Peggy Ann and Ted

 

Margaret "Peggy" Ann Thompson

Hey folks, isn't blogging wonderful! Blogging has enabled me to find so much wonderful information that otherwise would be lost to history.

An "Anonymous" comment on my last blog about Carmen and Violet who died in a car crash in 1946 leaving a two year old little girl orphaned, found the name of that little girl. He or she did some research on Carmen and Violet and found the name of the daughter was "Margaret Ann Thompson". Viola! Yes! That rang a bell. "Peggy Ann" was her name!

"Thompson" was her mother's maiden name. Perhaps she took that name because her mother wasn't officially married to Carmen Marino. Interesting, especially back then because having a baby out of wedlock was a big scandal only whispered about.

I found the census for 1950 and I found where she was living with her aunt Margaret, for whom she was obviously named. 

Look at her yearbook picture at the beginning of this blog. That folks is a genuine smile. I remember her as a little girl always happy. "Peggy Ann!" I often heard shouted in our second floor apartment building when my family lived just across the hall from Carmen and Violet. I'm pretty sure my Mother baby sat for Peggy Ann because both my father and my Mother had a close relationship with Carmen and Violet.

That yearbook picture was taken from the West Chester High School which she attended. Then her adoptive parents must have moved back to Downingtown in her senior year because Peggy Ann was on of this young people who had to finish out her high school years at a different school, which just happens to be the same high school I graduated from, Downingtown. She came too late to be included in the yearbook, thus this is the picture of her that was included.

Poor Peggy Ann, she doesn't look too happy in that picture. It looks like a hostage picture doesn't it?

Now here is something else interesting. Another commenter on my blog told me he was friends with Carmen's nephew. Here is his comment. 

Wow what a story. Perhaps eventually you can find out the name of Carmen & Violet's daughter and if she is still alive and her married name (if still married). 
The name Carmen Marino rigs a bell for me. Quick story: I knew a Paul C. Marino of Waterbury, CT. way back in the late 90s as I was just getting deep into the internet. We are both fans of the rock music group, Grateful Dead. Anyway I asked him what the "C" in his name was for, and Paul replied, "Carmen" a popular Italian name. That name was given to him in honor of an uncle who lived in or around a town called Downingtown, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Aunt Violet died in a car accident just before X-mas in the 40's. They too had a daughter. 100% this is the same man.
I lost touch with Paul about 2003. In 2020, I wanted to get in touch with him again, but got no reply.

What are the odds? Wow! 

Now here is another link to me. Peggy Ann is actually related to me! First my family and secondly by a boy named Ted Thompson. I'll explain the relationship but it might hurt your head but here goes. Peggy Ann's mother Violet Thompson was the aunt of John Thompson who was my first cousin Jane Tipton's husband. Got that? And who was Ted Thompson? He was John's younger brother. 

Now this is where things really get interesting. One day in 1957 I began my first day in Typing class in high school. Back in the Fifties not too many boys took typing because it was considered "only for girls" or "sissy." But if you took a Commercial Course, which is what some of us boys from poor families took because we weren't going to college, those college bound boys took the academic course. So there I am sitting demurely in my seat ready for the class to start and here comes in this guy who just took my breath away. He walked like a panther. He had a great smile. He exuded casual confidence, something in which I was sorely lacking at that time. He was athletic. He was on the football team. He wore glasses (for some strange reason I'm often attracted to guys who wear glasses). Wow! I was really attracted to this guy but of course this was the Fifties, what was I going to do? He was two years older than me. I was in LOVE. Ted literally made me weak in the knees whenever he walks into the room.

Theodore Thompson
Downingtown High School Year Book Photo 1957

A pause, this is a blog post I often wanted to write but put off often. Now I think is a good time to write about one of my first major crushes and the terrible ending to that crush which has stayed with me all these years. Over the years I have often thought of the tragic ending of both Carmen and Violet and Ted Thompson and now that I find out they are related is a major coincidence. Especially how I found out. This is why I think there is a guardian angel that helps me and I think Bill had a hand in this too. I do think our lives are preplanned out for us as a learning experience. And in the end everything is related. And now it has been proven to me because these two episodes have haunted me my whole life.

Back to Ted. When I heard his last name was "Thompson" I asked him if he was related to my cousin Jane Tipton's husband Johnny Thompson. Ted said Johnny was his brother. Wow! Now what I did next was very foolish but you have to remember I was a love struck fifteen-year old. I said "Oh! We're related!" Ted got a kick out of that. From then on almost every time he came into class he would mockingly greet me with a "Hi cousin!"

Read his caption he wrote in my yearbook, the "cousin" comment and "Ha! Ha!"  Hurt my feelings but what the heck. Wasn't the first time nor the last.  Life is a lesson. This was just one.

He was nice about it but it was still mocking me. Again, this was the Fifties and I probably came off as a bit of a nerd if not a complete sissy to him. Obviously he knew I was taken with him. Let me tell you, I really enjoyed being around that guy. I love that typing class. Of course he didn't pay attention to me, he was very popular and couldn't be bothered with his gangly, probably annoying underclassman in his typing class. I was pretty sure he wasn't going to ask me to be his date at his senior prom. Yes, that was what I was fantasizing about. Ted Thompson driving up in a cool 1957 Chevy

to pick me up to take me to his senior prom. Yeah, sure! Yes, these days students can take same sex to their prom but NOT IN THE FIFTIES!

Ted leading his graduation class onto the football field for his graduation ceremonies

And especially Ted, because he was obviously as straight as they come. But then that has always been my curse, I'm only attracted to straight or straight acting men. I've never been attracted to a swishy or feminine man, no offense to any of my gay brethren but that's just the way it is with me. This big, broad shouldered, panther walking football player taking me to his senior prom? Yes folks, that was one of my many teenage gay fantasies. Well, I could dream couldn't I? 

Ted, down in the from and in the middle. Mr. Popularity!

Not only was I attracted to Ted physically but I loved his outgoing, friendly personality even though there was a dearth of that personality directed towards me. I loved seeing how popular he was with every one he came into contact with including our typing teacher who I think also had the hots for me and he knew it. He often flirted with her. Even at fifteen years old I could tell when vibes were in the air between two people. 

Ted, the loudest in his class. Oh he was loud all right. You always knew when Ted entered the room. He was full of life. So much positive energy. I liked Rosie too. And yes, she was also loud. 

I only had one year in typing class with Ted because he graduated that year (1957) which made me sad because I would no longer be in his presence. I really enjoyed those typing classes because he sat right across the aisle from me with those tan khaki pants and form fitting shirts he always wore. What a guy! 

Then something terrible happened. After Ted left school he joined the Army, as most of us poor boys did (I did as did my two younger brothers) who couldn't afford to go to college. Ted was only in Basic Training two week when he died doing calisthenics! 

When I heard that news my heart was broken.  What a waste I thought! This beautiful guy with everything going for him. The looks, personality and popularity, what an awful waste of a life just doing exercises. And he was a football player. The only thing I could figure out is that he took basic training in the summer (which he did) and it was heat exhaustion. I followed him in basic training at Fort Dix New Jersey but my basic training was in February and March. Another lucky break for me. But back to Ted. My whole like, just like the sadness I felt for Peggy Ann, that little three year old girl clutching her doll in the dark as police flashlights woke her up that cold December night to inform her that both of her parents were dead; I also felt a sadness my whole life for Ted and the loss for his family. 

My cousin Jane Tipton had three children. Two boys and a girl; Johnny, Penny and Ted (named in honor of his uncle who died so young). I often my mother to visit Jane's mother, one of my favorite aunts and another "Peg". Yes, "Aunt Peg." Jane's son Johnny was her caretaker in her old age.

Me with my Aunt Peggy Tipton, June 16th, 2005 at her granddaughter's home (Penny Thompson, niece of Ted Thompson) in Downingtown, PA

Aunt Peg was one of my favorite Tipton aunts. She always treated me like an adult, even when I was a little kid. I even think I earned my first money from her. She and her family lived in the apartment above us at 120 Washington Avenue. She used to send me to the local corner grocery store (Wagners') to get an item or two. She would give me a nickel tip. Back in the Fifties a nickel would buy me some serious penny candy. Later in her life she gave me some old family photos. She was a sweet lady. Unfortunately all three of her children died before she did. Life can sometimes be cruel. I've been very lucky in my life. I had almost sixty great years with Bill and now I have Pat in my life. My cup runneth over one might say.

So there you go folks. Some loose connections put together at this late stage of my life. No doubt some of Ted's relatives will read this post and be grossed out because I had a crush on Ted. Oh well. This was one secret I wasn't going to take to my grave.

Talking about graves, little Peggy Fisher got married and I hope had a happy life. She died in 2012 in  Honey Brook, Pennsylvania, not far from Downingtown. Here is her final resting place.

I hope she was able to meet up with her parents Carmen and Violet in heaven just as I hope Bill was able to meet his father who also died in an auto accident when Bill was only a year old. Yes, Bill's father also died with three other people in a drunk driving accident. His father was twenty-one years old. He and his buddies were out for a night of drinking. Apparently they were drunk when the driver of the car crashed head on into a bridge abutment. Thus changing Bill's life forever, leaving his mother a widow with two young daughters and a young son, named Bill Kelly. 

Bill with his two older sisters, his mother and his new half brother. His mother married again. Photo taken about 1931