christmas tree for my family was the job of my father. His, only. For he wanted to make the selection. It was OK for the rest of us, mostly because we knew it was going to be best: 6-feet-tall, full branches and it had to be […]
Chester Chatter: Christmas shopping by Sears catalog
By Ruthie Douglas ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Christmas shopping was not easy when my two daughters were young. Because my husband Don traveled for his company, I was unable to take the girls shopping. Once they were in bed, I spread out the catalogs — Sears and Montgomery Ward — on the kitchen table. I […]
Chester Chatter: Gather ’round the table to share family lore
By Ruthie Douglas ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC A holiday family dinner is a perfect place to recall family history. Over coffee and dessert, pass some photos around the table. Pass some treasures like war medals, a ring, a special pin. Read some pages from Aunt Jenny’s journal and share some love letters Mom wrote to […]
Chester Chatter: Lively summers at Tater Hill C.C.
By Ruthie Douglas ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC For 16 summers I works at Tater Hill Country Club as the food and liquor manager. We put on many banquets and weddings, and local folks showed up to lend a hand for these events. Some Friday and Saturday nights we held dances with a live band and […]
Chester Chatter: Magic working at Magic Mountain in 1960s
By Ruthie Douglas ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC My years working at Magic Mountain were a great pleasure and made for a happy time. In the 1960s, when I was Magic Mountain’s base lodge manager, we worked hard to get up and running, yet we still had many laughs and good times. I worked there five […]
Chester Chatter: The excitement in preparing for Thanksgiving
By Ruthie Douglas ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC In the days rushing up to Thanksgiving Day, our farmhouse was filled with a delicious smells. It was the beginning of getting the holiday dinner ready. Mother Helene loved holidays and she was a great cook. Every kitchen should have a pantry and that was what we had. […]
Chester Chatter: Deer camps were a center of camaraderie
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Once, back in time, deer hunting was a much-enjoyed sport at this time of year. In early fall, deer camps were made ready, cleaned out, supplied with firewood for the stove and stocked with freshly clean blankets for the beds and oil for the lamps. Hunting of […]
Chester Chatter: Time moved slowly, and a steeple clock dazzled
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Growing up in a hill town of rural Vermont in the 1920s, life moved at a slow pace. My mother-in-law Helene told me many stories of her growing up in Windham. Her father was a sawyer at the mill, and her family included three brothers and her […]
Chester Chatter: Farm life and the family business
By Ruthie Douglas ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The family farm of times past was a great place to put down your roots. It was a comfort zone. When I married Don Douglas, I had never been in a barn before. Don wanted to show me the cows and calves. I was afraid of the cows […]
Chester Chatter: A home filled with dancing and love
By Ruthie Douglas ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC During the Depression, my mother was left a widow with three young children. She was a widow for five years when she met my father. They were married and soon had my sister Marie and me, making it a family of five daughters. Times were tough. But my […]
Chester Chatter: Let’s not let art of letter-writing fade
By Ruthie Douglas 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Remember the joy of receiving a letter from someone you care about? Has it become a lost art? Recently, I received a letter — a complete surprise and a delight to me. It simply made my day. It also got me to thinking about a time when it […]
Chester Chatter: When radio news ruled the airwaves
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Lately, I’ve been wondering about how we received the world news in the 1950s. When my father got home from work, one of the first things he would do is to turn on the radio for the 6 o’clock news. We girls would have to be quiet […]
Chester Chatter: Door-to-door salesmen to Tupperware parties
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Remember a time, long past, of door-to-door salesmen? A knock at the door might mean the Fuller Brush salesman or perhaps the Knapp Shoe salesman. At the end of the Green Mountain Turnpike we even got a Sunbeam Bread man. Also there was Avon, Watkins products and […]
Chester Chatter: A short diary of a happy lunch lady
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Time spent working at Chester-Andover Elementary School made my job as supervisor of the hot lunch program a pleasure. It is very true, kids say the darnedest things. Perhaps time spent serving their lunch was short but they told me everything. The kids were so comfortable with […]
Chester Chatter: First day of school filled with anticipation
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Excitement was running high: Tomorrow would be the start of a new school year. We kids were anxious to get back to school and see our friends once again. That night, we had laid out our new school clothes so to have everything ready for morning. Opening […]
Chester Chatter: On the loving grandparents next door
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC I had only one set of grandparents — my father’s parents died before I was born. My grandparents lived right next door. They were my biggest fans, they supported me always and stood by me. They nurtured and helped form my character. They did this by sharing […]
Chester Chatter: New mown hay on a hot summer day
By Ruthie Douglas © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Oh the scent of new mown hay! Come summer and the hay was ready to cut and put in the barn for the winter months ahead. The entire family all helped with the job. Under the sun, it was a hot job, but once evening came around […]
