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Vikki and I made a pilgrimage to Lawrence, Massachusetts, to see where my grandparents lived, worked, and are buried.
Even thought I never drove when our family visited Mama and Tete, I figured our way from I495 up to Woodland Street. The little supermarket where Mama shopped, and took me whenever I was visiting is gone, as is Banwells drug store where we got Eskimo pies and lollipops. But the Italian social club, where we cut through from the field on the way to those stores, is still there. The 3-decker, where Mama and Tete lived on the top floor, now has vinyl siding and a set of small apartments past the triple garages on either side of the driveway. But the green shingles show where one of the porches is dented. And although smaller, the huge field still fills the middle of the block - and the ancient apple tree is still there. Alan's and my haunted houses are either renovated or gone. The park where we played is there but empty of swings and tetherballs. We couldn't find the corner grocery that Tete owned. But, although the neighborhood has changed, is more crowded, and houses the new immigrants, instead of the ones I remember, we were pleased to see that it is still an area of families who seem to be doing what it takes to live the American dream.
We even found the National Catholic Church that Tete helped found and where he was organist and choir director: Sacred Heart of Jesus National Catholic Church, on Garden Street. And where I went to 8 o'clock mass with him when we visited. It is on the opposite end of the block from the church where Mom & Dad were married - which I never realized. When Vikki & I parked to look around, I smelled and Italian bakery. And it was Tripoli! The place where Tete & I bought small Italian loaves ("footballs" to Anan & me) and those anise and macaroon cookies on our way home from church! The smells were exactly the same. So Vikki & I had to verify that the tastes were too.
Finally, after several false trails, quite a look at Lawrence's thriving downtown, and a nice man at a gas station, we found the Lithuanian National Catholic Cemetery in Methuen (a city that seems to surround Lawrence).
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Mama & Tete's grave. They shortened Navadauskas to Navas when my mother was in 8th grade. She said the teachers were embarrassing her by complaining how long and difficult it was. Mama seemed to continue using Navadauskas; that's what is on her Social Security card. Tete used Navas for Social Security but, otherwise, appears to have used both interchangeably. Which was OK because shortening was not a legal name change, according to Mom. | |
| Since Dad died, Mom was not able to visit the grave. So, although the little cemetery gets mowed and cared for, the grace is mostly grass. Vikki & I weeded the low perennials at the back and sides of the stone as best we could. |  |
Then we cleaned out a small area in front of the stone and planed lily of the valley and violets that we dug from Mom's yard.
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Finally, although it was windy and misty, Vikki and I each lit a candle for Mama and Tete, just as I did at Ona Kaslauskiene's grave in Kaunas. We used candles that Mom had put aside in Auburn. SO we felt that we were connecting all the family.
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We made only a start on caring for the grave. But our problems finding the cemetery showed us that it is really easy to locate from the highway, if not from downtown Lawrence. So Vikki plans to visit regularly and work to clean out the grass and plant perennials. Even what little we did seemed to make a difference. And we were so glad to see that it is an old-fashioned cemetery, where we can plant and tend flowers. So we plan to do just that.
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