ReWind!

We tend to gravitate towards our fathers so I have been told and in a way that person was dead on. My spousal equivalent is like my father to a degree. So that is why I am rewinding this so you have a better knowledge of myself and my family.


I was raised in an upper middle class family in Delaware County, I have an older brother, Jay or John Edward whom has since passed . My mother had her own career and my father was a self -made man in the Navy, I am a Captain's daughter. If I wanted it I got it no questions asked .
I could do no wrong in his eyes, the pretty blond with blue eyes with the name of Sarah Beth. He coddled me when he was home and sent gifts from afar when he was not. I relished the moments I danced on his feet as a child to Friday's with Frank Sinatra . They were special times, and ones that I will never forget. In our household my mother's parents also lived with us, the house was large enough to accomandate them. My grandfather on the maternal side was a retired Lt. Commander in the Army , my grandmother a socialite. They hailed from Boston as I summered every year on the Cape. I was a latch-key kid before it was cool! I came home most days as a child to them and if they were traveling then I went to a girlfriends house until mom could pick me up. It was a dream childhood but now that I look back, one with an undertone. One that I would eventually find out about as I grew older. That is my paternal side,you see as I have not even touched on that yet. But all in all my life was good! Hey I was a kid what did I know! I had the best of all worlds here ~ traveled with my parents and grandparents when Jay and I could and then headed up to where I live now to stay there for a week or two. Let me tell you I disliked it intensely my Pop-Pop was my salvation .. Which is so for another day on how I got here and why I stayed ~ Now it is time for me to go and continue on my path elsewhere .



Growing up was superb by every stretch of the imagination a child could have. We had the family life, Sunday dinners, watching gladiator movies on a local station out of Philadelphia Channel 48 with Bernie Herman and CBS Sports with Jim McKay. We were members of the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Philadelphia Orchestra , lunches and fashion shows at what is now WHOLEFOODS in Wynnwood but used to be called Stouffers. Shopping at Lord and Taylor in Bala Cynwyd and then High Tea at the Birdcage at 3:00 p.m. and yes I wore white gloves ! I went to a public elementary school and hung out with my friends after school. No real bells and whistles here . I went on to Charles E Ellis School for Girls then Harcum Junior College only to wrap up my educational years at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science .We were a family but being ten years younger than my brother what did I know ~ I was protected in everyway possible . As I grew up I knew that something was amiss , the pieces where just not fitting to a degree . Then it came crashing down I think, my mind is fuzzy here but I remember the players well like yesterday it was when I was 16 years old.



My paternal grandparents are from a very small town located in Berks County, Hamburg, one that faces at this time economic strife of all proportions to be honest. I called it Dutchland and remember the dialect well, it is very rare that you hear "dutchy" being spoken . My grandfather was my bud, you see my maternal grandparents died when I was younger so Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom were all I had at the time . I loved Pop-Pop he was my rock and stood by a woman whom he would never have children by nor was he allowed to adopt my father. TWIST ! Yes, indeed my father was born out of wedlock so really my name should be Sarah Doheny Fisher. I did mention that one day and got blown out of my seat and my grandmother told me that she would disown me if I added the Fisher name . WOW who does that . I gave the woman credit for having a child at that time, 1927 in a small town where indeed her name dates back to the Civil War and the entire family on that side is buried here in the hills. To raise a child before it was "cool" on your own and to just survive here and be judged by other women . Maybe that was why we never got along to a certain degree, she was bitter and most know her as head strong but not outgoing at all . Allow me to say this, most who knew said she was "different" yes indeed Elsie was . I am related to the Tea Pot Dome Scandal during the Harding adminsitration. The other Doheny's path's and I would cross later inlife. Pop-Pop met Elsie one night when he was on leave, he had a date but the father of his date answered the door saw his uniform and slammed it! So as the story goes, him and his buddy made their way to the Field House that night in Hamburg and yes they met and married sometime later. Those details and even a marriage license are sketchy to be honest . They celebrated over 50 years of marriage together. God bless him!

Pop-Pop afforded her a life that she never possibly would have had, he was a Chief in the Navy, after that he became a Post Man here and then resigned back into the Navy. When he came home he started what became Windsor Forge Pewter and Brass and to be honest became a household name as well as a gifted craftsman. I as a child went to the shows we were invited to as his name preceeded him as did he self-taught craft. I dressed in Colonial costume and poured pewter spoons. My father helped Pop-Pop with the pounding of Betty lamps ( this is how they lite there homes in Colonial times) and the other fabulous pieces he created out of REAL pewter. He became a part of the local culture here and still to do this day is remembered by many fondly. I also found recently that he had a bicycle repair shop for .25c you could rent a bike! I still have his bike as a matter of fact. I also still have the shop, forge and foundry. Every day I walk out I say Hi! to him, I picture him in his chair working on something for someone or just a new piece of work that he created, he was always doing something and the shop was our sanctuary.................................