From Peg Stella (Francis2):

Francis: a dude

Mildred & Francis 1930s

Dad was manager of Woolworth Five and Dime on Third Street in Winona for the next 30 years. We grew up with the store as our playground and all the clerks were our babysitters. We had the best hiding places and none of our friends could ever find us.  

I was the first girl in a family that already had three boys; two of whom were still in diapers.  Chuck was 13 months older than I; Denny was 1 year older than Chuck; thus my mom and dad actually had Irish triplets all in diapers at once. According to the dictionary, “'Irish twins’ is a derogatory term referring to two children born to a mother less than 24 months apart.”  I think we had one of the smaller families in the Vaughan clan with only four kids for ten years; somehow, my sister Kathy waited another 10 years to be born. Surprise!  From the time I was five we lived at 216 East 7th Street, which was right in the middle of town.  Winona is only 14 blocks wide because of the Mississippi river, the lake and the bluffs, keeping it safely in a pretty little valley.  Everything was within walking distance for us.  The Catholic Church and school were only three or four blocks from home.   Downtown was only seven blocks at the most, and my dad walked to the store every day.  Winona was a safe haven for kids to wander and play.