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MARY'S FORGET-ME-NOTS

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Part 6. The Uncle and the Waltz Queen

OUR GAY, CHARMING, DELIGHTFUL UNCLE WILL AND THE WALTZ QUEEN OF RYE BEACH

In the Gay Nineties, Uncle Will cut quite a swath in our childhood circles. He would appear with a dapper little moustache, wearing white duck pants, a fancy waistcoat with pearl buttons and a gay blazer coat. Around our house at 207 Yates St. was a picket fence and the Hanlons lived diagonally across the street and Uncle Will stayed there weekends while attending Medical School. After he received his Medical Diploma , he moved to and settled in Greenwich Connecticut. He married Aunt Anna and they became the parents of Paul, Marian and Anne. (He practiced in Greenwich for more than fifty years - see magazine article). His practice was thriving, and he bought the house on Greenwich Avenue with the stable which accommodated eight horses. He used a team of horses at a time, going the rounds in a country practice. About 1908, however, he was one of the pioneers who bought a "Horseless Carriage" and in this marvel, he made a trip upstate. We were fascinated beyond words - we thought he looked superb in his jaunty cap and goggles and a long linen duster reaching to his heels. He had by now abandoned the moustache and had adopted the fad of "pinch-on" glasses, attached to his lapel by a narrow black ribbon. He admitted privately that he could see just as well without the glasses - but they gave him a very "distingue" look and were very effective in punctuating pronouncements. When he was ready to return home that summer, he invited Anna and me to ride back to Greenwich. (my dad told of many happy times he spent with Uncle, cousins and brother Tom - then in practice in Greenwich -- Before dad died, Anne and I drove mother and dad to Greenwich for lunch at the Yacht Club with Cousins Marian Burke and Anne Lewis). One Saturday afternoon, with a couple of Uncle Will's friends , we went down to Rye Beach where there was a big dance auditorium. This was the place where, a few years later, Vernon and Irene Castle began their famous dancing career. A special feature that day was a dance competition to select the Waltz Queen. Uncle Will urged Anna to enter. (Aunt Betty Pfohl comes to mind here) Anna was wearing a pink ratine dress with a big lace collar. Several hundred couples entered the competition. At the elimination time, Uncle Will moved quickly and deftly through the crowd urging friend and stranger alike

"CLAP FOR THAT GAL IN PINK!!"

Anna and her partner, Frank Kendrick, dipped and whirled and swirled .The spotlight fastened on them continually - the clapping for them grew louder and louder - finally, the decision was unmistakable - the gal in pink was the winner! At the judges stand, she received thunderous applause - plus a small cash prize and a BIG box of candy. No one was more pleased than our Uncle Will!

MAY HE REST IN PEACE!

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