The Hale Street Gang

The Hale Street Gang began with my mother, Idora, who was 87 when we started a memoir-writing group at the senior center in Randolph, Vermont, population 5,000. Three years later, the group is still meeting weekly and has gathered some new voices. In our second book, we pay tribute to the many places in our past. Here you will find Downtown Randolph as it used to be (remember Merusi's Store? The Spot?) and Brookfield back when Jessie Fiske owned Green Trails-as well as Shanghai in the thirties, San Francisco in the forties, and New York City at the turn of the century (this one). Of the fifteen lives represented here, five began in Randolph. The others began in places ranging from Lyndonville to Beijing. Somehow we've all crossed paths at the Greater Randolph Senior Center, where we gather once a week to salute the flag, partake of Rose's meatloaf, and share our life stories. In A Sense of Place , we travel back through time to tell you where we've been. -Sara Tucker, project leader, the Hale Street Gang