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From: "Lisa Lepore" <>
Subject: Myla Thayer birthday article from the Town Crier
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 20:26:28 -0500


I thought you would like to read the article from this week's Town
Crier about
Myla Thayer's 100th birthday -

There was a photo, but I have to get it lightened up.

Lisa

Happy 100th Birthday, Miss Thayer
By Jane Bigda
Staff Reporter

Myla Thayer celebrated a real milestone on January 27, 2006.
On that day, the lifelong Mendon resident was 100 years old.

The event was celebrated with a gala party on January 29 given
by her church, the Community Bible Chapel

Born in the house where she still lives, Miss Thayer was one of five
children.
Her family first came to Mendon in the early 1800’s when her
grandfather,
Simon Peter Bicknell traveled through town and decided he wanted to
live
there. Buying a piece of land from the Bates family, he built a shop
and
a forge to make wagon wheels. Working hard, he saved his money and
by 1827 built the family house where Miss Thayer lives. He married the
girl next door, Rebecca Bates and they started their family.

Miss Thayer’s father was George E. Thayer. She remembers him riding a
horse for American Express before getting his job at Drapers. Working
his
way up through the ranks, Mr. Thayer was eventually the paymaster at
the mill.

Growing up near the Milford and Hopedale town lines, Miss Thayer
attended
the East Mendon School from first through eighth grade. She noted the
school
was located where Rt. 140 now lies. “The state built Rt. 140 in 1938
and the
school house was moved onto Bates Street,” said Miss Thayer.

Taking the streetcar up to North Avenue, she attended the Mendon High
School,
which was located in the old Center School and later became Clough
School.
She remembers the high school classes being taught by the school
principal
and his assistant. The Center School also housed students from all
over town
who attended grades one through eight.

“I had to study hard,” said Miss Thayer. “I wasn’t an especially good
student but
I enjoyed school.” She also said she was smart enough to stay out of
trouble.

Her graduating class consisted of three boys and four girls.

One outstanding memory of those years was the snowstorm of 1920 that
shut
down the trolley car line through Mendon from February through March.
She
said it started snowing in December that year and really never quit
until winter
was over.

Miss Thayer and three other neighborhood girls had to walk to Milford
to
catch the trolley. Two of the girls went back to Mendon to school
while the
other two went on to St. Mary’s in downtown Milford.

She also remembers the Armistice that ended World War I. “All the
schools in
town closed and everyone tried to find a parade or celebration. We
heard that
there was going to be a parade in Woonsocket, so my brother Winston
got out
my father’s used 1914 Cadillac touring car,” said Miss Thayer. Too
young for a
license, Winston drove in the parade with a teacher by his side, Miss
Thayer
in the back seat by her mother who was holding her father’s driving
license,
the only license any of them had.

After she graduated from school, Miss Thayer got a job in the office
at Huckins
and Temple Shoe Factory in Milford. When the factory shut down, she
got a
job in Newton working for University Prints.

She said the highlight of her life was a trip to she took to Europe.
While she
has seen some of the world and many historical events, Miss Thayer
said
that to her, Mendon has always been home.

The Upton and Mendon Town Crier
February 16, 2006
Page 21


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