Henry and I were up to see our good friend, Connie Small, in Portsmouth, NH, this weekend. Within our chat with her, she mentioned that she pretty much has to stay inside the Retirement Home during the winter months, as it is both difficult and not safe for her to go out in the cold and slippery conditions of a New England winter. After all, at 100 plus years of age, she has to be very careful not to get ill, or to fall as she did two years ago. She now needs to walk with the help of a 4 footed cane. Other than that, she is wonderfully alert and talkative, loving to reminisce about her days as a lighthousekeeper's wife at some of the toughest lighthouses in Maine. Having no family to visit her and being indoors, I know she likes to read. I am sure she would love to receive a winter note from you. It would be so nice if you would add her to your Christmas card list this year. Her address is: Connie Small, c/o The Mark Wentworth Home, 346 Pleasant Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801.
She did receive some birthday cards, after I posted last spring, from states far away and even one foreign country, and she was absolutely tickled pink to think that strangers would be so kind to her. (By the way, pink is one of her favorite colors). I hope you will be kind to her again at this Christmas in her 100 year plus 6 months of young age. She is an amazing woman.
For any newcomers here, Connie is basically responsible for convincing the Coast Guard in Maine to give/sell their no-longer wanted lighthouses to non-profit groups, so that they were preserved and saved for all of us to enjoy today.
*** Please see my posting on the General Forum on how you can order her autobiography of life at sea in a lighthouse, for someone on YOUR Christmas list.
Merry Christmas in advance to all of you, and thank you for making a little lady happy in Portsmouth.
Barb Hupp
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ladylightkeeper
