My paternal grandmother, Helen, was also an accomplished needle-worker. She crocheted and embroidered. One of her favorite things was to embroider tablecloths, bureau scarves, and pillows, and then to crochet a pretty lacy border. She had learned well the art of Polish cooking and helped Babciu make the kapusta, borscht, pierogi, kielbasa, and golabki. I loved to eat at their house during the holidays...the unmistakable smell of cabbage in the air. My grandmother always had orange soda and cookies of some sort for the grandchildren. Helen was a small woman with tight curly gray hair and glasses. She was an adventuresome sort, having lived with my uncle in Boston for several years. She and Babciu had an apartment at the top of Victory St hill on the east side of town, just past the PNA and ZPRK Halls, across the street from Zepka's florist.

All of my grandparents and great grandparents had worked in the Berkshire Mills. The Berkshire Mills were involved with cotton manufacturing, owned by the Plunketts and run for many years as the major industry of northern Berkshire County. The trains would bring cotton from the south and the mills would spin cotton thread and manufacture cloth. The looms were massive and filled the mills to capacity. Everyone in town worked at the mills at one time or another and my family was no exception. Even my Dad had worked there for a time. However, in the 1950's, the cotton manufacturing industry began to leave the area, bound for the cheaper mills of the Carolinas. Several of the old mills still stand, though they have been long empty of the old looms. Many remain as apartment housing for the locals; some contain new businesses.