“Sunny Crest” was never sunnier than on Sunday, May 24, when dozens of residents, bearing bouquets and cards and greetings, formed a parade of vehicles decorated with balloons and ribbons and banners to wish Josephine Dauphin a Happy 100th Birthday! Fire trucks from Hampton, Chaplin, Scotland and Brooklyn, lights flashing and sirens blaring, were interspersed with the festive cars and festooned trucks.
Born on May 27, 1920, Josephine is one of the members of an exclusive club of ninety-year-olds honored in last September’s issue; she has the distinction of being the oldest. Josephine has lived in Hampton since 1959, when she and her husband, Fred, and their daughters, Shirley and Carol, moved here from Providence and to the place fittingly called “Sunny Crest”. Apparently, we were the first family in town to greet them. Carol and I were only two, yet she remembers – she can still see my mother where she remembers us standing.
It’s interesting, the things we remember. My earliest memory of Sunny Crest is an image of the one dark moment the property has known –when I viewed the site where the original house burned to the ground. I was probably five, and it was the first time I saw the remnants of a fire where only the chimney remained after lightning struck the house. The image impressed me deeply – I can still see it, though it’s no longer there. I knew what lightning was, and it was the first time I understood the devastation it could cause, and the overwhelming loss of a home.
After that fire, buildings, families and happiness sprang up on the property. Josephine’s birthday was just the latest of many celebrations. The Dauphin family hosted our classes’ graduation party. Carol reminds me that it was on June 13, 1975, Friday the 13th, though that didn’t seem to adversely affect our futures. We reflect on how well our whole class got a long, how our own children can’t quite believe us when we tell them that – of how respectful we were of one another, of how tolerant we were of one another’s differences. But we were. And still consider ourselves blessed because of it.
Earlier memories are of playing in the pastures that reminded me of the farm in “Charlotte’s Web”, of running around the vast acreage, the latest dance moves we learned from Shirley, the wonderful food their mother cooked and their father’s twinkly smile. Carol reminds me of our misadventures – such as the time we crawled through the culvert under the pavement to see what that was like. My name is carved in the barn – though I don’t remember that rural form of vandalism. I do remember playing in the barn, and especially the horse that lived there. Everyone remembers Rebel, a beautiful pinto – buckskin – Tennessee Walker.
Rebel lived in the room under the barn. According to historian Bob Burgoyne, the barn at Sunny Crest is an English bank barn, built in the mid to late 19th century, 1860-1870. English bank barns were built into a bank or berm, allowing for an animal refuge under the barn. The foundation is dry-laid stone, very impressive, though the flat stones appear to be typical of neighboring Brooklyn rather than native Hampton stone.
The property was once part of the Kenyon Farm, which encompassed much of the area. There was an old apple orchard in the pasture where two apple trees still remain. Otto Schierioth built the house that Josephine still lives in when the original homestead was struck by lightning and burned down. Though the chimney and its rubble have long since been removed, the site is still visible in the center of the trees Otto planted to circle the house. These, too, remain, extremely tall pines now, as testaments to Mr. Schierioth’s life here, contributing, along with the elevation of the hill, to Carol’s assertion that “lightning is still frightening at this place”.
Peggy Fox, who lived across the road at the farm that is now Trailwood, vaguely remembers Otto, who was from Germany, she recalls. She also remembers the next owners, the Griswolds. Arthur Griswold substantially added onto the house and built the garage when he retired to Hampton after serving as East Providence’s Fire Chief. The Dauphins, and their extended family, lived in Providence, and Mr. Griswold was a friend of Josephine’s sister-in-law. When he died, the Dauphins decided to look at the place, an easier commute to Pratt &Whitney where Fred was employed. This is how they discovered Hampton, and the “Sunny Crest” they instantly fell in love with.
The two elderly widows who were their neighbors in Providence were distraught at the thought of the Dauphin family moving away, so Fred, after soliciting their approval, converted the garage into a house for them to rent. It was wonderful having these older “aunts”, Caroline and Lena, living next to them, Carol says.
This little red house has a history, too. Among the tenants were Diane and Bill Becker. “I had given up our apartment to join my husband who was stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia,” Diane recalls. “I became pregnant, and when my Bill was reassigned, the Army felt my pregnancy was a travel risk and wouldn’t allow me to move on with him. I went home to live with my parents. One day, my sister came home from visiting with Shirley and said Mr. and Mrs. Dauphin wondered if I would like to move into their rental house. I jumped at the opportunity and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. They were the best landlords and nicest neighbors one could have. While I have many wonderful memories of our five years there, perhaps my favorite is when Bill got a last minute week-end pass. His brother, Frank, picked him up at the airport and they pulled in at 2 o’clock in the morning. Almost immediately, Mr. Dauphin had his floodlights on, lighting up the whole area. While embarrassed to have disturbed his sleep, we were overcome with such gratitude that this incredibly kind man was watching out for me and our baby, and when Bill left, he left with a greater peace of mind that we would always be watched over until his discharge. Ferdinand Dauphin – how I’ve missed that man!”
Carol and her husband, James Kilburn, built the log cabin on the property where they raised their two children, Jenny and James, who are still close. Jenny, a wildlife biologist, rents the little red house now, and James, a local mechanic, is a volunteer with our fire department, serving since he was a teenager, here in town and travelling to assist with the forest fires of the west when needed. He, too, wishes to remain in Hampton and preferably on the property. And so it appears as though Sunny Crest will remain in the capable hands of the family who has cared for it for sixty years, maintaining the buildings, the grounds, and the neighborliness which was exhibited with the celebration of Josephine’s 100th year.
One-hundred years. These recent times serve to remind us of all the events previous generations have experienced, tragedies and triumphs alike. Two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, countless inventions and cures, new cultures arriving on our shores, new laws to govern us with greater equity. Josephine — whose family emigrated from Italy, who lost a brother in World War II and another sibling during the pandemic in the early 1900’s — was born the year women gained the right to vote.
We salute you, Josephine Dauphin – and wish for you many more memories on Sunny Crest.
Dayna McDermott