July 1967
A June vacation to visit her sons John in Montana and Edwin in Washington state, gave the other children and the grandchildren of Mrs. Eva Madden, Sr., an opportunity for a real gift of love and appreciation.
Her other eight children and their families— numbering somewhere around 30— gathered for two weekends at the 80-year-old home at 542 North Pine and did a complete redecoration inside and out. Everyone, including the smallest two-year-old, wielded a paint brush.
They painted the home inside and out, painted the fence, fixed the roof, washed curtains and re-hung them, put new tile on the kitchen floor, removed the old sink and installed a new one. They also weeded the garden, cut the lawn and worked every angle to give the home a fresh and modern look.
Then the family was on hand to welcome Mrs. Madden home when she arrived at midnight.
Born in 1887, Mrs. Madden had 10 children. She and her late husband came to Rochester about 45 years ago and she has lived in the Pine Street home for 20 years.
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SPEAKING OF VACATIONS, mention of our recent jaunt to Washington, D.C. and the lack of parking space there brought a comment from Ron Kevern, director of personnel for the Rochester Community School District. He and his family made the trip on July 4th and found there was parking space everywhere.
To make sure we would not be fighting for parking spots during our trip there a week ago, we decided to use the services of a tour bus. We let them look for a parking spot. The way in which the tour was conducted and the drivers were a tourist attraction in themselves.
Since the bus company had a dozen different tours one could take at different prices, one finds themselves being shuttled on and off buses at various spots with different groups. Every time one boards a bus, the driver needs to take roll call to make sure everyone is there. Usually they weren’t.
In fact, we hadn’t even started when we had already lost one party. “Sorry about that,” the driver with the Danny Thomas voice and face announced over the loudspeaker. “Yesterday I lost only two parties. I sure hope we find them today.”
Before he departs without a group, though, he gets on his two-way radio with his office to find out if the missing folks are on another bus by mistake. During our day on and off the buses with four different drivers, we lost five parties.
But in Washington, being lost is nothing to be ashamed of. One gets the feeling that even Congress is hopelessly lost at least half of their time here.
