My Godparents

Today I decided that I would write about my "other" parents, my Godparents. In the Catholic Church and in many other Christian churches, when a child is baptized or christened, two people "sponsor" the child and become his or her Godparents. The duty of the Godparents is to set a good example for the child and to encourage his or her religious education throughout life.

My Godparents were my Aunt Elsie McCarthy Samson, my Uncle Bob's wife (my mother's best friend and sister-in-law of my mother and father) and my Uncle Donald Robert Samson, my father's middle brother (my mother's brother-in-law). I think my parents made an excellent selection. We have a small family on my father's side in the Utica area where we lived, and I grew up being very close to both my Godparents.

Aunt Elsie had all boys as children. I know she would have dearly loved to have had a girl, but that was not to be. I was only 9 months younger than her second child Michael, and he and his older brother John and I grew up closely with one another. In some ways, I am closer to them than I am to be own brother. I sometimes stayed at my aunt and uncle's home as a small child, and I loved that. I got to play with my cousins (who always treated me as an equal), and Aunt Elsie cooked my favorite foods, fixed my hair, let me play "dress-up" in her clothes and shoes, and generally treated me like a princess. Until my sister was born nearly 2 1/2 years after my birth, I was the only girl of the Samson cousins and much loved by all my family. 

My mother and Aunt Elsie had become best friends when my mother was in Business College in Charlottesville, Virginia. Aunt Elsie lived in Amherst, VA, and attended Sweet Briar College, a small college for women. After Aunt Elsie met and married Uncle Bob, my mother met my father, Uncle Bob's oldest brother,  on a visit to New York to see Aunt Elsie. So my parents were always close to Uncle Bob and Aunt Elsie and their family. Later in life, my mother became jealous of Aunt Elsie, I think because Elsie and my grandmother got along better, I adored Aunt Elsie, and my mother had some emotional problems that contributed to her jealousy. 

When my Aunt Elsie and Uncle Bob moved to a newly built house in Vernon, their church had a Mother/Daughter Communion Breakfast once a year. The women of the church and their daughters would go to a special Mass and then to a restaurant for a nice breakfast. Since Elsie had no daughters, she "borrowed" her Goddaughter (me!) for these breakfasts. I loved going to her house and going to church and breakfast with her. I was so proud to be her "daughter," and often wished I could REALLY be her daughter, because my mother and I did not get along well.

Aunt Elsie also gave me her vanity/dresser when she bought a new one. It was blonde wood with a huge mirror, six drawers and a space to sit in the middle with a glass divider. I loved it. I felt so grown up using it. When I was able 12 or 13 years old, she also gave me some of her clothes and shoes. She was an extremely petite woman and at that age, I was able to wear her clothes and shoes. (I later grew too much :-(  ). She would also give me her old copies of Glamour magazine, a fashion magazine which I loved to look at. My mother never bought such magazines; she bought Family Circle and Women's Day, magazines that had crafts and cooking rather than fashion.  

Aunt Elsie died of pancreatic cancer in July 1975, just about a month before Sabrina was born. She had given me a baby shower, even though she was ill. She did not live to see her granddaughter Caroline, born two weeks after her death. She was only 54 years old. I miss her everyday of my life.

Uncle Donald was my favorite uncle. He always treated me like a special person; he listened to me when I had something to say, and respected me. He liked photography. I remember one time all of us were at my grandparents' house where my Uncle Donald lived. He had set up a little photo studio in his room and he took color portraits of all of the cousins (Tim was not yet born). He took individual portraits and then portraits of my brother and sister and me, and also a portrait of all of the cousin (6 at that time). They were beautiful photos. I had my hair in braids and wore a red jumper and white blouse. It was exciting to have my picture taken.

My uncle was very religious. He went to Mass often (on days other than Sunday) and belonged to Our Lady of Lourdes Nocturnal Adoration Society. This meant that once a month or so, he would go to the church during the night and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament for a hour. This society made sure that someone was always praying before the Blessed Sacrament.

I got to know my uncle very well when I was in high school. I always went to my grandparents' house for dinner every Wednesday night and I learned a lot about my uncle from our dinners. He was the Vice President of Sales for a company that made machine parts and traveled often, or often took clients out to dinner. He drove my grandparents wherever they needed to go, since my grandmother did not drive and my grandfather had given up his license. He took care of all my grandfather's brother Nick's financial affairs. He was NOT an easy person to deal with, but Uncle Don was always patient with him. He adopted a child in need overseas as a sponsored child for many years. He was incredibly generous to all his nieces and nephews, although some of them took advantage of his generosity.

Whenever Uncle Don went on vacation, he always sent us postcards and brought us back gifts. His best friend was a friend from the Navy from World War II, Andy Geddis, who lived in Amsterdam, NY, and he and Andy always went on vacation together. They often went to Mexico; Puerta Villarta was a favorite destination. He brought a back beautiful portrait of the Virgin of Guadelupe and a wooden carving one time. Uncle Don also enjoyed music. He had a piano, and then bought an organ which he loved to play. He was smart, funny, and very caring. 

It was he who bought a house from a Jewish couple and taught us about kissing the mezzuzah when we entered or left the house. He never ate left-overs! He was a good cook; I remember him often cooking at my grandparents' on Wednesday nights. He tried to eat health. His cholesterol level was high and there were no statins then, so he was careful about eating high cholesterol foods.

He died suddenly of congestive heart failure in June 1995, just before we knew Sabrina was having twins. I think about him often and miss him terribly.