Friday Fotos (September 5, 2014) -- Helen Raeder Cooke Roberts

Helen Raeder [Cooke] Roberts

My maternal grandmother, Ruth Eaton [Cooke] Carpenter, had two older sisters, one younger sister, and one brother born before her and another born after her.  Both of her brothers died before they even reached three years of age.  Her younger sister died at age seven. The elder of my grandmother's two older sisters was her sister, Helen Raeder Cooke. 

Helen was my grand aunt and she was born February 21, 1892 in N. Attleborough, Massachusetts.  She died October 4, 1987 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Helen was a nurse and was instrumental in my mother deciding to become an R.N. too.  Helen was married to Dr. Frederick A. Roberts (1863 - 1935) a well-known and loved family physician who practiced in Pittsfield for many decades.

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Photograph from the personal collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Remembering "Dr. Fred" (August 25, 2014)

I have written  before about my maternal grandmother's older sister, Helen (Cooke) Roberts and her husband, Dr. Frederick A. Roberts, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. See the post here for example.

This past weekend while visiting my parents in New Hope, Pennsylvania, my mother found and gave to me a little newspaper clipping from the Pittsfield Eagle, addressed "To the Editor" and titled The Best Medicine. It was written by Rena Hudelston, who at the time of the letter was residing at 62 Riverview West in Pittsfield. The date of the publication is unknown, however, from the content of the letter it was after the death of "Dr. Fred" who died in 1935 at age 76.

"Dr. Fred" and his wife, Helen (who was herself a nurse), were big influences on my mother.  My mother later became an R.N. and served as a Director of Nursing at a hospital in New Jersey during her long nursing career across several states (RI, OH, CT, MA, NH and NJ).

The quality of the clipping shown above is not as good as it might be and so my best attempt at an accurate transcription is provided below.

          The best medicine        

          To the Editor of THE EAGLE: --

                  I wish to answer Dr. Franklin
               Paddock's column in Wednesday's
               Eagle, in which he lists the usual
               contents of the doctor's "black bag"
               back in the days when physicians
               made house calls.
                  There are two very important in-
               gredients he forgot that were
               brought along by our family doctor.
               They were a deep-seated love and
               trust that would confound the med-
               ics who do not make house calls.
                  Our family physician was the late
               Dr. Fred Roberts. When we ap-
               proached the house and saw the car
               parked out front with license No. 19,
               we never got excited. I think that is
               why I always remembered that a
               calm and cheerful outlook was a ne-
               cessity in a sickroom. The strange
               part is that we never seemed to
               have any illnesses we didn't feel
               confident he could cure. To me, the
               trust you have in your doctor is
               three-quarters of the cure.
                  He delivered me at birth and two
               of my four children before his de-
               mise. I will always hold a deep re-
               spect and love for this gentle and
               dedicated doctor. He was like a
               member of the family.
                                      RENA HUDELSTON
               62 Riverview West
               Pittsfield

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Scan from an original newspaper clipping in the collection of the author.
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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew
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First Cars (January 15, 2014) -- Massachusetts License Plate No. 19

My maternal grandmother's older sister, Helen R. Cooke, married Dr. Frederick Alpha Roberts in 1922.   They lived all their married life in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Helen died in Pittsfield at age 95 in 1987.

Fred was born in Jacksonville, Windham County, Vermont in 1863. He attended New York University for a time, but apparently left to go to work in Boston for several years as a clerk. His uncle, Dr. Oscar S. Roberts of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, convinced Fred that he should go to medical school and at age 34 Fred graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, Maryland.  Upon graduation he went to Pittsfield and joined the medical practice of his Uncle Oscar, one of the best known physicians in Berkshire County.  Their offices were in the Whelden Block of the city in what was known as the Pender Building in 1935.  "Dr. Fred" became widely known as an obstetrical physician over the years and when he died in 1935 at age 72, he was the fifth oldest practicing physcian in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Both Oscar Roberts and his nephew Fred were avid motorists.  Oscar was the first person in Pittsfield to own an automobile and Fred was a charter member of the Automobile Club of Berkshire County, having joined when it was formed in 1903. 

The license plate shown above is the plate that was issued to Dr. Fred Roberts and was retained as an active plate by his widow, my Grand Aunt Helen, for decades afterward. In the early days of car registration and license plates, the plates were issued in sequential order.  Later when sequential numbering was abandoned, those with active sequential numbers were allowed to keep their plate numbers so long as the registration remained active. My aunt used to get repeated offers to take over her plates, which became one of the oldest active plates in the state as the years went by. Dr. Fred held plate No. 19 for some 32 years and it was the lowest registration plate in Berkshire County when he died in 1935. 

I now have the plate shown above, a 1966 issue of Plate No. 19 to my Grand Aunt Helen.

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Image of the original license plate in the personal collection of the author. 

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Wordless Wednesday (October 30, 2013) -- Helen Raeder Cooke Roberts

Helen Raeder (Cooke) Roberts (1892 - 1987) was the older sister of my maternal grandmother, Ruth Eaton (Cooke) Carpenter

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Photograph from the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (April 19, 2013) -- Helen R. (Cooke) Roberts

Helen (Cooke) Roberts (r) reading to her half sister, Constance Cooke

Helen Raeder Cooke, was the older sister of my grandmother, Ruth Eaton (Cooke) Carpenter. Helen was born on February 21, 1892 in Attleborough, Massachusetts and died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on October 4, 1987.  She is my grand aunt.

Helen was a nurse and was married to Dr. Frederick A. Roberts of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The date of this photograph is circa 1930 when Constance Cooke was about 4 years old. Constance was a child of Helen's father, Walter Wilson Cooke (1869 - 1944), and his second wife, Flora Sayle.  Walter's first wife, the mother of Helen, my grandmother and four other children, was Florence Leonette Flagg.  "Nettie," as she was called, died in 1904 having been predeceased by both her sons who died in infancy.  

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Original photograph in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2013.  John D. Tew

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