My mother Mary Hall, was from Detroit, MI. She moved here, young, following her sister who was in Grad School at RISD. Mary met Bill McGoldrick, they spent the night at Rusty Scupper where Mom was working at the time, during the blizzard of ’78. Before walking home to their apartment.
They married, I was born, life choices… they divorced… and here my mom was raising a daughter alone on Bluff Avenue. Granted, my retired grandparents ended up relocating alongside us to this wonderful place called Edgewood, on the east side of Cranston, and the West Bay of the Narragansett.
I went to Cranston Public Schools (Rhodes, Edgewood Highland, Park View, Cranston East). It was in 5th grade at Edgewood Highland, along with CCD at St. Paul’s that I ended up meeting my now husband David Graziano. We stayed connected as acquaintances and friends all throughout our school days and college, I ended up at URI studying wildlife biology.
In college I worked in a few restaurants Cowesett Inn, Revolution (back when it was La’atittude). Is it funny I feel so Rhode Island when I call things “what they used to be”. Anyway, David and I connected in our early 20’s, went down to Richmond, VA for a couple years, got married, and moved back to Cranston. Over the next few years, we lived in a couple places throughout the city. But, as we started to build our family, we were called back to Edgewood. Where we are both from, home. As we were going to raise our kids, we wanted a community surrounding them that was engaging, supportive, active an safe. We wanted access to the water, dinner in the village and weeknight baseball games down at Carberry and Speck fields.
We wanted our kids going to great. diverse elementary schools, engaging with neighbors and making friends. We never anticipated a pandemic would strengthen our love for our community and make it even more a part of the fabric of our lives. But, those driveway “date nights” with friends 6 feet apart, in masks with a glass of wine (regardless of season) are some of the lasting memories of a time many want to forget.
Interspersed in the above is real life, challenges that occurred between the spaces in the sentences. But each challenge, and good fortune, each wrinkle and all the smooth sailing have been supported by, in some way shape or form the people of this community. It is so a part of my life, and so much the reason I want to give back.