Memories of life in Stratford provided by Marion Finger

Marion Beach was born in 1900.  She grew up on Longbrook Avenue near the DC Wood saw mill and the blacksmith shop.  She married J. Walter Finger.  She lived with Mr. Finger at 2979 Main Street and they ran a bakery business from their home.  She was Interviewed by Miller Walks in 1988 as part of the assembling of memories for the book In Pursuit of Paradise.

Mrs. Finger recalled when Main Street was a dirt road.  She remembered Stanley Beach's airplane and his trying to fly the plane giving First Selectman James Lally a ride.  Her grandparents owned Beaver Dam.  She recalled DC Wood's four wives and a poem written about Mr. Wood.  Mrs. Finger discussed the Depression and its effects on Stratford; the hurricane of 1938; Mary Fairchild piano teacher and Bible teacher; travelling through Stratford before Barnum Avenue extension was built; Peck's Mill disaster; and, the fog horn in Stratford Center blowing when school was to be cancelled due to weather.

Mrs. Finger died in 1990.