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Date: 12/6/2021
HOLYOKE – Author Barbara Raschilla grew up in the Flats of Holyoke, and after returning many years later, she decided to “take a ride” through her old neighborhood. But to her surprise, “everything was gone – some of the stores were closed up, yet the block that I lived on was still standing.” This experience led her to think about when she was growing up during the 1940s and all the memories she had of that time growing up in the Flats. Eventually, her thoughts and love of history evolved into what is now her memoir, “A Milltown Christmas Remembered.”
The book is self-published and came out in the fall of 2020. It is an autobiography that details her life and memories interwoven with historical significance about a city that was once known as the “Paper City” and “The Venice of America” – the city named Holyoke.
Raschilla grew up in a family of six and lived on the third floor of a tenement apartment on Mosier Street. Her father worked for the Valley Paper Company “and wasn’t making very much money.” But, she remembered, “Christmas was exciting and something we looked forward to because there wasn’t very much, it was very lean, not abundant. And I got to thinking about a particular Christmas when something really nice happened for us, and I thought, gee, maybe I’ll write a story about that.”
In 1954 her family moved from the Flats because her parents bought a house in the Oakdale neighborhood of Holyoke. She explained that she married in 1960, and her husband joined the Air Force, and they moved to Savannah, GA. During that time, she worked at a bank in the transit department as a machine operator.
She and her husband eventually returned to live in New England and settled in Chicopee, where they raised their children and still reside.
As for writing and career, Raschilla stated that when her children were young, she “dabbled” in writing poems and children’s stories for the Sunday school newspaper, and she continued working in various positions in the banking field until she retired in 1999.
She then owned and operated an adult dance company in Belchertown, and decided to close it after 14 years. That is when in 2014, she said to herself, “I think it’s time now to write that story.”
With the encouragement of a friend and a “love of history,” she began to write down her memories and began extensive research. She reported that “since I was in Holyoke where the paper mills began, the first canal was down there, that I would start at the very beginning of our famous paper city. So, I did. I combined history with this Christmas story of when I was 9 years old, and I wanted to kind of have a little mystery in there. So that people would say, ‘Now, what happened on that Christmas?’”
She stated that it took her six years to complete the book because “it was something I didn’t want to rush.” Her research involved going through Holyoke’s archives at the Wistariahurst Museum. She credited the museum’s archivist, Penny Marterell, for being a “huge help.” She also went through the 1949 register at the Holyoke Library’s history room to look up photos, songs, businesses and even school teachers and staff at her former school, with the help of Eileen Crosby. She also credits many friends with helping her piece the book together.
As for future plans, Raschilla added that she started writing a children’s mystery “a few years ago” and plans to continue working on it and “see how it goes.”
The book is available to purchase for $24.95 at Highland Hardware and Bike Shop located at 917 Hampden St. in Holyoke.