anne orser
Interviewed by Ben Griswold
Family History
Anne Orser's family has lived in Wellesley since its inception. Her great-grandfather and great-grandmother, whom everyone called Grandma Oldham, moved to Wellesley Hills while it was still a part of Needham and called Grantville. Grandma Oldham was a voracious reader and was always looking for books. At this time, the Town Hall doubled as Wellesley's library. Living far away from Town Hall, Grandma Oldham couldn't always get to the library, but the neighborhood devised a system to maintain a supply of books. "There was a house across the street, next door to where the branch library is now" Anne describes. "In those days, houses didn't have electric refrigerators, they used ice boxes. This house had a back entrance, which wasn't hooked up to the furnace so it was cold, and there was a room with shelves and the ice box. The neighborhood had this system where they would read their books from the library, then they would take them across the street to this tall house and put them in the ice box room with a list of what they wanted to read next time around. And they hired a high school student who had a bicycle, and he would pick up those books from the ice box room, bike them up to Wellesley Square, to the main library and he'd pick up the books they wanted and bring them back to Wellesley Hills and people would pick up their books." Using this system Grandma Oldham had access to a steady supply of books long before the branch library came into existence (the branch library was built in 1927). Though Anne has never heard of any other neighborhoods with a similar system, she assumes that other people in the town had a similar method of obtaining books. When asked what she recollects about the Needham-Wellesley rivalry, Anne replied, "Well my grandfather started it. He just thought it would be a good idea and he had a bicycle so he rode over to Needham and went to the high school and brought it up with the principal or the coach and they said 'sure let's do it.' It was very informal. They just thought it would be fun, and then it turned into a real rivalry."
Growing up in Wellesley
Anne's grandparents and her mother were also born in Wellesley, but her mother left Wellesley when she married an army officer. Anne was born in New York in 1926. During World War II Anne's family moved around frequently. At the time of Pearl Harbor Anne's family was living in Panama, where she went to the American school. Anne's family was evacuated back to America in a blacked-out ship in December of 1941, just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Once back in America, Anne's family moved around between California, Michigan, and Kansas. When she was old enough, Anne's parents sent her to Dana Hall as a boarder so she would not have to keep changing schools when the family moved. According to Anne, Dana Hall students always referred to Wellesley Center as "The Ville." Anne remembers a girl named Sunny who worked in a drug store where Tutto Italiano is now that "got the biggest kick out of hearing us call town 'The Ville'." Anne used to take the train or the bus into Boston, where she and her friends would (usually futilely) try and sneak into a club. In terms of sports, Anne says that there was hardly any skiing, and in fact, "sports weren't a big deal then, people might not have been able to afford them." Anne first watched television when the father of her roommate at Dana Hall purchased a television set and they went over to watch. "It was boring frankly. I didn't find anything interesting about it. But it was big and expensive and he liked things that were big and expensive. It was the thing to have, but I never found it interesting."
Adult Life
Anne bought a house in Wellesley in 1950 after she got married. Anne has two sons and a daughter that attended Hardy Elementary School. Anne said that the schools were not a big factor in her choice to live in Wellesley, partly because she assumed schools were good everywhere. Instead, Anne and her husband mostly settled in Wellesley because they both just liked the town. Anne has stayed in Wellesley so long simply because she likes it so much. "The kids were happy here and we had a lot of friends; we just never wanted to leave." Anne's first telephone in Wellesley was a "party line" and the specific ring indicated which family the phone call was for, which made it difficult to have private conversations on the phone. "Everybody listened in on everyone else's phone calls. I'm sure that's one way gossip spread." According to Anne, the biggest change she has noticed in Wellesley is how crowded it is getting. "Wellesley is so confusing; there are so many cars you can't get out of your own driveway. And it's so big; there is no open space. And the houses are getting bigger and closer and closer together." Another large change has been the price of baseball games. Anne recalls that it used to be "very very cheap" to watch a game a Fenway.
Family History
Anne Orser's family has lived in Wellesley since its inception. Her great-grandfather and great-grandmother, whom everyone called Grandma Oldham, moved to Wellesley Hills while it was still a part of Needham and called Grantville. Grandma Oldham was a voracious reader and was always looking for books. At this time, the Town Hall doubled as Wellesley's library. Living far away from Town Hall, Grandma Oldham couldn't always get to the library, but the neighborhood devised a system to maintain a supply of books. "There was a house across the street, next door to where the branch library is now" Anne describes. "In those days, houses didn't have electric refrigerators, they used ice boxes. This house had a back entrance, which wasn't hooked up to the furnace so it was cold, and there was a room with shelves and the ice box. The neighborhood had this system where they would read their books from the library, then they would take them across the street to this tall house and put them in the ice box room with a list of what they wanted to read next time around. And they hired a high school student who had a bicycle, and he would pick up those books from the ice box room, bike them up to Wellesley Square, to the main library and he'd pick up the books they wanted and bring them back to Wellesley Hills and people would pick up their books." Using this system Grandma Oldham had access to a steady supply of books long before the branch library came into existence (the branch library was built in 1927). Though Anne has never heard of any other neighborhoods with a similar system, she assumes that other people in the town had a similar method of obtaining books. When asked what she recollects about the Needham-Wellesley rivalry, Anne replied, "Well my grandfather started it. He just thought it would be a good idea and he had a bicycle so he rode over to Needham and went to the high school and brought it up with the principal or the coach and they said 'sure let's do it.' It was very informal. They just thought it would be fun, and then it turned into a real rivalry."
Growing up in Wellesley
Anne's grandparents and her mother were also born in Wellesley, but her mother left Wellesley when she married an army officer. Anne was born in New York in 1926. During World War II Anne's family moved around frequently. At the time of Pearl Harbor Anne's family was living in Panama, where she went to the American school. Anne's family was evacuated back to America in a blacked-out ship in December of 1941, just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Once back in America, Anne's family moved around between California, Michigan, and Kansas. When she was old enough, Anne's parents sent her to Dana Hall as a boarder so she would not have to keep changing schools when the family moved. According to Anne, Dana Hall students always referred to Wellesley Center as "The Ville." Anne remembers a girl named Sunny who worked in a drug store where Tutto Italiano is now that "got the biggest kick out of hearing us call town 'The Ville'." Anne used to take the train or the bus into Boston, where she and her friends would (usually futilely) try and sneak into a club. In terms of sports, Anne says that there was hardly any skiing, and in fact, "sports weren't a big deal then, people might not have been able to afford them." Anne first watched television when the father of her roommate at Dana Hall purchased a television set and they went over to watch. "It was boring frankly. I didn't find anything interesting about it. But it was big and expensive and he liked things that were big and expensive. It was the thing to have, but I never found it interesting."
Adult Life
Anne bought a house in Wellesley in 1950 after she got married. Anne has two sons and a daughter that attended Hardy Elementary School. Anne said that the schools were not a big factor in her choice to live in Wellesley, partly because she assumed schools were good everywhere. Instead, Anne and her husband mostly settled in Wellesley because they both just liked the town. Anne has stayed in Wellesley so long simply because she likes it so much. "The kids were happy here and we had a lot of friends; we just never wanted to leave." Anne's first telephone in Wellesley was a "party line" and the specific ring indicated which family the phone call was for, which made it difficult to have private conversations on the phone. "Everybody listened in on everyone else's phone calls. I'm sure that's one way gossip spread." According to Anne, the biggest change she has noticed in Wellesley is how crowded it is getting. "Wellesley is so confusing; there are so many cars you can't get out of your own driveway. And it's so big; there is no open space. And the houses are getting bigger and closer and closer together." Another large change has been the price of baseball games. Anne recalls that it used to be "very very cheap" to watch a game a Fenway.