27 Parenthood, Paper Routes
Parenthood, Paper Routes
After we were married, our five children were born in the following succession; the Lord led us to names for all but Ben:
- Joseph Nathanael (note the New Testament spelling); he was born August 13, 1970 at Kent County Memorial Hospital in Warwick RI, while I worked at Leesona. He was so named from family reading of the Bible stories; this pleased Ginny’s obstetrician, also named Joseph, who thought our son was named after him. We had taken Lamaze childbirth classes, which were a great help for this and subsequent births; Ginny also joined the La Leche League (breastfeeding). Our son was called “Joseph” (in those days we were “father” and “mother”; we gave in later to the more familiar terms),
- John Andrew; he was born November 5, 1971, also at Kent County Hospital; this second son was born after I began working at CTI. The obstetrician was the same. John (we called him that) was so named, again because we were reading about him in the Bible.
- Mary Elisabeth (New Testament again); she was born August 11, 1973, our first at South County Hospital, which allowed fathers in the delivery room (Kent didn’t). The obstetrician for this and all our later births was Joseph O’Neil, who also became Ginny’s gynecologist. Our daughter was named after both our mothers, and after Ginny and my great-grandmother; to avoid confusion we called her Betsy, but she later called herself Maery (Irish), then Mary. Our son Joseph’s birthday celebration had to wait until Ginny brought her home; urged by a nurse, we snuck up the back stairs to visit them.
- William Benjamin; born January 6, 1975. He was expected by the end of December, and it appeared he was overdue (but exactly on time according to God’s schedule). He was named after me, and after Ginny’s DAR ancestor, killed at Bennington VT, where we visited). Ben was also named for and my great relative Benjamin Franklin (from the Folgers). Of all our five children, only he was not named before birth – it took us three days to discover who he was. He was called “Gentle Ben”.
- two miscarriages; long recovery from the later one.
- Virginia Irene; born June 26, 1981. Our last daughter, she was named to honor Ginny, her aunt and a missionary woman who was my guide and older friend in Israel. Her name means “peace”; Ginny’s devotions led her to the Bible verse Isaiah 54:13.
We thought it remarkable that three of us – me, Ginny, and Irene – have birthdays on the 26th.
You may have noticed that we called our latter children by their middle names; this was to confound the bureaucracy, though it often caused problems at school, until each child distinguished himself.
I used to have a full beard, but when Irene was a baby she liked to pull on it, so I shaved it off; I have always preferred rechargeable shavers, and the Norelco type with three rotary cutters worked best for me.
For their kindergarten though fifth grade, all our kids went to the Hamilton Elementary School in our neighborhood, so our family was well known and liked there. Our community had a beach with lots of stones but not much sand; our children didn’t know the difference, and loved to play there (still do, and their children). When they were little, our children used to take walking field trips with their classes the on the way to our neighborhood beach, passing by our home. One time I had felled a large oak tree, and cut it into 16” logs, which I left lying in a row upon the ground in our front yard; Ginny thought these looked like a train, and for amusement had the youngsters select each a log, sitting on it; all thought this great fun, riding the “train”.
All our children were raised in our home on Waldron Avenue; we expanded the little house and bought bunk beds as needed for berthing our five children as they grew.
Upon entering their teens, our children could become newspaper carriers for the Providence Evening Bulletin (at that time there were two newspapers under the same aegis); there was a combined paper on Saturday, and the Sunday Journal, typically supplied in two parts; for several years we held the routes in our neighborhood, which serendipitously expanded, like our kids. The original two routes were previously run by a neighbor lad, who grew up and became a police officer. We thought this would teach financial responsibility, and it did, though sometimes it seemed like the routes were more ours! Our kids delivered papers on their bicycles, except for Sunday morning, which I drove in our four-door car and helped assemble the papers, which the route owner kid (mainly) delivered, while I helped with the record-keeping.
Each route had a green route book, listing customers by address and weekly collections. Supplies, like route books, carry bags, and delivery boxes if the customer wanted, were obtained free at the regional distribution office (first on Post Road in North Kingstown, convenient to QBC; later in their own building on Route 2 in Exeter RI); we checked in there weekly to pay bills and get missing Sunday papers or sections, or turn in extras for credit; the bills were with the papers, separate for each route, and were usually paid with money orders bought at Wal-Mart, the cost being credited next week. The difference between collections and costs was profit and usually amounted to about $30 per week, though it fluctuated. Christmas time was special, for often customers, including those who prepaid, gave extra gifts; these were usually cash, maybe combined with weekly payment, and went on for several weeks; the total gifts at Christmas time might amount to $400 or so for each route. There were no vacations, but on those rare occasions when a substitute was needed, whether within the family or outside, the route was delivered by the sub, usually for a prearranged reward; like $25 cash. It was understood that fill-ins would be arranged by the individual carriers.
At first all papers were brought, in counted “bundles”, to our home; the Sunday paper came in two installments: the advertisements, business and entertainment sections (in other words, sections that could be printed during the week) came Saturday; other sections (in other words, current events that must be printed on Saturday or early Sunday) came early Sunday morning; it was the carrier’s task to assemble these, bag if the weather required, and stack them in the car. We got pretty good at this, and could do assembly and bagging in the car while delivering a route (about 100 Sunday papers); the three routes were done in succession, all had to be delivered by 8:00 AM.
Since we had five kids, it was clear that we couldn’t send them to college; so we told them they were reliant on their own resources (saved money, scholarships, jobs etc); we’d help if able, but not to count on it. Those wanting a college education must find a way, and they did! The newspaper routes were a great help in paying for college.
Our three routes were these:
Route 52 (nearest our house)
Worsley Ave
Lowell Ave (next to our house, dead end)
Sanford Ave
Winsor Ave (on hill)
Seaview Avenue
Joseph, the oldest, had this route, which was nearest our house. He was named “Jodo” by a customer in a hand-drawn card at Thanksgiving; that name stuck, and he proudly used it on his car registration plate and e-mail address.
Route 54 Waldron Avenue and the streets off it, to Boston Neck Road (Highway 1A)
Waldron Ave
Circle Dr
Bayberry Dr
Congdon Ave
Bates Ave
Cecil Ave
John, the second, had this route at first
Route 56 was added later, consisting of the loop around 40-acre “Turtle Pond” and its side streets;
Clinton Drive, next to our house
Anthony Drive
Buena Vista Drive
Winsor Avenue (goes across Waldron)
Fones Avenue
Stevens Avenue
Betsy, then John, and later Ben had this route.
By the time Irene was age-eligible, the older ones had begun leaving, so she took over the neighborhood about six years; Our family managed all the Providence paper routes in our area, and during that time we came to know most of the families (which was nice for babysitting, and for grass, leaves, snow and other yard work).
Later, after the company moved to its new Highway 2 location, the steel building had shelved cubicles for each carrier, who picked up his own papers early each Sunday morning; the added drive time made multiple routes much more difficult, and cut into profits. Meanwhile the company phased out its evening paper, to the point where individual kids could no longer have a paper route, so our family got out of the newspaper business.