Aunt Quackie

Cape Cod

Aunt Quackie was an original. Born in 1913 in Fitchburg Massachusetts, the same town where my father would be born 16 years later. She was my grandmother's younger sister, the 5th girl and 8th child in a family of 11. The daughter of Andrew and Johanna Wahtola, she was the 2nd child born in the United States. She was a lot of fun with a great senae of humor.
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Quackie's father - Andrew
I don't recall how she got the name Quackie since she was born Sylvia Maria. She had one child, Nadine, whose birth has been a bit of a mystery. When I knew Aunt Quackie, her name was Sylvia Hamaleinen, although she was a single woman and Nadine's name was White. I found 2 marriages for Aunt Quackie during the same year in different towns on Cape Cod while doing a records search but the man was not listed. My guess is her first husband was a White. We were told was Nadine's father was killed in World War II before she was born so he probably died soon after her conception. Then she probably married a Hamaleinen. What I find interesting is that the man is not listed in either record so I'm compelled to speculate.

She had a few trees on her property
Aunt Quackie's house was a few blocks from the beach. Since she was my father's favorite aunt, and Nadine was not a whole lot younger than he, we spent more time with them than anyone else in my father's family. Trips to Cape Cod always involved staying with Aunt Quackie. 

The Kennedy compound is across the inlet above. Aunt Quackie used to take side jobs helping in the kitchen when the Kennedys were socializing.
When a young man, Nadine married Bob Mayo and my father stood in for her father, escorting her down the aisle to her new husband. Afterward there was a reception held in the back yard. Only fish was served along with the usual other things, my point being there was no actual meat. After all it took place on Cape Cod.

Bob and Nadine had 2 children, a girl and a boy who was quite the baseball player. Joe reports he played minor league baseball after going to school on a baseball scholarship.

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