As a child, I was surrounded by older siblings. It was hard to avoid their influence. When my friends were into Elvis Presley, I listened to Peter, Paul & Mary, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. We sang a lot, as a family. John played the guitar and learned all the songs of the artists mentioned and we’d sit in the living room singing – often. Each night, when we girls cleaned up the kitchen after dinner – we’d sing folk songs in harmony. That’s what I grew up with and I loved it.
Everyone made attempts at playing the guitar; we all learned the basic chords and played some, but, when Patricia grew up, she learned to play better than any of us – her strumming and finger picking exceeded all of her older siblings and her voice was the most beautiful of all.
Though Patti and I were close (once she grew up), I have to say the one who had the greatest influence on me was Jean. She didn’t have much to do with me when I was a kid; we were five years apart in age, and six years apart in school (she went into kindergarten at age four), but I always emulated her. I should say, I always envied her – her hair was straight as a board, mine always curly, frizzy and out of control; her clothes were the coolest (I got them handed down when she was no longer interested in them and they were no longer in fashion). She was clever and witty, artistic and THIN! I think most young girls view their older sisters that way. To me Joan was more a motherly type, ‘you cannot go out of the house dressed like that!’ Jean was a freer spirit, she went to college in Cambridge, Mass, hung out in Harvard Square – what could be cooler than that? – nothing, in my mind, so I went to the same school, six years later.
When I was 18, my nephew Joshua was born. I spent a great deal of time, once school was out for the summer, painting a picture for the wall of his nursery. I can’t exactly remember what I painted, but I know I felt I did a good job with it, I was happy with the way it turned out. We drove down from Maine to Rhode Island for his Christening and afterward John and Ann opened up his gifts. John tore open my gift and said, ‘Now this, I know is from Jean. I love it.’ No one could have given me a greater compliment than that!
I have since come into my own self, and, though I no longer try to copy her way of looking, dressing and thinking…we still remain so very much alike. And that’s a good thing, for me, because she has grown into such a beautiful, loving and giving soul. I think I should always try to emulate this amazing woman.
