The Cousin Allen & the Townsend’s Story

                                                      The  Cousin Allen & Townsends Story    

                                                                                 1958

                                                          Written 2010 and Re-written 2016

                                                                         Howard Yasgar

     1957 was my graduation year from Hill House high school in New Haven Connecticut.

     It now was time to think about college.

    My Cousin Allen, who was a year younger than I was, had graduated from Wilber Cross High School which was also in New Haven, he graduated the year after me in 1958

    Allen and I both worked part time at a Gulf gas station, located on the corner of Whalley Avenue and Harrison Street in Westville.

     We both liked working on cars.

     The late 1950’s were later called the “Fonzi” years because Fonzi dressed  a lot of us dressed like the TV character

Fonzi later did. That meant wearing a black leather jacket, Levi pants, motorcycle boots and black slicked back hair, and that was the way I dressed.

     My cousin Allen was a more casual dresser. That meant a somewhat clean tee shirt and not too dirty slacks.   

      It was when my cousin Allen graduated high school, in 1958 that he told me that he had a serious girlfriend, and was considering getting married.

     Allen was the only son of my mother’s sister Adele. Allen was less than fortunate, as his father Jim was an alcoholic. Allen’s mom was a dedicated and hardworking nurse and she kept their family together, even with Allen’s father being drunk most of the time.

      I knew that Allen had intentions of going to the University of Connecticut, but I had no Idea that he had a girlfriend, or was even thinking of getting married.

    I asked him where he ever met a girlfriend and Allen said that he had met a young lady at his Church and started dating her. I was kind of shocked as my main interest was working on hot rods, not girls, but because we had both grown up in different parts of New Haven, and we had gone to different high schools we had both developed different groups of friends. I didn’t even know that Allen ever went to church.

    When Allen said he had a girlfriend and was considering marriage, I was real curious as to who this girl was. I was afraid he might have met a girl that would take him down the wrong path, perhaps talking him into a marriage to take her out of a bad family situation. I knew that happened often, and usually ended in disaster. So, when Allen asked if I would come with him to visit his girlfriend, I was delighted and I was also very curious.

    We got in my father’s car and Allen directed me where to drive. We drove to one of the fancier Avenues in New Haven called Townsend Avenue.

    I couldn’t imagine who Allen knew that lived near Townsend Avenue. The Avenue had once been part of the large Townsend estate. The Townsend estate consisted of property belonging to the Townshend family who were some of the original founders of the original Colony of New Haven.

     Over the years, most of the estate property had been sold off with the exception of the Kneeland Townsend House, which was a Greek revival mansion that has been in the Townsend family for seven generations.

      Allen directed me to turn into the driveway that not only led to the mansion but also farther into the large estate which also had a large house once belonging to the stable keeper.   

      I just knew Allen had to be pulling my leg, making me drive in there, and I knew he was going to tell met to turn around any second, but he didn’t.

     We parked in front of the big mansion which is now on the historical registry, and we were greeted by Henry Townsend.

      While I certainly was not familiar with the Townsends, I did know who Henry Townsend was, as he had recently run for mayor in New Haven.

    Here I was with my motorcycle jacket, engineer boots and slicked back hair being led into the historical Townsend mansion by Henry Townsend himself. My cousin Allen was acting like it was the most normal thing in the world, he simply asked Henry Townsend if Sharon was at home.

   While we waited in the living room for Sharon to make her appearance, I observed Henry Townsend’s reactions, and I wondered what he must have been thinking. As I looked, I thought Henry Townsend would swallow his Adam’s apple. I didn’t think the Townsend mansion ever had anyone that looked like me in it before, as every Townsend for generations had been a Yale University graduate.

    Yes, I certainly felt ill at ease, but my cousin Allen was as nonchalant as ever, he had a broad smile on his face like everything was just like normal.

    Soon, Allen’s girlfriend Sharon Townsend descended the staircase. When she reached the bottom of the staircase Allen hugged and kissed her. I could see that Sharon was just as pretty as can be, my cousin Allen had done well.     

   Sharon walked us outside and gave us a tour of the estate. When we reached the stable and groundskeepers house, Sharon introduced us to another girl who Sharon said was a Ministers daughter, her father, the minister, was renting the groundskeepers house.

     I always felt ill at ease at the mansion, and I was sure the Townsends were just as ill at ease having me in their home, but they always acted graceful about it. Allen has told me that Mr. Townsend was concerned that his daughter was marrying a gas station attendant and he hoped that Allen’s aspirations would be higher.

    The wedding date was set in 1962, and the wedding was to be held in one of the three Greek Revival Protestant churches located on the New Haven Green. The Churches were almost as old as the New Haven Colony itself and I certainly never dreamed I would actually be inside one of them, But, I was appointed an usher at the wedding, and here I was the son of Russian immigrants showing people to their seats in a Protestant church that was used by the families of the original New Haven founders.

      The Townsends spared no expense on their daughter’s wedding. I marveled at how my humble cousin Allen handled the opulence so well.

       Allen told me that he had been concerned that his father might come and disrupt the wedding, but his dad Jim Nelson passed away of a heart attack a few weeks before the wedding.

      Cousin Allen and Sharon then left to attend the University of Connecticut together, and during one of their vacations, Allen and Sharon came to Florida to visit me, as I had moved there in 1963.  

      Allen had always had an interest in electronics and had already graduated from electronics school prior to college, so now Allen while attending college with Sharon, became a ham radio operator, spending most of his time on the short wave radio, a pursuit that probably didn’t sit well with Sharon and their marriage was short lived.

      Henry Townsend who had wanted Allen to aspire to something higher in education, helped Allen to continue his schooling and he did receive his doctorate.  Allen graduated and even went on to teach at the University of New Haven, the very college I had attended.

      Allen always kept in contact with Mr. and Mrs. Townsend, even after he moved to Colorado and remarried.      

      As time passed, Allen went on to build a Solar home in Nederland Colorado, then Allen and his wife Diana took up practicing sailing on the lakes in Colorado. Once they became proficient, Allen and his wife Diana purchased a fifty foot Gulf Star sailboat and sailed the Caribbean every year, always stopping to see my wife and I when they were in Miami.

      In 2008, Allen and Diana eventually moored their sailboat in Fort Lauderdale, and they came down every year to do maintenance and then visit with us, usually staying over with us at our home in the Florida Keys.

       In 2011, Allen came down to do maintenance on the boat and visit with us. I asked him what

Ever had happened to his ex-wife Sharon Townsend.

      Allen said, he hadn't kept up with her, but had heard she had remarried a few times, and was living in Portland Maine doing Ceramics.

      We looked up Sharon on the Internet, and found that she had changed her name back to Townshend, and she was a ceramic artist living in Portland Maine, her work included doing large ceramic mosaics for schools and public buildings, and her smaller work was only sold in galleries.

       So in February 2001, I sent an E Mail to Sharon, and asked her if she remembered me? I also asked her if she ever needed a good used wedding usher, I was available.

      I told her that Allen was now a retired College Professor, living in the mountains of Colorado.

      Sharon replied that she remembered me, and even had several photographs taken at the wedding.

      Sharon said that she now had a father and mother in law living in Vero Beach Florida and came down every year to Florida to see them.

     So in August of 2011, Katherine and I took a trip to Maine. We went with our dear friends Sandy Shwink and Tommy Letis from Foxon Connecticut.

      In South Portland Maine, we went to Sharon’s studio, and met with her, I recognized her right away. Sharon taught ceramics at the University of Maine and also had a school for other ceramic artists. Sharon said her husband was off mountain climbing in Switzerland.