Dearest Reader,

Among my mother’s papers that have survived all these years, it the newspaper clipping about Chester J. Barrett and his family of ten children.  

The Barrett family lived directly across the street from my mother in Concord, New Hampshire. I remember her speaking about the Barrett twins. In fact, the Barrett twins can be seen in photographs taken at my parents’ wedding reception, which was held in the front year of my grandparents’ home. This family was not strangers in a newspaper article; they were a family she knew personally and part of her neighborhood.

The story attracted attention because Charles Barrett, the father of ten children, had been called into military service during World War II. This article addresses an economic reality. Barrett worked for a local granite company and earned a modest income supporting his large family. According to the newspaper, military pay combined with government family allotments would provide more monthly income for his wife and children than he was earning in civilian life. At a time when many families struggled financially, military service offered a measure of economic security.

This photograph shows ten children gathered around their mother and father, facing an uncertain future while their father prepared to leave home and serve his country. I am sure my mother saved this clipping because the Barretts were her neighbors. She knew the family, the twins, and understood that behind the headline was a real family facing the realities of wartime America.