Family Origins & History
Conversation Notes of Recollections by Barbara Cali (Hansen)
December 2006
HANSEN, ELLEN
In her older years, after Einar died, Ellen worked as a companion and housekeeper for Mrs. Niven in Long Island. She was the head housekeeper and directed the other servants while living there. The cooks name was Anna. Mrs. Niven had a black lab named Doonie. There was a terrace on the back of the house with a very large rolling green lawn with the LI sound in the distance. The front had a circular gravel drive.
Ellen would get one day off each week and 1 weekend off each month. In the summer she would get a few summer weeks. On her weekend off each month she would come to stay with her son's family (John, Louise and children). She would take the bus from Port Authority and it was a big deal for the kids to go with their father to pick up grandma. She would always bring them gifts in the form of chocolate coins in the little mesh bags. When she retired, John built a room on the back of his house where she lived with them on a permanent basis for the rest of her years. In 1966 she died of colon cancer at the age of 60.
Conversation Notes of Recollections by Barbara Cali (Hansen)
December 2006
HANSEN, ELLEN
In her older years, after Einar died, Ellen worked as a companion and housekeeper for Mrs. Niven in Long Island. She was the head housekeeper and directed the other servants while living there. The cooks name was Anna. Mrs. Niven had a black lab named Doonie. There was a terrace on the back of the house with a very large rolling green lawn with the LI sound in the distance. The front had a circular gravel drive.
Ellen would get one day off each week and 1 weekend off each month. In the summer she would get a few summer weeks. On her weekend off each month she would come to stay with her son's family (John, Louise and children). She would take the bus from Port Authority and it was a big deal for the kids to go with their father to pick up grandma. She would always bring them gifts in the form of chocolate coins in the little mesh bags. When she retired, John built a room on the back of his house where she lived with them on a permanent basis for the rest of her years. In 1966 she died of colon cancer at the age of 60.
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