Marcella Armstrong's Journal, Installment 3

Note that with this installment I am going to start redacting small portions of the text. This isn't so much to protect Marcella Armstrong's privacy, since I believe she would have approved of sharing most of her journal's contents, but instead to remove some details or opinions that I feel some living persons might not want mentioned.

[Page eight text continues after a slight vertical gap. This entry is primarily about Joseph Clarke and family.]

My brother Joe was a curly haired boy. He learned to swim when he was very young. In a swimming meet at Chautauqua he beat everyone -- all ages. He was ten years old when we moved to Westfield.

Joe graduated from Westfield High School. He went to Penn State College for his first year, joining the SAE fraternity. He, Paul Cutting, and another boy drove in an old Ford to State College. Joe transferred to Springfield College, taking Physical Education. Of course, he was on the swimming team. He also played football.

After graduating, he accepted the position of swimming instructor and registrary at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. Later, he became Dean of Students. He earned his Master's degree.

Joe married Lucille Hopson, who was called Tootie. She lived in Westfield. She and Joe were friends from 5th grade on -- Tootie went to school in Boston and became a dietician. She worked in Child's restaurant in New York City. Her father was Wilson Hopson. Her mother died when Tootie was in high school. Her sister is Jane Cardell. She had two half-sisters, Priscilla Robbins and Virginia Griffin. Also a half-brother, Tom. Their mother was Helen Consella, before her marriage to Wilson Hopson, Physical Education teacher in the Westfield schools. [Redacted portion].

Joe and Tootie have one daughter, Cynthia (Cindy). She attended private schools in Hartford and graduated from Westfield High School. She is a very bright, unspoiled girl. She graduated from Wells College and received a Master's degree from Buffalo State College. She taught English in a Buffalo high school.

Joe retired from Trinity College after being very successful and very well-liked. He had been Director of Times Farm, a summer camp for underprivileged children of Hartford. Tootie was dietician at the camp too. They did this for many summers. Their very close friend was Latham Howard, comptroller of the Hartford Times newspaper. Latham was very interested in the camp.

After Joe retired, he and Tootie with Cindy came back to Westfield, bought Tootie's father's grape farm, and moved into the big house where Tootie always had lived -- until her marriage. Cindy went to her first public school.

Joe took evening courses in Counselling at the University of Buffalo. He became student guidance counsellor at Westfield High School. Soon he became Principal of the Junior-Senior High School.

Then Chautauqua Institution chose him to be Director of their Summer School. It was a year-round job. He hired teachers, planned courses and guided the school for several years.

He was selected to be acting President so he did that until a president was found. He did not want to be the permanent president. So he retired and stayed on the farm. He loves the work. He is a life-long trustee of Chautauqua.

In Westfield, he is on the Hospital board, the Library board, the board of a new bank. He is a Rotarian.

Cindy graduated from Wells College and taught English in Buffalo. She attended graduate school at the University of Buffalo and obtained a Master's degree. She was married to Freddie Krieble of Hartford in a ceremony in the Hall of Philosophy at Chautauqua. They no longer attended the Episcopal Church in Westfield. The reception was at Moonbrook Country Club in Jamestown, N.Y. A gala affair.

Cindy had known Freddie since kindergarten. His grandfather taught Chemistry at Trinity College. He developed a product which his son, Freddie's father, developed into a big business, the Locktite Co. [Redacted portion].

Cindy and Freddie went to France. She studied at the Sorbonne; he went to an international business school. He grew tired of it, went to England and bought a car. They toured all over Europe.

The marriage did not last. Freddie left his wedding ring on a table. He filed for divorce. [Redacted portion]

Cindy lives in an apartment in Rocky Hill, Conn. and has taught 7th grade English for quite a few years. She is now attending the University of Hartford to study guidance counselling. She lives in the same apartment. She uses her maiden name, Ms. Cindy Clarke. Joe and Tootie do not go there so often now because Cindy must study. They have gone on many vacations together -- to a dude ranch in Arizona, to Bermuda, to an island in the Carribean, down to New Orleans, to Hawaii.

Cindy has bought the farm adjacent to her father's farm. It had belonged to Harry Hopson, her mother's uncle, then to Roy Ryan, former president of Welch Foods. She has a hired man who runs the farm. Her aunt, Jane Cardell, bought the house from Mr. Ryan.

(In a different ink color, perhaps added later):

Cindy and David Ballard announced their engagement on Christmas even 1980. Dave is divorced. He has two little daughters, Lisa and Brenda. [Redacted portion].