by Colin Edmund Grant
January 9, 2006
Copyright © 2006 Colin Edmund Grant

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1925 brought great sadness and great happiness to the Beatons. Around the time of their first anniversary (in May), Albert was able to get back to work, and the income was a wonderful thing. However, in June of 1925, Hugh, who was Annie's brother and Albert's best friend, died from a ruptured appendix that brought on blood poisoning. Both Annie and Hugh were devastated, as he was dear to both.

However, the year ended happily with the birth of their first child. Marion Jeannette Beaton (later known as "Ma!!") was born December 24, 1925, at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Roxbury, MA. The plan was to name the baby after her two grandmothers, which would have made her Mary Jenny Beaton -- "Mary" for Mary Ann MacDonnell MacEachen, Annie's mother, and "Jenny" for Janet "Jenny" McDonald Beaton, Albert's mother. However, Albert thought "Mary Jenny" was too informal, and did not like the sound of it, so they changed it to Marion Jeannette.

Marion's godfather was Annie's younger brother, John. John was a bright and popular man with a tremendously sharp mind and wit. Unfortunately, John's father (also Annie's father) had gotten John a job working on a beer truck at the age of 14, and John discovered beer. He developed a fondness for the stuff that would become problematic over the years. John lived to be 77, but spent his life in a recurring cycle of rising to the top and crashing to the bottom when the booze got the best of him. This was considered to be beyond scandalous by the puritanical Beaton clan.

For the first few years of her life, Marion's family moved fairly often, as the family was constantly outgrowing their digs. They were always in Roslindale, and their addresses included 19 Seymour Street, Belgrade Avenue, 9 Rowe Street, 233 Poplar Street, and 33 Seymour Street.

Marion was just a little kid then and does not have a whole lot of specific memories, other than that new babies kept coming home -- the kids, Marion, Hugh, Nancy, Al, Bill, and Adrienne, were born from 1925 through 1933. She does recall that they always had a car and they used to go on long Sunday rides throughout Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Her very first memory is of such a ride, and she probably retains the memory because it scared the hell out of her.

Marion believes the year was 1929 or 1930, so she would have been 3 or 4. It seems that they were driving past a baseball field that had a pond next to it. Apparently, some kid had tossed a baseball glove into the pond, and Marion, knowing nothing about baseball, mistook the glove for an actual hand. She found this to be gory and terrifying. As if that weren't bad enough, some kid dove in and swam out to get the glove/hand, and little Marion was convinced that the little boy was going to drown. There was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the car, but Marion did not manage to make it clear at that time what she was all upset about. Years later she discussed this with her mother, who recalled the situation and assured Marion that all had turned out fine -- there was no dismembered hand, and the swimmer had not drowned. Nonetheless, Marion recalls her terror to this day.

A family of six kids was quite a customary thing in their neighborhood, and Marion got along well enough both with the neighbors and with all her brothers and sisters, although she was, as is normal, closer to some than others. She remembers pretty much ignoring Hughie (Hugh), who was, after all, a BOY. She was something of a mother to Nancy, who, as a child, needed it (and who was not going to get it from their mother, who was a serious and strict parent, and not the most tender of mothers). She got along well with Al (Albert), who she remembers as always particularly kind and thoughtful to her, but had little use for Bill, who was just too young to be interesting. She had a special place in her heart for Adrienne, the baby.

Until about the age of five, things were pretty easy. There seemed to be plenty of money, and they seemed to want for nothing, and life was good, with no worries. Then came the Depression.

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