WellesleyWeston Magazine

SPRING 2015

Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.

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up with all kinds of discomfort: bathing in lakes and streams, eating cold spaghetti out of a can, sleeping in railroad seats, auto camps, and once in mining camp shed. Although most of the hostels were basic and sparse, some were better than others. The worst, stated Nancy, were in Seton Village, New Mexico, a camp where people came to study Indian wis- dom and crafts: "The two-mile bike ride there was on the worst road I have ever been on…There were no facilities to cook, wash, sleep, nothing. We slept on the floor. Flies were terrible. Ate a cold supper and washed from the faucet one-half mile away." She added: "There has never been an Indian there." After 61 days of travel, only 15 hostellers arrived back at the start, most of the original 29 having split off earlier for various reasons. They had seen many sites, some peculiar to the times, like the home of the Dionne Quintuplets, Montreal's St. Joseph's Shrine, whose dome had just been completed, and two World Fairs: San Francisco and New York. They had climbed mountains, experi- enced a rodeo, visited Lake Louise and the Grand Canyon. Now the grand tour had come to an end. From Northfield, Nancy took a train to Framingham, and then biked 15 miles home to surprise her family. She had formed deep impressions and made deep friendships, but, as is often the case, never kept in touch. Soon, a great war would engulf the world and life would change drastically for all those young people. Nancy served as an occupational therapist in that war and emerged from it to live a life filled with travel adventure. She credits this early experience with giving her the confi- dence to go anywhere and do anything. Nancy Wiswall became Nancy Erne six years after this trip. She biked up to the age of 90, and still travels to visit her 3 children, 4 grandchil- dren, and 7 great-grandchildren. You might spot her in Wellesley Center crossing the crazy five-way intersection: she's the one with a cane, sprinting across. A Teen on Tour 114 W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s p r i n g 2 0 1 5

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