Knowing them as a child I have Lena and Alice scrambled. One was a bit taller, both were slender. That description would fit Flossie ( Florence ) also. But for me, she was a separate identity and very special. They were the core of the clickety-clack club. I'll explain. The two sisters ( sometimes three) had a tendency to sit in a line with a few of the next generation along the traffic path of any family gathering. They all had dentures. In those days, the dentures fitted badly. The older ladies of the family were Tea Totalers ( look it up...they wanted Total Prohibition, including beer and wine ) Any adult that had a drink, any child that ran, any human being that shouted or laughed loudly, they tutted...and the teeth clicked and clacked. So the Triple "C's" ...the Clickety Clack Club got it's name ( unfortunately from me, and I made the mistake of using the name to my waggish Uncle Libby , Frederick, and the rest was history...) They were feisty, independent, and very firm in their own dignity. But the whole family had a marvelous sense of humor, so I am sure their stern demeanor was the impression of a child. I am also certain they knew the name I gave them and were, in part, "putting me on" so they could live up to the image I gave them. ( we actually reserved a separate room at my wedding for the bar so that the rest of the family could get a drink without them knowing what was in the glass. Everyone kept stopping and saying " ladies, can I get you a soda ?" You'd think there was a real run on ginger ale. No one was fooled, but there was no proof as long as they didn't enter the bar...they didn't, but did line up along the path out !) One funny story sums them up. My grandmother, Eleanor, got a call from the nursing home that a neighbor of the home had a complaint that Lena and Alice were thieves and had robbed her. Eleanor and Ted (Jack to his family...I suspect it was actually Jacques, a nickname the Yankee Libbys would have applied to any denizen of French Hill in Marlborough...which Theodore Charron certainly qualified as.) raced to the home . The director told her the neighbor's flower garden had been wiped out and her flowers cut. She blamed the two old ladies who daily walked by her yard and examined her plants. Eleanor questioned the two ladies at length. They swore to ignorance of the deed, the flowers, the neighbor. Eleanor went out and lambasted the director for irresponsibly accusing two upright octogenarians on such flimsey evidence. Indignantly, she went back to their room to tell them the matter was settled. "Good", said one, the flowers weren't all that good anyway, and certainly not worth the fuss." The "younger" couple left immediately. They came straight to us to tell the tale. They were both laughing so hard it's a wonder they got there without an accident. Eleanor, with traces of the same dignity the old ladies had, commented that she could never go near the home again and have to look the director in the eye. Ted told her of course she could, she was a Libby. Notes for THAMAS BARRY: When I think of Tom Barry, the first word that comes to mind is gentleman. ...deep voice ...inclined to listen more than talk...and he looked like John L. Sullivan ( look him up). He had white hair which I suspect came to him very early, but his brows were black and bushy, and great coloring. The Libby's tended to be very pale. A handsome man to the end. They had no children. Tom roomed with John Libby in the Marlboro Nursing home while his wife Lena and her sister Alice roomed together. I suspect that in their late eighties, this was a financially practical arrangement. John was annoyed...but everything annoyed John in his last decade. Ellen wasn't there to cater to him. I believe Tom predeceased Lena. I was living in Missouri when they all went, so I have lost track of the order of their going.
Lena Libby (b. Abt. 1874)
Notes for Lena Libby: