These photos are from a documentary photography series I took of single elders living in the Boston area. I partnered with Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly where I’ve volunteered for many years doing home visits. I’ve always enjoyed meeting with the elders, but this project allowed me to spend additional time with them and learn about their unique lives. The photos aren’t posed and I tried to select those which best captured their personality and history. This series is meant to tell the stories of an often forgotten and unheard group of individuals.
Preston
Preston grew up on a tobacco farm and moved to Boston from North Carolina in 1942. His apartment is down the street from where I lived in college and he told me all about how the area had changed. My favorite late-night pizza spot, New York Pizza, used to be a pancake house owned by his friend. It had a jukebox where they played The Temptations, and his favorite song, My Girl. One day, Muhammad Ali stopped by while he was eating there. He also frequented Wally’s Cafe, originally Wally’s Paradise, a jazz and blues club, and was good friends with the owner, Wally. Preston studied baking at a trade school, and after leaving the Stop & Shop (allegedly run by the mob) where he worked, he went to work for Wonder Bread in Dorchester. Preston plays bingo every week, twice a week.
Rita
Rita was born in 1922 in Cambridge, MA. A few years later her parents bought a house in Somerville but the Great Depression hit and they were forced to sell it to a doctor. In the early 1930s while Roosevelt was president, he started rent and price control. At the time, rent was $7/week and the highest price in the area was $25-35/month. Now in Boston, you’re lucky to find an apartment for under $800/month. She was the youngest of 5 kids by 12 years so she was always the baby of the family. She grew up with the mindsets of her Irish Catholic father, “show respect, no matter what it is” and her Protestant mother, “have a little class”. Despite their different religious beliefs, they never argued over religion. She wanted to teach arts and crafts and history but instead worked in an office in the mailing department. When she was 20 World War II started and she wanted to join the Coast Guard but her mother said no. She got married at the age of 32 to a tank driver in the war. After her husband passed away from emphysema in 1985 she started to travel on her own to Hong Kong, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, and England.
Paul
Paul was born in Memphis, TN but lived in Japan from the age of 7 to 18 after his parents moved there to be missionaries. His entire family was fluent in Japanese and his parents spent the last 50 years of their lives in Okinawa. He followed in his father’s footsteps and also became a minister. Preaching was his favorite thing he did in his life, he loved an audience. While in seminary school he became close with another gay man who advised him to marry a woman, which he did. He was a Baptist minister for 12 years at 5 churches. Later in life, he came out and left the church and his wife and children to move to Boston. He still loves his wife but being gay and the accidental death of their 20 month old daughter led to their divorce. In Boston, he worked as a security guard for a time and then in the locked psych ward of Arbor Hospital, where he “liked schizophrenics the best”. His sister had schizophrenia and committed suicide when she was 20 years old and his twin brother died young from alcoholism. He returned to the church and wishes he could go back to being a pastor. He never found a partner and isn’t sure what he’d do if he found one today.
Ralph
Ralph is an avid reader and writer and typed up a bio from which I’ve included an excerpt: “I was born and mostly raised in an area of Portsmouth, NH referred to as “Puddle Dock”. It was a working class neighborhood of truck drivers, city workers, and cleaning persons such as my mom. My mom had six brothers and two other sisters. Five of the six served in World War II. Looking back on those days today with many, many fond memories…All the brothers were a wonderful bunch…They were truly loyal and always had each other’s back. Don’t cross one of the “Pierce Boys” or you had to deal with them all. Of course those were the fifties then, a wonderful time to grow up and a simpler time for sure…Being alone now with too much time to reflect on the past has mixed blessings I guess. Gee, I’d give so much to be sitting in our dinning room at 499 Marcy Street with all the “Pierce Boys” enjoying each other’s company, wishing one another a Merry Christmas. Perhaps even with Bing Crosby in the background singing “White Christmas”. For me that would be the most wonderful Christmas gift ever.”
Pamela
Pamela was born in Tobego but grew up in Trinidad. At the age of 14 her mother passed away so she went to live with her sister. Her brother-in-law didn’t treat her well so she left to get her own apartment. There she met the future father of her children, who had four kids himself. She moved to St. Croix and he took custody of their kids. In 1977 she moved to Boston where she cleaned rooms at the Sheraton for work.
JJ
“I am an international person, both by blood and by places I’ve lived.” His grandparents came from France, Denmark, and Africa but he was born in Dominica. He grew up bilingual, speaking English and French Creole, and lived on the island until the age of 50. In elementary school he was bullied for being the only child that wasn’t Roman Catholic. Due to how he handed the situation, the teachers made him a monitor, which first piqued his interest in teaching. He went to college in Trinidad then returned to Dominica to teach and was the headmaster of several schools. At the schools there, “everyone learned everything”, there were no subjects, which is why American students aren’t as “in touch with themselves”. He moved to England to study rural education then moved to Scotland before heading to the US. He grew up playing cricket, used to like to deep sea fish but there are too many sharks in New England, and liked to watch wrestling shows until they became too violent.