Where did you live on the economy in Orleans?
Sue Atkins lived here with her siblings Kathy Atkins, Debbie Atkins Reilly, Sandy Atkins Bottoms-Wallace, Bob Atkins, and Mike Atkins. Later they moved to Olivet.
Atkins
Atkins
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Sue's Recollections: We lived at this address from about Oct 1960 to Spring 1961. I was about 12 years old at the time. The ceilings were high, and it was always cold in the house. There was a huge round wooden dining table in the dining room and a chandelier hanging above it. There was a 2-sided fireplace, one side to the living room, one side to the dining room. Ancient faded tapestries hung on the walls of the living room. There was a grandfather clock out in the hallway. We used some of the landlord's furniture, which my father described
as looking "like it had been new at the time of Napoleon." The toilet was in a separate little room and had to be flushed by pulling a chain that hung down from above. It didn't fill up with water until it was flushed. On Mondays my mother would send me on a mission to a nearby French laundromat to turn in laundry.
It was always ready for pickup on "Jeudi". I was also sent out on
a regular basis to buy French bread to be part of our dinner. The loaf
I bought cost 65 francs, which was equivalent to about 13 cents at the time. A few years ago I had an online conversation with a French woman who was associated with 3 rue du Commandant Arago, which must have been across the street from our old house. She said that, back in the
days when we lived there, there were rumors that there was some kind
of American "spy" activity being conducted on one of the upper floors of our house. As it turns out, my father was responsible for maintaining the alternate Engineer Intelligence Library for USAREUR. Hmmm.
Sue Atkins, Kathy Atkins, Christmas 1960
Spence
Jud Spence: The Spences – me, Pat, Lee and Merrily – all have fond memories of our home in Fay Aux Loges, France, about 15 miles east of Orleans. Parts of the chateau
are 340 years old. It started out as a one story structure, then a second story was added, and finally a third story. There was a basement (we called it the dungeon) consisting
of two large rooms with arched ceiling and a passageway. During WWll, a French North African unit fought the Germans from inside the walled property, which enclosed about
20 acres of woods. They sold their lives dearly and a monument to them was erected in the village. My two brothers and I had the top floor. We each had two rooms. Since
mine was at the end of the hall, I had a door at the hall that led into the foyer. My bedroom and "sitting" room were smaller than my brothers' rooms. They had fireplaces,
but I had more privacy. This was quite a step up from where we lived at Ft Benning. Chuck Ralston, Don Deagle, Jamie Tompkins, and Gary Katz were regular
visitors at our chateau. I've been back there several times.
Postcard found in Paris by Merrily.
Photo by Jud in 2013.
Photo found online.
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Photo by Merrily on one of her many return visits.
Tompkins
Jamie Tompkins: We moved to this house shortly after arriving in Orleans from a small hotel in Flury les Abray. As large as the house was, there were only two
rooms upstairs and four downstairs but they were quite large. My bedroom was upstairs, the last two windows in the picture. There was a gated courtyard in the back
where we parked the cars and a sheltered structure where I kept my motorcycle. St. Lye de L'Foret was a good distance from Orleans so it was essential to have dependable
transportation and my memories center around that long ride through the dark forest at night, rain or snow, and finding a hot meal and the lights on. Especially in a
strange country.
Davenport
Sandi Davenport: My family lived at 33 Rue de Glatigny at the corner of Rue
de la Chapelle in Vouzon for 3 1/2 years. That’s about 3-4 miles south of Olivet.
This is the only photo I could find of the house. While we were stationed in Orleans
we spent most every weekend at the Caserne. My parents were on a couple of
different bowling leagues. That meant that my sister and I had to tag along. We
went to a lot of movies and/or roller skated. We also fell asleep quite often in the
bowling alley waiting for my parents to finish up. We liked being at home the best.
We made friends with one other military family that lived in Vouzon and spent most
of our time back and forth between the two homes. We rode our bikes all over
town. Once we rode up to an Air Force Radar station that was located just outside
of Vouzon. I think the enlisted guys were happy to see other Americans. In those
days you could ride your bike all day and sometimes we did. We also got to know
a few of the local kids who were close to us in age.
It was fun trying to communicate with them and learn about the different cultures.
They thought we were rich because we had a car and television set (even though the
TV didn't work). We walked to the stores in town for freshly baked bread and fresh vegetables. We didn't know too many of the other American families in the village.
The bus ride to OHS was 25 miles round trip. One of the girls on the bus mentioned
that her Dad had taken them to Germany to see Elvis Presley! Wow!! That would never have happened to us. I loved this big old house. I had my own room on the second floor. We had electricity and plumbing, but no washing machine. My Mom did all of
that the old-fashioned way, by hand in the bathtub. If the power went out we had no plumbing and had to get our drinking water from the well and boil it. But it was the longest we had lived anywhere and it was home. Returning to the States in 1962 left
a huge hole in my heart (and my sister's). My mission now is to go back for a visit
and find the old house.
Davenport
Londner
Mark and Pat Londner (Packard) lived here before moving to Olivet in 1963.
Crumlish
Cynthia Crumlish: "Our address was 3 Rue A. Gault. We lived there from 1963-66. The landlord, Maurice Guérin, always collected the rent in cash to as not to pay tax!
System D, as the French say. So many happy memories in this house. I dream of going back to buy it." (Système D is a shorthand term that refers to a manner of
responding to challenges that requires one to have the ability to think fast, to adapt, and to improvise when getting a job done).
Daniell
Daniell
Evelyn Daniell lived here. Evy says, "The house is still standing, but the pepiniere that surrounded it is long gone. Our house was built in 1904 as a wedding gift for our
landlady, Mme. Savaroc. It was divided into 2 apartments, and Colonel and Mrs. Chiles had the ground floor. We had the top two floors. When I last saw it in '98, it had
been converted to a single family home. Margie Shea McCormack saw it this past summer and it's again a multi family home."
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