Daly Industrial School by Priscilla (Harper) Gimple, 2017
No. 1307 Postcard. Caption on front: Daly Industrial School and Grounds, Dorchester, Mass. Photo by J.V. Hartman. Postally unused. On verso: Pub. by J.V. Hartman & Co., Boston, Mass. Series 64.
My name is Priscilla (Harper) Gimple. I was born in 1931. My relatives lived in Dorchester as early as 1926. I attended the Daly Industrial School on Train Street in Dorchester for 4 years. For two years I boarded there, and for the other 2 I was a day student. I was born in Newton and lived in Waban until I was six. I am one of four children, 2 boys and 2 girls. My older brother was William and younger brother was John. My sister Edith (now Morian) was born in 1933 in Newton Wellesley Hospital also. My mother did not survive my sister’s birth due to complications. She was 33. My father was 2 generations older. She was the secretary in business, and they fell in love. We lived in a Tudor-style home in Waban, and we had everything. Then the Depression hit us, and we ended by losing our home and fortune. We were then all split up. My grandmother, who lived in Boston at the time, took in my sister. My brother and I went to live with an aunt in Dorchester. We lived with her on Westmoreland Street and made our First Communion at St. Brendan’s Church. We were moved around a lot. Eventually we all ended up with my grandmother who became legal guardian to all of us. We then attended the Cathedral school nearby except my oldest brother, who went to English High School. Soon it was decided we should to to boarding school. In 1943 my brother went to the Working boys Home, and my sister and I were sent to the Daly Industrial School in Dorchester. My sister, who wasn’t happy there, stayed only one year. She missed my grandmother and went back to live with her. My oldest brother also stayed with my grandmother and eventually joined the Navy towards the end of the War
When the Second World War broke out, the government contacted my father who then worked at the Fore River shipyards during the war. Before I was born, he had represented a fleet of coastal ships out of Boston. Her certainly knew ships, and I wrote a biography of him.
The name of the principal at the Daly was Sr. Rose Patrice, and she ruled with an iron hand. Everyone was afraid of her, and no-one dared to cross her. The Sisters of Saint Joseph were the same order that we had at the Cathedral.
Some of the names were: Sr. Margaret Edward, who taught 8th grade, Sr. Charlotte, the 9th, Sr. Redemptus, the 10th and Sr. Veronica the 11th. The school went only to the 11th grade. All the basics were taught including French, Latin, English, etc. My favorite teacher was Sr. Veronica.
Life at the school was generally uneventful. I remember once during the time I boarded there that we had an outbreak of head lice! Everyone was forced to have DDT put on their heads and wrapped up, regardless of whether we had contracted the lice or not. We found out the infestation was brought in by two new boarders.
Sometimes my friend Clair Pintel and I were asked if we would go over to the nuns’ residence and cut hosts for Mass on Sunday. We jumped at the chance. When the nun would leave the room, w sneaked pieces of the host material and chewed it! We thought that was fun, as we knew it wasn’t consecrated. We were not supposed to do that, and if we had been caught, we would have lost the privilege of stamping out the hosts with the manual stamper.
Another incident occurred when I was in the dining room after the dinner meal. We were asked to be quiet, but a girl at another table said something funny, and I snickered. The nun in charge of the dining room came over to me and clapped me as she could across my face. I had been there only 2 days, and I had never been it in the face my whole life of 13 years. I will never forget it. I didn’t give her the satisfaction of crying. Actually, I was very embarrassed as I hadn’t gotten to know anybody yet.
Evening prayers were said in the chapel every night. Each student was issued a white chapel veil when she came to board at the school, along with a number that had to be printed on the veil and everything else she owned. I liked chapel.
Every night I would look out the window and see Dorchester. It was comforting because I would think of my aunt who lived a short distance from the school and would come to visit me on Sundays. I knew Dorchester fairly well by then.
I stayed at the school until the 11th grade. I then went back to my grandmothers in Boston. When I was 14, I found I could get a worker’s permit. I couldn’t wait to find some kind of a job to help out. I met a lade from the Franklin Square House, and she told me to apply there to work in the kitchen, etc. I was so excited when they hired me. It was a home for working women located perhaps on Canton Street in the South End. I could walk across Blackstone Park from my grandmother’s building and be there in five minutes. I made 35 cents per hour and did all sorts of jobs. There was an Irish lady I sometimes worked with who always asked me to sing Danny Boy. I have sung since I was 6 and do so even today.
By then I decided to finish school at the Daly. I worked at the Franklin Square House from 6 o’clock until eight. I then took the train to Fields Corer and took a bus from there to Train Street where the school was located. Climbing up that hill was a task in itself. Train Street was quite steep, at least for me anyway. I would get to the door of the school, and there was Sister Patrice waiting inside to see if I was late. I never was! She insisted I could not wear ankle sox to school. It had to be stockings, and we had to wear cotton ones because of the war. I obliged with no problems.
At 3 o’clock school was over for the day. I hurried back home and worked from 4 until 8. I then went home, did my homework and started the next morning all over again.
When I graduated in 1947, there were 12 in our class. Our certificate said “Daly Commercial High School.” I can remember a few of my classmates. One was Mary Lynch, a boarder. there there was Katherine Henderson and Barbara Tasha who both lived on Train Street. Years later I tried to find Katherine but had no success. I lost contact when I moved to Dearborn, Michigan, after marrying in 1952 in Cambridge. My husband was Design Engineer at Ford Motor Co. He was there for 36 years, retired in 1984 and died ten years later. He was in the Marine Corps and was originally from Michigan. We had 41 years together and raised 2 great daughters . I am now 86.
I kept in touch with my friend Claire Pintel. I introduced her to my oldest brother and eventually they fell in love. They had children including twins. My younger brother whose friend was at the working Boys Home with him become life-long friends. His name was Neil Gray. My brother made his home with Neil’s family even after Neil died. They had gone into business together in Arizona. My brother died in December 2016
Although I am 86 I have to keep busy or I am lost. I’m in St. Pat’s choir; I bowl once a week; and I am an artist like my grandmother who came from famous artists in England named Dixon. My art keeps me going. I have had heart valve surgery, 2 broken hips and one ankle!!! Oh well, such is life. I paint seascapes and lighthouses, some of Michigan and some of Massachusetts, and I make a few dollars. My grandmother had the artist William Paskell for a teacher. He rented a room in her apartment, which helped with the bills for the 4 of us. I learned a lot from both.
Patricia Gimple
Waterford, MI