Then a few weeks ago, my parents returned from a road trip where they visited my Dad's sister. They brought back lots of scanned pictures and a pdf document that was typed in 1996 by my grandmother's sister about her five-year stay at the orphanage. It was a very interesting read. The document is too long to share in one posting, so I thought I'd break it up into several postings. My Aunt Carol scanned the original document into 11 individual pdf files. I then transcribed it into one Word document.
ST.
JOHN’S – ORPHANAGE OR SAFE HAVEN?
By: Pat Geiger
It was the summer, 1925
and the day to which I had looked forward for two years had arrived. This was to be the first day of my five-year
residence at St. John’s Orphanage in Washington, D.C. Why would I look forward to going to an orphanage? My sister, Elizabeth, has been there for two
years; I had to wait until I was five. I
wanted to be with my sister.
Since it was summer, the
children were living at the “country home” on Columbia Pike in Arlington,
Virginia. When school opened they would
return to the “city home” at 1922 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C. St. John’s Orphanage was operated under the
auspices of St. John’s Episcopal Church at Lafayette Square, now known as the
Church of Presidents, and the Sisters of St. Margaret.
My entrance to St.
John’s may not have been grand, but it was certainly memorable. The first building I entered was the
infirmary. Immediately upon arriving at
the orphanage I asked for Elizabeth and was directed around the corner of the
main building. I set off at a run, fell
on the gravel path, tore up my knee and was escorted to the infirmary. All this, even before I was officially
registered. I still have two pale purple
scars to remind me of my first day at St. John’s.
The children at St.
John’s, few of whom were full orphans, most having one remaining parent or
being children of divorce, were divided into little girls, big girls, little
boys and big boys. I was never in the
boy’s quarters – no co-ed housing here – but I assume the big boys were again
divided as were the big girls, into “insects,” “juniors” and “seniors.” There were only two senior girls who shared a
room adjacent to that of the governess, Mrs. Alford, the mother of one of the
seniors.
The “big girls” were
really not very big since I started at age five as a “little girl” and advanced
by the age of 10 to the “juniors.”
Each group of boys and
girls has a governess. There were also
four Sisters of St. Margaret, Sister Cora, who was very much in charge , Sister
Emily, Sister Eleanor and Sister Eleanora.
There was also a cook, a yardman, and in the summer, a gardener who grew
all the vegetables consumed by the residents.
St. John's Orphanage Summer Home Arlington, Virginia |
There was a full-time
nurse in the infirmary plus a doctor and dentist who visited on a regular
schedule. There was a hospital within
walking distance of the city home which was a great convenience. I once walked there accompanied by a
governess, holding a towel to my split chin, the result of an accident while
showing off my acrobatic prowess.
Another scar to add to my memories of St. John’s.
As mentioned, many of
the children had divorced parents. In
the 1920,s there was little organized child care, no pre-school or Head
Start. Foster homes were in their
infancy and still a subject of controversy.
When my parents divorced, Mother had no choice but to place us in St.
John’s, the best decision she ever made regarding our care.
If parents could afford
to pay for their children’s care, they paid what they could. If they could not, they were not required to
do so. Each child was treated the same
whether or not they were paid for. If parents
could not afford Easter baskets, for instance, the home, which is what we
always called St. John’s, provided them.
Everyone received Christmas presents, many of them donated by caring
people or organizations who also donated turkeys at Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Whether or not our
parents could afford to pay for our keep, we also had to “work” for it. Even the youngest children were required to
make their beds each morning and the older we were, the larger our tasks.
The bathrooms at the
home were, of necessity, quite large with a line of basins and toilets much
like a large public restroom. There were
also several bathtubs. Two or three
children were assigned the task of cleaning the bathroom (there was a separate
bathroom for each group of children) for a week. The following week they would move on to
another job: doing the laundry, cleaning
the playroom, helping in the kitchen and dining rooms (the boys and girls has
separate dining rooms), mopping and dusting the dorms, etc. None of the work we were asked to do was
beyond our abilities and while we complained as all children do when asked to
perform chores, it was good training for the future.
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