I have had wonderful visitors from South Dakota….and we had a blast…..
With my dear friend the artist Bonnie Dutton from Spearfish South Dakota.
Bonnie and I have been friends for 35 years. On this visit she came with another friend Angie Anderson also of Spearfish South Dakota and an absolute delight.
They stayed in the Jolly Coopers Pub in Hampton – which now offers very lovely B & B accommodation. I highly recommend.
Bonnie and Angie in the courtyard at the Jolly Coopers…
Bonnie brought me a beautiful pendant from S. Dakota made from Black Hills Gold.…and Angie brought me some Bison Medallions.….hence the look of surprise on my face……..
Paul judge and I had much in common. We were both English and from similar backgrounds. .Back in those days there weren’t many Brits and Europeans in the States and so it was nice for me to be with a fellow Brit especially as my plans were still to return to the UK with Jarrod in time for him to start school. My parents were expecting us…..it was all arranged.
Jarrod when he was almost three years old.
Paul asked me to marry him after he graduated from Wharton Business School.
Time wise this fit in perfectly with our returning to the UK. Meanwhile we rented a flat on the University of Pennsylvania campus. From there it was a short bus commute to the White, Weld offices. Jarrod’s little nursery school was a short walk away. .
We would often stop at this little playground our way to his school.
The Philadelphia WW offices were smaller and the trading desk had a very different feel from New York – shall we say not quite so flamboyant!. I knew several of the people that worked there because they had visited the New York offices for training purposes.
Sitting next to me on the trading desk was a man called Bill Reed….It turned out that he was going through a very difficult divorce and so Paul and I would invite him to some of our weekend parties at the university. We all got on very well.
Living on campus was fun. Jim Poffley (who I’d met in the Poconos with Paul) became a very good friend and once again he and I have continued to stay good friends
There was the wonderful La Terrace – and Smokey Joes. There were films and much music….visits from the likes of Jane Fonda, Bob Dylan and because most of Paul’s friends were Thouron Scholars….lots of Europeans and other foreign nationals..
This was also the time of the terrible Vietnam war…. Paul and I were involved in protests as were many of our friends. Oh how I hate war…..
It was a very interesting time but I had no idea where it was taking me…..other than back to the UK. I had already been offered a job with White, Weld in London, and Jarrod’s school was waiting for him. Paul had been offered a position with Cadbury Schweppes….
Meanwhile, Bill Reed and I were getting to know one another. I liked him very much, and we quickly realised that we had the same sense of humour – which is very important:)
One Friday Bill and I were scheduled to meet a mutual client in a Philadelphia restaurant. Shortly before we were to meet the client cancelled!
Given that I had a babysitter lined up Bill suggested that we meet up for a drink anyway….
I remember so clearly that Bill had a couple of martinis and I had a couple of whiskey sours. ( in hindsight – Dutch Courage) …….and then Bill asked me if I was really going back to the UK……..
He then said, I don’t want you to go back. I want you to stay here and marry me.!
Once again the hummingbirds were working way overtime…….
I suppose it is true to say that there had been a strong connection between us from the moment we met. . I don’t think I had ever felt more comfortable with another man….but given that I was scheduled to return to the UK with Paul…I didn’t want to acknowledg this.
I had in fact met the love of my life….
My next posts will be about marrying Bill, with pictures of our wedding – along with an outline of our lives together
Bill adopted Jarrod and the birth of Christie came in 1975. Back then a husband and wife could not work for the same investment banking firm…which was fine by me, because it meant that I could get back to my painting and I did.
Next chapter -Moving to Chester County and marrying Bill…..
After leaving the Staten Island Ferry Terminal I made my way to the 8th floor of number 1 Wall Street to the offices of White, Weld & Co.
With paper ticker tape wizzing around the walls along with lots of shouting from noisy traders I had entered a world the likes of which I had not encountered before. It was 1968 and I was 22 years old.
I was ushered into a glass cubicle where I met for the first time Sandy Lewis…(Salim Bonner Lewis). (I painted this watercolour of Sandy many years later). it captures the intensity of his being. The interview was for the post of Gal Friday…..something I had never heard of before!
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“Can you make coffee” he asked along with a few other banal questions…and then he asked me “Did I know what a WASP was? My response was a flying insect…..and he said If you don’t know a WASP is a White Anglo Saxon Protestant….you are hired! He then went onto elaborate saying, his father was Jewish and his Mother a WASP – and he had a real hang up about it…….
That was my introduction to Sandy Lewis and Wall Street. The hummingbirds were working overtime…..:)
I.commuted back and forth to work via The Staten Island Ferry. I watched as the Twin Towers were being built….None of us having any idea that they would be blown up in a terrorist attack years later.
I met one of my life long friends on the ferry Carol Peterson….Jarrod and I would often spend laughter filled weekends with Carol and her family at the Jersey Shore…
sandy Lewis was the son of Cy Lewis of Bear Stearns. Like his father at Bear Stearns Sandy was to start a new ‘block stock trading department’ at White Weld.
When I arrived the trading desk had yet to be built and so I was at the beginning of something exciting and new.
I remember being asked if I could type…..and I said “NO”. I was already savvy enough to know that if I said yes I would most likely get pigeon holed as a secretary and I didn’t want that…
Because I was hired as Sandy’s Gal Friday and because the new trading desk had yet to be built, I was asked to do things that I would not otherwise have done…..i.e. talk to the brokers on the American and New York stock exchange floors…..Take and give quotes during market hours. It was exciting and I took to it like a fish to water.
There were twelve positions on the trading desk….This was mine….
During my first year I was asked if I would take the Registered Representative examination.…which in essence would allow me to place and take orders. I passed with flying colours…At that time I had a very young agile brain…..not clouded, I might add, by iPhones, and social media….
And so for the next four years I worked on the White, Weld block stock trading desk in New York. What an experience…one I am very glad I had and also one that taught me that I had no desire to be involved with business or work in an office – sentiments I still hold.
Sandy Lewis and his wife Barbara became good friends…. When I am visiting my daughter Christie in Boston we drive up to see them on their farm in Essex County New York… Always much fun and never a dull moment,.:). Anyone who has met Sandy will know that he is indeed a ‘one off’….an amazing individual. who I am very fond of. Sandy just celebrated his 85th and I my 78th….Barbara, another wonderful human being and superb photographer never ages and might be one of the most patient people I know…..
A lovely picture of Sandy and Barbara on the farm…..
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I made several good friends on Wall Street…one being Wilhamina Eaton (Willie Eaton). Quite often she would invite Jarrod and me to her home in the Pocono `mountains. I would take Jarrod to work on a Friday and then Willie would drive us to the Poconos for the weekend
On one snowy weekend the three of us were invited to a skating party.
It was here I met another life friend Jim Poffley and a young English man my age (something that didn’t happen very often). We had a fantastic weekend…skating, cross country skiing and making snow angels.
That young English man’s name was Paul Judge – He was on a Thouron Scholarship from Cambridge University studying at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Which leads me to my next post Transferring to the White, Weld Philadelphia Office…
Watercolour of Paul judge….painted years late in London.
Once again….none of us is ever creative enough to know how things will actually work out……and once again I learn that everything in life is interconnected.
Here I am with Sandy and Barbara on the farm in Essex County New York…..
I post images on my Facebook page most days. Janet Weight Reed
This photograph was taken in one of those photo booths, prevalent back then. I remember the moment very clearly on Las Old Boulevard, Ft. Lauderdale. . I was twenty and Jarrod a few months old.
When still living in Fort Lauderdale I would take Jarrod to the beach every day for an hour or two. I would chat with a group of ‘snow birds’ retirees who came to Florida during the winter months. One of them was a retired detective from Brooklyn (Mr. Shea). A lovely man who had grown children and grandchildren living on Staten Island.
Because there were very few babies in or around Ft. Lauderdale at that time, Jarrod became quite an attraction.
Mr. Shea said that as a young family we might be better off in the New York area…and suggested we try Staten Island where his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren lived.
Jarrod’s first passport photograph…..
We drove all the way to Staten Island, New York in a big old second hand Chevy Impala……..about 1,257 miles.
The poverty and segregation I witnessed in the south continued to shock me.
The Vietnam war was in full throttle…something I would learn much more about later.
One outstanding moment for me was crossing the Swanee River. In the UK at that time Paul Robeson who sang Way Down Upon the Swanee River in his beautiful bass baritone voice was much appreciated…and so I had all sorts of romantic notions about the place!
Other than stopping for food and water we drove straight through. You would have to be young, and stupid to do this especially with a young baby. My biggest concern of course was Jarrod who under the circumstances was wonderful, sleeping for much of the way.
It’s interesting how our memories work. I can see snippets of that journey in my mind’s eye. I remember a huge rain storm somewhere south of Washington DC… and that it was definitely getting colder.
I think the magical hummingbirds must have been watching over us way before I was really familiar with the little gems:). I always felt as if we were being looked after.
I remember very clearly arriving on Staten Island and finding the address that Mr. Shea has given us. Upon arrival his son and daughter-in-law welcomed us with open arms…and it was through them that many good things started to happen. One of many acts of kindness and generosity I was to encounter
They introduced us to a wonderful Italian woman and her family. Marie was available for babysitting and knew many people on the Island. Marie and her husband Bob had four children of their own. First things first she took me to meet Mimi Kolff who had a cottage for rent on her property….just a short walk away.
Mimii Kolff in her garden at Harbour View Place where we rented a cottage.
Having arrived on Staten Island January 1968 – this picture shows the three of us in front of Mimi’s house during the spring of 1968. It is the last picture I have of the three of us together.
In the rented cottage just down the hill from Mimi’s this picture shows us celebrating one of Jarrod’s birthdays. Marie is there with her three children……Such a memory.
Harbor View Place didn’t feel like New York. Surrounded by trees with a beautiful lily pond close by it felt more like the countryside. At the end of the road we looked out onto the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan. The perfect place to watch all the boats and harbour traffic.
Originally Harbour View Place had been developed by Mimi’s father Cornelius Kolff.One of the Staten Island Ferries is named after him.
An interesting side line and proving how small our world is. (much smaller back then)…Mimi’s niece Sylvia lived close to my parents in Kent, England and they knew one another….pure coincidence.
Through her connections Mimi got me an interview for a job at White Weld & co as a ‘Gal Friday’…… Here I am on the trading desk.
The equipment you see on this desk was state of the art at that time…..
This was way before the technology we have today……
White, Weld & Co. was the company I worked for…….
It was during this period that my husband disappeared.. He wasn’t seen again until Jarrod was 27 years old. !
My parents came to the States at this time to suggest that we return home to the UK, but Mimi assured them that I would be fine and so we made a compromise. I would return when Jarrod was ready to begin school in England. …
My parents hadn’t liked my first husband from day one and so were not surprised that it had come to this. I suppose the moral to this story is to listen to our parents……
My next post will be entitled THE INTERVIEW……. where I will talk about my job and how I ended up on a trading desk working for one of the more interesting people on Wall Street.
More magical hummingbirds…….
My blog is entitled ‘My Life As an Artist’ and so it’s important to emphasise that although I had to take time out (five years in total) to make money on Wall Street…I never stopped thinking about, or making art.
All will. be revealed………
Every day I post pictures on my Facebook page…Janet Weight Reed.
As noted in my previous post…my husband and I were staying with his cousin (then a captain on the Key West Marine Base.)
We woke to sunshine and blue skies….and an altogether different atmosphere to anything we had experienced on the road trip from New York. It seemed very peaceful with lots of birds and geckos skittering around all over the place….so far so good.
The Kitchen fascinated me with all the gadgets…especially electric tin (can) openers, knives etc. – all new to me. There was an abundance of fresh fruit which was very welcome…..however I still felt sick!
Oh and a big colour tv….through which I would be introduced to American personalities such as Johnny Carson... I was fascinated to watch the news from the American prospective.
Unless we were going to the beach…we travelled by car even to local shops. I was soon to learn that cars were an integral part of the American way of life.
The wife of my husband’s cousin, was involved with the volunteer programme welcoming and helping Cuban refugees after they traversed the ninety miles form Cuba to Key West. She asked if I would like to help, and of course I jumped at it.
Small groups would arrive in little boats with maybe a piece of jewellery sewn to their undershirt…and not much more. They were, like so many migrants from around the world, desperate and glad to be alive.
A British couple arrived with not much more than the clothes they were wearing and few trinkets. They had been living the high life in Cuba as many expats had…..They had been living on a big sugar planation with lots of money.
Fidel Castro had helicoptered onto their land just days before I met them. They said he was very charming and had assured them that they had nothing to worry about. The following day all their bank accounts were frozen.
The last I heard about this couple, they were managing a motel in Pompano Beach…….!
About four months on it became clear that I was pregnant….Hence the continuing sickness. There were no pregnancy tests back then…you had to go to a doctor and be examined……I don’t know why but it was a huge surprise. to me……
After finding a bungalow to rent just off Las Olas Boulevard we began what was for me one of the strangest periods of my life.
It’s important to interject here and indeed to remind myself that back then the exchange rate was four dollars to the pound….can you imagine? I would do a weeks food shopping for about 30 dollars…..it was a different world.
As we moved from winter into spring and summer, it started to get very hot and humid!
I am probably about six months pregnant in this photo. I just remember it being very hot.
My son Jarrod was born on the 10th September 1966 shortly after a hurricane and almost nine months to the day since leaving Southampton England on January 28th.
.He was born in the almost brand new Holy Cross Hospital run by Catholic nuns, who were lovely —–they called me ‘The Georgia Peach’ because of my English skin:).
With the beautiful new born Jarrod and his biological father, Joe.
The next part of this story is when it gets really interesting………..Leaving Florida in a big old Chevy and driving to Staten Island New York with Jarrod (about four months old)
Becoming a single parent in a strange land….and finding myself on a Wall Street Trading desk…..I told you it gets interesting. 🙂
in 1966 letters took a week each way….a phone call cost a fortune and the reception was awful…most times I had to book calls. I remember being very home sick…all of which gives me great compassion for people away from their homes in strange countries…..
It’s also difficult for me to really write about all of this…but it’s also good for me to do it.
Oh and there were no disposable nappies/diapers at that time….. 🙂
To see more of my images, to to my Facebook page….Janet Weight Reed
When I set sail on the SS United States ocean liner from Southampton on January 28th 1966 heading for New York, then Miami Florida by Greyhound bus.. then onto Key West, Florida……. It all seemed like a bit of a lark
Against my families wishes I had married an Englishman in July of 1965 – he had family in the States and wanted to spend two years there….something I agreed to.
As a foot loose and Fancy free, just out of art school, not quite 20 year old….why not?
Having travelled extensively around Europe I felt like a seasoned traveller. I was to live and learn.
To say that it was life changing is an understatement..
Hummingbirds, which I had yet to encounter in the States, will come with me on this part of the trip as I can’t find photographs taken during that period.
I didn’t feel as if I was saying goodbye to friends, family and all I knew because I would be returning no later than two years hence.
It happened to be one of the roughest North Atlantic crossings on record – and consequently, I and most of the rest of the passengers were very sick…..
I have never wanted to go on a cruise of any type since. I love boats, but need to be able to see the shore…:)
Having arrived in New York, and found our way to the Greyhound Bus Terminal…..on what was a very cold, snowy early February day….We began the next part of the journey. I continued to feel very sick….
Everything was so alien to me……and of course the vastness of it all. No little pubs and parks to pull into…it was all so big.
It was my first experience of racial disparity – something I found very difficult to deal with….and still do. As we drove through the Deep South….the Carolinas into Georgia the poverty and hardship was evident.
Upon arrival at Miami Greyhound Bus Station a very friendly Florida State Cop saw that we were out of our depth and asked if he could help. He then kept an eye on us until my husband’s Uncle arrived from Key West. It was a real act of kindness.
Then the drive from Miami to Key West.…what an eye opener that was. I loved the sub tropical colours that we were now seeing….and the balmy soft air.
It was my first experience of huge American cars, and Howard Johnson’s ice cream…..which came in a zillion different flavours. In post war England we were still only enjoying chocolate, vanilla and strawberry….
Then our arrival at my husband’s relatives home on the Key West Naval Base.…My first experience of pizza outside of Italy….and blessed sleep in a real bed………still feeling sick!
To be continued……
For those wishing to see more of my images I post on Facebook most days…Janet Weight Reed.
This was taken in 1964 in front of what was then the new Commonwealth Institute – Kensington
On my Lambretta Scooter – 1964…with art school friend Maureen on back.
With my Mother in Dovercourt Essex…My Father was still in the Royal Navy for three years after the war….I didn’t really meet my father until I was three. As I have aged I realise how difficult this would have been for my Mother.
My father still in the Royal Navy for three years after the war….was captain of the Royal Navy soccer team in the Mediterranean. Here he is in Italy off to play. He was very athletic…cricket, tennis, swimming, soccer, and golf….
Right after the war me with my Uncle Colin….my best playmate:). I always wore reigns because I was constantly escaping……something I have continued to do for most of my life….:)
My frend Tony in front of Charles Dickens writing house at East Gate Rochester where I went to art school.
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All of these were taken in the UK before I went to the USA for a ‘two year visit’ in 1966.
This has certainly been true for me. In fact I would say that it is the underlying story of my life.
Sometimes when we might think that we have taken a wrong turn…it can be the right turn for reasons we could never have been creative enough to initially understand.
I was about ten years oldwhen this photograph was taken (circa 1956) at Viking Bay, Broadstairs, Kent – not far from where I grew up.
Other than already knowing that I wanted to be an artist, at this time I had no idea where life would take me.
From ages five til ten I have very happy memories of The Camp School in Kent. Each classroom was housed in old army huts from the war..surrounded with beautiful bluebell woods. Each hut had its own little vegetable garden…where we grew much of what we ate for our lunches – no central heating….and everyone walked to school. A simple life. - One I loved.
it was here that I met my life long friends Mick Duff and Gail Morris and encountered superb teachers, including Mrs. Whitefield who had a huge impact on all of us. Interesting that Mick, Gail and I all ended up in the arts.
This photograph of my mother, me in the stroller and Colin (my uncle) was taken in Richmond Park, London – not far from where I live now. Colin was the closest I came to having a sibling….we loved playing together.
Back then Kent was a beautiful county…The Garden of England...since then it has been developed and built up…..Like so much in the world today, I am glad that I knew it before it changed too much.
I painted this watercolour/gouache in North Kent – not too far from where we all grew up.
After failing my Eleven plus examination I was sent to a very strict girl’s school run by Mrs. Bennett….. Having said that she turned out to be a good egg…and didn’t complain too much about my going to art school…….! Back in the late fifties/early sixties art schools were considered to be dens of iniquity!. Compared to today’s world they were saintly places…….:)
Unbeknownst to my Mother and Mrs. Bennett my Father allowed me to take the entrance examination to The Medway College of Arts in Rochester. He shook my hand and made a gentleman’s agreement that if I passed I would be allowed to go….and that’s what happened………..
The entrance to the Medway College of Arts at East Gate Rochester….so many happy memories..
I entered art school in 1962 and realised immediately that the people there were from my tribe! For the first time I felt as if I was in the right place.
Charles Dickens wrote most of his novels in and around Rochester… HIs Swiss Chalet writing studio is in the grounds of East Gate…something I enjoyed so much when studying there.
Finally one sketch from my very early days at the art school….of a local woodyard. My favourite tutor – William Spike liked this, which was enough to make my heart sing.
Somewhere there is a portfolio of my work from those days….if and when I find it – I will share.
I have been privileged to spend real time with the Amish people in Pennsylvania. I admire them a great deal and believe we can learn much from them…namely about community and work ethic.
As hard as they work, they have a certain lightness of spirit– which sadly many seem to lack these days.
The Amish have large families and everyone looks after everyone else……
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A magical moment when I got to hold one of the Amish babies…..The baby had known my son since birth….Here she is smiling broadly at him:)
My Life as an Artist (2) 