Marriage and Family

Milton Earl and Audrey Mae:

Eight Photos from Wedding Day at 742 Washington Street, Coventry to their last child, a baby boomer, standing in front of 420 East Greenwich Avenue, West Warwick:

 

Milton, born in 1915, died on November 22nd, 1995. Audrey was born March 19th, 1912, and died March 11th, 2007.

 

Courtship and Marriage:

 

In September of 2004, the web site author asked Audrey what her parents thought about Dad. Audrey’s response: “Dad, he was so quiet that he passed (the in-law test). He always helped Grandpa. One time Dad almost got heat stroke helping Grandpa with the hay. We (Audrey’s parent’s house in Coventry)  had a barn in the back yard and the barn needed to be filled with hay. Dad always helped (Grandpa).”

Milton was an accomplished musician when he met Audrey.  On 2-1-2004 Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey records Audrey saying: “Milton said that my mother is the best woman in all the world.  He came every night. She was glad to see Milton. He played the guitar. She let him in every night. Grandma loved music.”

 

Web site author does not know the name of the paper or the date of the following article.

 

 

 

Audrey’s and Milton’s first home, a small house on Seven Mile Road, in Scituate, Rhode Island, was built by Audrey’s father.  When the house became too small for the large family, Audrey and Milton and the children moved back to Audrey’s parents large home in Coventry.

 

 

 

In 1943 when Heather–the fifth child–was 9 months old, the family moved into a large two-story house in West Warwick. The house was originally one story, but the builders (?) picked up the house and put another story underneath the one story house! The house was on a 2/3 acre of land and was carved out of the Campbell farm acreage.  The next door house where the Campbell lived was the “Old Clapp Historical House”.

 

 

Milton, Audrey and the children:

 

 

Milton and Audrey and the seven children at the United Methodist Church

Milton and Audrey and five of the children in our yard

Milton and Audrey and the children in our side yard

 

Milton, Audrey and the seven children

Milton, Audrey and children in Massachusetts

Milton, Audrey and children in order of birth

 

Milton and Audrey and their four daughters

Milton and Audrey and their three sons

Milton and Audrey and children by Milton’s flower garden

 

Milton and Audrey and three sons, August 1986	Milton and Audrey and eleven grandchildren

 

 

 

Celebration and Congratulation:

 

 

Milton’s and Audrey’s 60th Wedding Anniversary

Letter from Claiborne Pell, RI’s longest serving senator

 

 

Family and Community Activities:

• Hope and Jackson Fire Department

 

 

 

“The baseball game between married and single men ended in an 8-8 stalemate yesterday at the annual outing of the Hope-Jackson Fire Department at the Hope Rod and Gun Club.”

Annual Outing Held at Gun Club:  “After a chowder and clamcake luncheon the group took part in a sports program.  Results were as follows … hop, skip and jump contest:  Milton MacDonald winner.”

Milton’s brother-in-law, Enos Hutchins, was on the committee that made arrangements for this gathering.

 

 

 

 

 

• Hopkins Hill Road Fire Department

 

 

 

• Chess

One favorite activity in the MacDonald family was playing chess.  All the children learned to play chess and the chess board was often just set up in the front room and ready for two people to sit down and challenge each other.  Milton taught the older children who in turn would teach the younger ones.  Every so often one of the children would play with Dad and he would always challenge us by not letting us win. (The children tried to play by all the rules, but we used to call the rook, the barrel, and we called the knight, the horse. Not learning the correct names, we called the pieces as we saw them.)

Milton Earl’s oldest grandson, Martin, has ownership –on permanent loan– of Milton Earl’s wooden chess pieces, and Martin has been teaching Milton Earl’s great-grandchildren how to enjoy a game of chess.

Milton Earl in the 1950s was a member of the Greater Providence YMCA Chess Club. Audrey Mae saved in a scrapbook his membership card and newspaper articles with his name listed.

 

 

• Scottish Events that Milton attended:

Later in life, Milton had time to go with his daughter and family to the Scottish Games, which are events held in the USA “as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands…While centred on competitions in piping and drumming, dancing, and Scottish heavy athletics, the games also include entertainment and exhibits related to other aspects of Scottish and Gaelic culture.” (Wikipedia.org) Milton was very impressed with the events and spoke often of the games.

 

Also, in Rhode Island July of 1992, all family members were invited to Milton’s and Audrey’s daughter’s California “Scottish Country Wedding” Celebration.  In June of 1992, their daughter married a man whose father came from Scotland as a young man.  The celebration was held in the banquet room of a southern Rhode Island restaurant with Scottish music in the background. Audrey was so proud to wear the “MacDonald Dress Tartan” Shawl on her right shoulder, signifying that she married into the MacDonald Clan. The Shawl was pinned together with the MacDonald Scottish badge.  Audrey and Milton were “two happy people” to be at the Scottish celebration with all their family.

 

In the late 1970s Milton and Audrey went to the bagpipe band competition in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to see their son play the drums.  “A pipe band is an musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common. … Competition is a primary focus for many pipe bands throughout the world.  Every year, mainly in the period from spring to autumn, pipe bands around the world compete against each other at various venues, often at Highland festivals.  A typical season for many competing pipe bands might include ten or more of these competitions.  Europe (especially the UK and Ireland), North America, Australia, and New Zealand have active competitive pipe band communities, but there are competing bands from throughout the world.” (Wikipedia)

 

 

 

•  Gardening

Milton’s vegetable garden on his land to the west of the family home would  compete favorably with any superior Farmer’s Market garden today.  Rows of corn, radishes, beets, tomatoes, peppers, squash, green beans and other vegetables guaranteed his children would grow up on healthy nutritious and delicious foods. Beside the vegetables in the garden, there was a pear tree, a plum tree, vines of grapes, stalks of rubarb in our yard, and, of course, an apple orchard that was adjacent to our just-less-than-an-acre property that was carved out of the Campbell Farm. Unlike the traditional Scottish folklore, we, the MacDonalds, got along beautifully with the neighboring Campbells, so we, as children, did not only have the pick of the apples, we had the pick of which apple tree–on the Campbell farm–we liked to climb to get the apple.

 

 

When all the children left home and there was was no need for a large vegetable garden, Milton’s energy was switched to beautification.  The beautiful roses–various colors–formed a semi-circle of rose bushes in the front yard.  The entire less-than-an-acre property housed many beautiful flowering plants and the entire yard looked like a Good Homes and Gardening yard.

Milton’s gardening skill-Daylilies	Milton, 9-1988, Pansies	Milton’s flower gardening skill-1988
Milton’s flowers-Crocuses in February	Milton’s Japanese cherry gardening skill	Milton’s gardening skills
Audrey and Honey by Milton’s flowers-1985	Milton’s flowers, Tulips opened	Milton’s flowers, Daffodils by kitchen window
Milton’s flower garden, Morning Glories	Milton’s flower gardening, Rosebush in Spring	Milton’s landscaped yard
Milton’s Tiger Lily flower gardening skills	Milton’s landscaping around the East Greenwich Avenue home, 4-1991	Milton’s landscaping front of the East Greenwich Avenue home, 4-1991

 

Milton’s beautiful plants were inside the house, as well as outside. “The amaryllis originated in South America’s tropical regions and has the botanical name Hippeastrum.” (www.amaryllis.com/planting-and-care)

 

 

 

(Comedy) Milton supervising son & grandsons

(Comedy) Milton supervising son, Doug, and grandsons, Mark&Arthur

 

 

 Milton and Audrey:

Milton and Audrey at Christmas Time

Milton and Audrey, June 12, 1993

Milton and Audrey and Honey, a gift from daughter-in-law, Patricia

 

Milton and Audrey, 4-1991	Milton and Audrey by a flower garden	Milton and Audrey, 1988
Milton and Audrey, September 1961	Milton and Audrey, Chester, Pa., May 1968	Milton and Audrey, July 1976

 

 

Milton and Audrey and Descendants:

Spen & Bren with Lisa Gayle & Julie Ann	Brian and Mathew with great-grandparents	Meagan, Mathew & Brian with great-grandparents
Arthur & Doreen	Doreen	Arthur
Roger and Melissa	Hannah and Emma	Roger and grandfather, Milton
Crystal, Belinda, Martin and Amber	Martin, Belinda and Amber	Amber, Martin and Belinda
Heather and April	Heather and Dad	April
Deardra	Dad and Deardra	Deardra, Dad and Uncle Ed
Michelle, Mark and Honey	Jessica and grandfather Vaughn	Kaitlyn, Kelsey and Mark, Jr.
Michelle	April
Doreen’s graduation	April	JulieAnn
Roger and grandfather, Milton	(Comedy) Milton supervising son & grandsons	Milton supervising son, Doug, and grandsons, Mark&Arthur (Comedy)

Vaughn, Spencer, Walton, and MacDonald Press, Hemet, California 92544                             Copyright © 2014 by Heather D. MacDonald

 

 

“MacDonald and Walton descendants, if you have any additional information on Milton MacDonald’s life please add a comment to this web site and the web site author will add this to the site.  Thanks!”   (Contact Us-on upper right side of page)