Ledora’s paternal grandparents, Manuel Isidorio Sr., and his wife, née Filomena Souza (standing) as attendants at the wedding of an unidentified couple, circa 1910.
“I don’t remember him. But I do remember my grandmother … she used to come up and she’d get mad because we didn’t understand Portuguese.”
Ledora’s maternal grandparents, James Emmett and his wife, née Marie ‘Mary’ Desmarais, about the time of their marriage in 1887.
“James Emmett was English because he came from Lancashire, England … [my grandmother] was French-Canadian, so she spoke French.”
The Emmett family, posing in front of their residence at 227 Brightman Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1908. Standing, left to right: Ledora’s uncle, George Joseph Emmett; her grandfather, James Emmett; her mother, Anna Emmett; her aunt, Elizabeth Emmett; her grandmother, née Marie Desmarais; her aunt, Mary Emmett. Standing on porch: her aunt, Minnie Emmett.
“French. They all spoke French.”
Ledora’s mother, Anna Emmett, at seventeen years old, posing with a parasol in a novelty photograph, 1906; the pen work decoration on the envelope, likely done by Anna, was a popular art form during the period.
“My mother was a spinner. She went to work … in the mills … when she was twelve; she had to leave school.”
Ledora’s father, Manuel Isidorio, as a young man.
“I remember my father standing … when we’d get ready to get up to go to school, with our clothes in front of the oven door.”
The typewriting room of Thibodeau Business College, Inc., 130 South Main Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1930.
“You had to go to Thibodeau College, you had classes. You had to go for one year and they would find you a job. Well. I couldn’t afford that.”
Lindsey Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, in the 1930s. Monte Street, where the Isidorio family resided, intersects Lindsey Street; this view is characteristic of the neighborhood in which Ledora spent her youth.
“We had a good time in the neighborhood.”
Bradford Durfee Textile School, 64 Durfee, Street, Fall River, Massachusetts; Ledora enrolled here in the 1930s.
“I went to Durfee Textile School at night to learn how to run the power machines.”
Heroux & Son, grocery store, 177 Brightman Street, Fall River, around the time of its grand opening in 1932; this store was the scene of an exciting moment in Ledora’s childhood, which she fondly remembered eighty-three years later.
“And for opening night they were giving away a radio. A little table-top radio. And you put your name in. So, all the kids and we went in, and we put our name in, put it in the box. They were going to draw it on Saturday night, who could win the radio. So, anyway, we all went down, the kids. All went down to the store to see who was going to win the radio. Well … one of my friends, went up and they asked her to pull the name. Ledora Isidorio.”
Truesdale Hospital Inc., 1820 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Massachusetts, in the 1930s; Ledora’s father died here, leaving his wife a widow with eight children.
“But then he got sick and died. He died on January 30, 1933. He died in Truesdale.”
The Weetamoe Yacht Club, 2 Monte Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1920s; from 1935 to 1938 Ledora’s family resided in the six-tenement house depicted at the right.
“And we lived, when we finally moved a second time, we moved in the six-tenement house [at 1 Monte Street, Fall River, Massachusetts], which was on the banks of the Taunton River, and down below was the Weetamoe Yacht Club.”
“The Fall River Gang” posing on the shore of the Taunton River, Fall River. Massachusetts, June 10, 1938; the Weetamoe Yacht Club, which was in Ledora’s backyard, can be seen at the left.
“It was the Taunton River, but we didn’t care, that was where we did our swimming. That’s true, everything that was in that beach, we brought down there from our house.”
Ledora’s mother, Anna Isidorio, née Emmett, in 1938, the year the family moved to 892 Somerset Avenue, Taunton, Massachusetts.
“My mother was not strict, believe me. I was stricter with my kids than she was with us.”
The former Laurel Lake Mills, corner Broadway and Globe Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1935; the building housed Cape Cod Dress Company, where Ledora was first employment in 1938.
“And when I started there, I remember, it was twenty-five cents an hour … you got $10 for forty hours. $10 a week.”
Ledora in the yard of the Isidorio family residence at 892 Somerset Avenue, Taunton, Massachusetts, 1939.
“Five girls. They used to say, ‘The house with five beautiful girls,’ and we’d laugh.”
Gala Opening program, Raynham Auto Drive Theatre, Route 138, Boston-Taunton Turnpike, October 5, 1939; Ledora captioned the program “My first date w/Francis.”
“I’m looking for you. Do you want to go over to the Raynham Auto Drive Theatre tonight? It’s opening night.”
“Cape Cod Dress friends,” 1941; the young women were Ledora’s co-workers at Cape Cod Dress Company, 987 Broadway, Fall River, Massachusetts. Ledora is seated, front left.
“Well, my first job, [my sister] got me a job.”
“The Sewing Machine Girls,” 1941; the young women were Ledora’s co-workers at Cape Cod Dress Company, 987 Broadway, Fall River, Massachusetts. Ledora is standing, center.
“We were on the third floor and had to walk up three flight of stairs. No elevators or anything.”
“Cape Cod Dress girls,” 1941; the young women were Ledora’s co-workers at Cape Cod Dress Company, 987 Broadway, Fall River, Massachusetts. Ledora is second from the left.
“You never had any breaks.”
Interior of an unidentified sewing shop in Fall River, Massachusetts, 1930s; the scene is typical of what Ledora experienced at Cape Cod Dress Company.
“Each power machine … I think, must have had a starter, but they were hooked to the wall, with a main power switch. And the floor lady would go up to the power switch for each aisle, so these power machines were [on] both sides, [and] you faced the girl who was working them.”
Interior of the lunch room of an unidentified sewing shop in Fall River, Massachusetts, 1930s; the scene is typical of what Ledora experienced at Cape Cod Dress Company.
“The only time [you got a break] was when you … could go to the toilet and back. And that was it. We had a lunch time.”
Ledora’s husband, Francis Silveira Soitos, during World War II.
“His outfit [was] all Taunton boys; they stayed together, all through the war, and not one got killed.”
Mr. & Mrs. Francis Silveira Soitos, April 18, 1942.
“You’ll have to tell [my mother] that you want to get married. I’m not telling her.”
“The Main Street, Santa Maria,” California, June 1944; Ledora resided in Santa Maria for ten months in 1942 and 1943, while her husband, Francis, was stationed at Camp Cooke, a United States Army Armored Training Camp, before he was sent overseas during World War II.
“What impressed me was the orange groves. Oh, they were so beautiful … beautiful orange groves, all the way.”
Lenora Isidorio Soitos, 1944.
The wreckage of Ledora’s childhood neighborhood, razed for the construction of Massachusetts Route 79 in 1970; the Isidorio residence at 1 Monte Street was in the right section of this photograph.
“My son a couple of years ago said to me ‘Ma, let’s go to Fall River; I want to see where you lived.’ I says, ‘Where I lived is gone.’”
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