Kathleen A. Gagne

Kathie Gagne died 4,756 days ago.

September 24th, 1983 @ 4:05 pm

There’s no way for me to exactly determine when this photo of mom and my little sister was taken. Based on dates on greeting cards, I know we lived at Hollypoint Apartments from at least Valentine’s Day 1983 until Christmas of 1985, so I’m just arbitrarily saying this was from the fall of our first year there; Jen looks pretty young. It’s very odd to see mom without glasses, but I remember there was a hot minute in the early 80s when she wore contacts. And she looks so skinny! I bet she loved this photo.

Mom and Jenny, early 1980s
Hollypoint Apartments, Holly Hill, FL

Resignation Letter

January 30th, 1981 @ 4:11 pm

A few weeks after she died, I contacted the Holly Hill Police Department, where mom worked from April of 1979 until February of 1981. A nice woman there — who actually remembered working with mom — sent me a packet with everything she could share from mom’s file.

One of the things inside was a copy of her resignation letter. It reads:

Dear Chief Jones,

It is with regret that I must inform you of my resignation effective Thursday, February 12, 1981, on which date I am scheduled to work third shift. I want to stress that I thoroughly enjoy my job here and the people with whom I work, however, I have been offered a position with a considerable increase in pay and regular working hours which, as you know, will be extremely beneficial to my in my situation as a single parent.

I would appreciate it if you would ask the Finance Department to have whatever vacation and pension monies I have coming available on that date if possible.

I want to thank you for the cooperation you have generously shown me regarding hours and time off, etc. It has been a pleasure to work for you and the department.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Gagne

Extremely Efficient and Helpful

November 2nd, 1979 @ 8:56 pm

On November 2, 1979, Robert P. Morrow, Jr., the Assistant State Attorney of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, sent a letter to Luther P. Jones, then chief of police at the Holly Hill Police Department.

Dear Chief Jones,

I would like to commend you on the selection of your new dispatcher, Kathy Gagne.¹ I have found her to be extremely efficient and helpful not only in her assigned duties, but also in aiding me in locating officers and supplying me with missing information to offense reports.

Please express to Kathy my congratulations for a job well done.

Sincerely,
ROBERT P. MORROW, JR.
Assistant State Attorney

¹ It always drove mom crazy when people spelled her name with a Y instead of an IE.

Dispatcher

April 6th, 1979 @ 6:49 pm

Mom was a dispatcher for the Holly Hill Police Department from April 6, 1979 until February 12, 1981. A few weeks after she died I contacted someone there and was able to obtain a copy of her official ID:

David and Luke

June 26th, 1976 @ 9:57 am

I have no idea when this photo was taken, so I’m just guessing it was my third birthday because I look to be about three years old. I’m the one in the “32” shirt. The boy with the teddy bear is Luke Akroyd. I called him “Lukey”.
Continue reading …

WEDWay PeopleMover

July 6th, 1975 @ 7:46 am

Riding the WEDWay PeopleMover at Walt Disney World

I have no way to confirm the date of this, so I’m making a guess. The WEDWay PeopleMover opened on July 1, 1975, and I don’t look to be much older than two years old in this photo. That would have made mom 27 when it was taken.

Mom looks shockingly like my little sister in this picture. If anyone reading this knows the date of this visit — dad? — please let me know.

Toyota Corolla

March 9th, 1975 @ 11:57 am

Here’s a shot of me just before my second birthday. You can see mom — about seven months pregnant with my little sister! — in the passenger seat of this Toyota Corolla. I assume dad took the photo. (I owned a 1980 Corolla-Tercel that looked almost exactly like this when I was in college!)

Feeding David

July 26th, 1973 @ 11:46 am

This photo isn’t dated at all, but I can’t be much more than a month old and it’s in a photo album full of pictures from just after bringing me home from the hospital.

~~I think, but am not sure, that we were living on Lakeside Avenue in Warwick, RI when I was born.~~

Dad tells me that we were living on Douglas Avenue in Providence, RI when I was born.

I’m guessing it’s late July, 1973.

Christening

July 15th, 1973 @ 9:45 am

Mom and Dad (and me)

Update

This post was originally incorrectly dated July 5, 1973. In a photo album I found a note in mom’s handwriting next to a copy of this same photo, “David’s Christening 7-15-73”

A Son

July 1st, 1973 @ 10:25 am

This is one of the very, very few photos I have of my maternal great-grandparents, Concetta and Antonio DiFolco.

The photo doesn’t display any date and there’s nothing written on the reverse, so I can only guess the date. I was born on June 26th, 1973 and I assume mom and dad took me to visit Nana Connie and Papa Tony very soon after they got home from the hospital.

Update: This post was originally incorrectly dated July 9th. In a photo album I found a note in mom’s handwriting above another copy of this photo, “Bringing David home 7-1-73”