Living through history - woman recalls the good old day in town

by Mark Jahne

Editor

Barbara Ambler has a unique take on local history. She has seen a lot of it during her long life.

Cromwell is celebrating its 175^th anniversary as an officially recognized town this year and she has been around for more than half of that time. She still lives in the same house her late husband Homer built on West Street Heights many years ago.

“My father built this house in the mid-1950s,” her son Roger said.

Barbara Ambler is 95 years old and has lived in town most of her life. She is shown with her son Roger, one of her five children.

They moved in around 1952. The lot cost $300. That’s one of many examples of how life has changed over the decades.

“I’m 95-and-a-half” years old, Barbara said with a laugh. “I was born in Middletown in 1930. I have five kids, four boys and a girl. They are all keeping a good eye on me. We have five generations living right now.”

She also has nine grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. Not one to be stuck in the past, she keeps in touch with the younger generations with the aid of a computer tablet.

“I use it every day. I’d be lost without it,” she said.

She was asked if she worked or was a stay-at-home mother.

“Oh, did I ever work. I worked for several dentists” as a dental assistant. She also worked for the state in a dental clinic at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.

“I had to keep stopping to have a baby,” Barbara said with a smile.

While she was still a young child her father secured a job with A.N. Pierson, Inc., and the family moved to Pleasant Street to enable him to be closer to his work. They later lived in an apartment on Main Street. Her family name was Reiman until she was married.

“For my mom, that was Heaven,” she said.

Barbara recalled how much her father enjoyed gardening and there was land on the property for that. The apartment also had something new and exciting – indoor plumbing.

Yes, she goes back to the days before indoor plumbing and refrigerators and television. The family had an old-fashioned ice box. One needed to purchase a block of ice to keep everything cold.

The family moved yet again, this time into a duplex.

“We lived there until I got married,” she said. “I had a very happy, joyful childhood. Everybody played on Nordlund Avenue.”

Cars and trucks were scarce back then and many local businesses used horses to perform physical labor. Horses need hay and there were numerous haystacks nearby.

“We would slide down the haystacks,” she said. “My childhood was so happy, so joyful. It was the neighbors who made it that way.”

There were no cell phones or video games back then but the children created their own games. They also enjoyed sledding and skating in the winter.

“In those days, we didn’t own a car,” which was a luxury only wealthier people could afford. Food vendors selling milk, produce and other goods came to the front door. The town’s population was much smaller than it is today and people felt like they knew everyone who lived here.

“Every Sunday was dinner at Grandma’s house,” Roger said.

The grandparents lived across town. The family didn’t have a car so they took the bus.

“My grandmother had eight children with no indoor plumbing and no running water,” Barbara recalled. “We had to walk to Nathaniel White School,” which now serves as Town Hall. “We had to go home for lunch.”

She still remembers how cold those winter walks to school could be. As an adult, she became active at St. John Church and with community organizations including the town’s nursing board.

Her husband Homer was involved with the Sea Scouts and was the town’s first fire marshal. During World War II he was an air raid warden.

“He was in the fire department for 35 years,” Roger said. “My parents were 4-H Club leaders.”

Roger’s wife Karen, who teaches at Edna C. Stevens School, keeps Barbara engaged by helping her with prep work for its pre-kindergarten students. The little children call her “Grandma Ambler.”

“I’ve always been interested in politics. Over the years we went to all of the Democratic and Republican dances,” Barbara added. “I’m so proud of our town.”

The family history in town dates from 1850. The Amblers moved to Vermont for a while after she and Homer retired but came back. One of their Vermont neighbors was the father of Christopher Reeve of “Superman” fame and they met the famous actor.

“We were one of the first families in the neighborhood to have a phone.”

It was a party line shared with at least one other home. CL