I loved Bonnie Brae. I would have been overjoyed to move there. It was a charming house with beautiful rolling hayfields, set privately upon a knoll. My maternal grandparents for a while lived nearby across the road in the “Skinny Cat Wilson” place. The Rauhalas mentioned by Linda Kivela were my first cousins. The mother, Judith Somero Rauhala, was my mother’s eldest sister. She was so incredibly smart as a child that the old Finn ladies told my grandmother, Arline Somero, that her daughter Judith wouldn’t live very long. They were wrong, of course. I think the Rauhala family’s youngest child, my cousin Dwight, was born while they lived there at Bonnie Brae but I am not sure of that.
Gilbert Thompson sold Bonnie Brae and moved across the street on Temple Road. My dad, Walter Somero, was a caretaker at Bonnie Brae. In the 1950s the home was owned by the Rauhalas. They had two children Sheryl and Freddie. Mrs. Rauhala was a Somero. Fred and Arlene Somero's daughter. In the 60s the Simpson bought Bonnie Brae. They lived in Massachusetts and used Bonnie Braie as a summer home. John Simpson, known as "Simmie" played baseball with my brother John and my husband Bill.
When Gilbert Thompson was older and was confined to a wheelchair in the house across the road from Bonnie Brae, my Dad the milkman would pick up a box or 2 of groceries from Bob Kaarto's Market that Bob would fix up and deliver them to Gilbert's house, into his kitchen, every Saturday. This happened for quite a few years.
I loved Bonnie Brae. I would have been overjoyed to move there. It was a charming house with beautiful rolling hayfields, set privately upon a knoll. My maternal grandparents for a while lived nearby across the road in the “Skinny Cat Wilson” place. The Rauhalas mentioned by Linda Kivela were my first cousins. The mother, Judith Somero Rauhala, was my mother’s eldest sister. She was so incredibly smart as a child that the old Finn ladies told my grandmother, Arline Somero, that her daughter Judith wouldn’t live very long. They were wrong, of course. I think the Rauhala family’s youngest child, my cousin Dwight, was born while they lived there at Bonnie Brae but I am not sure of that.
Gilbert Thompson sold Bonnie Brae and moved across the street on Temple Road. My dad, Walter Somero, was a caretaker at Bonnie Brae. In the 1950s the home was owned by the Rauhalas. They had two children Sheryl and Freddie. Mrs. Rauhala was a Somero. Fred and Arlene Somero's daughter. In the 60s the Simpson bought Bonnie Brae. They lived in Massachusetts and used Bonnie Braie as a summer home. John Simpson, known as "Simmie" played baseball with my brother John and my husband Bill.
When Gilbert Thompson was older and was confined to a wheelchair in the house across the road from Bonnie Brae, my Dad the milkman would pick up a box or 2 of groceries from Bob Kaarto's Market that Bob would fix up and deliver them to Gilbert's house, into his kitchen, every Saturday. This happened for quite a few years.