“Great Grandpa’s Turn of the Century Confectionery Connection Shop”

Thursday, December 19, 2019. 8:10 AM

“Concerning Great Grandpa’s Turn-of-the Century Confectionery Connection Shop”

Please forgive me

For writing this “out of the blue.”

I ask for forgiveness because, as I began writing this, it was in my heart to send it to the lady manager of the store mentioned below.

However, that lady manager of the store . . .

Well, I don’t even know her name.

And don’t know if she’s married either.

And, I suppose it might trouble her mind to get this writing from someone she only knows as one of hundreds of customers who occasionally comes into the store.

It’s a very peculiar writing . . .

Like something out of “The Twilight Zone.”

I mentioned about a year ago on Facebook’s

Woonsocket: Past and Present group page

That my sister Lisa Richer had submitted an old photograph to her high school history teacher many years ago of our great grandfather, Edmund Depot, standing in front of his shop in Woonsocket.

And the picture was submitted to and published in a Woonsocket History book.

I saw that picture once.

And so, I mentioned this in the Facebook group – asking if anyone knew where his shop had been located.

And a very helpful lady named Lisa Lepore found more information about Edmund Depot in an old Woonsocket City Directory at Woonsocket Library’s online site.

And there, she found and reported to the Facebook group, that the location of Edmund Depot’s shop was 45 Cumberland Street in Woonsocket, RI. And his daughter, our grandmother Dora Depot, was listed in that Directory as working at her father’s shop. And the shop was listed as a confectionary. No name of the business was listed. Our grandmother was born in 1893. So, I believe she was working there approximately 1910. I imagined a name for the business in lieu of its actual name.

“Great Grandpa’s Turn of the Century Confectionery Connection Shop.”

There is a pharmacy there now – with the same address – 45 Cumberland Street.

And then, I imagined myself as a little boy walking into that shop one day in the early 1900s –

Out of the Blue and out of Time

And my grandmother-to-be, about 16 years old, is standing there at the counter.

And, as that little boy of about 6 years old pushes the door open, a song begins to play – as if the opening of the door started the music:

Kermit the Frog singing, “The Rainbow Connection.”

And the pretty young lady says to me:

“May I help you, young man?”

And our eyes meet for the very first time in Life and I reply to my grandmother-to-be:

“Yes dear lady, You shall indeed help me in many ways to come . . . “

Getting back to “Woonsocket: Past and Present” Facebook page:

There is an old picture, posted by Richard Robeau, of Clinton Street with the view looking toward the intersection of

Clinton and Cumberland Streets in the early 1900s.

The name of that intersection today is “Eddie Cournoyer Square.”

And there is a tenement house on the left that might be the location of 45 Cumberland Street where the confectionary shop was located.

And, in the picture, there is a man who appears to be leaning against a lamppost [or telephone post] near the intersection on the left-hand side where 45 Cumberland Street is.

And so, it reminds me of a pretty song by Herman’s Hermits [which rhymes with Kermit]

“I’m Leaning on a Lamppost at the Corner of the Street”

“ in case a pretty little lady comes by”

If anyone is interested in imaginatively visiting that confectionery shop that is in Woonsocket’s Past,

I imagine Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone telling us to . . .

“Walk down Clinton Street. And as you approach Eddie Cournoyer Square at the intersection with Cumberland Street, just turn Left at the turn of the century and you’ll be Right There.

And for those who can’t understand the connection between the Past and the Present, it might help to realize we are already in Eternity even if we don’t see it yet.

When the eyes of our understanding begin to open by the grace of God through faith in His Son, we begin to see and understand the things that are unseen by the human eye and the human intellect.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13&version=NIV

https://marksimaginings.com/2018/09/25/the-eternal-today/

It is written: “I know that everything God does will endure forever;

Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.

God does it so that men will revere him.

Whatever is has already been,

And what will be has been before;

And God will call the past to account.” -Ecclesiastes 3:14, 15. NIV Study Bible.

The Seekers – Turn, Turn, Turn – Stereo, enhanced video

TURN! TURN! TURN! (Lyrics) – THE BYRDS

God Moves in A Mysterious Way with Lyrics

In the song: “The Rainbow Connection” the words rainbow and morning star are mentioned. Those words are also in the Holy Scriptures.

About rainbows: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+9%3A12-17&version=NIV

About the morning star: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Peter+1%3A19-21&version=NIV

The phrase “out of the blue” mentioned at the beginning of this writing called to mind a song:

Wild Blue Yonder – Anthem of the US Air Force

My dad was a pilot in the Army Air Corp during World War Two

And his three brothers also served in the United States Military

Armed Forces Medley by the West Point Band

Some may reasonably wonder what the connection is between these patriotic and military songs and Great Grandpa’s Confectionery Shop and “The Rainbow Connection” and Herman’s Hermits song about leaning on a lamp post and Eddie Cournoyer Square and the Holy Scriptures.

Perhaps only by being born again are we able to see the connections — when the Lord sends His Holy Spirit to help us, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot see and does not know.

Jesus said to his disciples the evening of His last supper with them:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” -John 14: 15-19. NIV Study Bible.

John 14-17. NIV.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14-17&version=NIV

And it may not happen all at once.

It’s a growing process

As when a seed sprouts and slowly, day by day, begins to grow

In the Light of the Son and with the help of the earth and the rain.

Have You Ever Seen The Rain ? – Creedence Clearwater Revival (lyrics)

And there’s more to the story . . .

The man leaning on the lamp post near the corner of the street sees a young lady approaching. And he wonders if she is the one in the song. When she gets close enough, they recognize each other. And she says: “Hey Eddie! What are you doing leaning on that lamp post? Ain’t you got nothin’ better to do?”

Eddie: “You ought not judge by appearances, Liza. I ain’t a leanin’ on this here post. The post is leanin’ on me. I’m just holding it up so it don’t fall into the street and hurt someone.”

Liza: “Well, why don’t you call the cops and ask ‘em to help you out? Ain’t ya got a phone in your pocket like everybody else?”

Eddie: “Liza, don’t you know cell phones ain’t been invented yet? This here is the early 1900s don’t ya’ know?”

Liza: “Oh ya’ I forgot. Life is confusing when we’re livin’ in Eternity. Can’t always tell which century we’re in at the moment.”

Eddie: “Just look at the cars going by, Liza. Their style is a dead give-away.”

Liza: “Hey Eddie! You’re in luck. Looks who’s coming down the street on his daily beat. It’s Eddie Cournoyer himself, the cop. He can get some help for ya’ regardin’ that leanin’ lamp post.”

WHAT I DID FOR LOVE LYRICS A CHORUS LINE