Claremont
The longtime Claremont resident lives with her daughter Carol Wilson, and Carol’s husband, Bruce, whose household spans five generations. Underwood’s great-great grandson — Wilson’s great-grandson, 5-year-old Adryan Hayes, also lives in their Baker Street home, where Carol Wilson looks after local children.
Sometimes Underwood finds herself wondering about God’s plan for her. “What have I done to keep living like this?” she said. “Have they got another job for me somewhere?”
Then, she looks to the little ones.
One of six children, from the time she was 11 or 12, she had kids to take care of, Underwood said, as Adryan and a neighborhood boy played in the backyard. “Now I’m starting all over.”
On a recent Tuesday morning, Underwood sat on the porch, enjoying the mild weather. She sported white capris, a bright white T-shirt that read “Open Hearts, Open Hands, Open Doors,” and no shoes.
Living as long as she has, she’s seen a lot of things, “all good,” said Underwood, adding that she disregards the negative.
The key to her longevity? Lifestyle, she said. Growing up, if a bunch of boys were playing ball, “I was in the middle of them.”
Underwood grew up in Springfield, Vt., and graduated from the town’s high school in 1938. High school graduates were in the minority back then — by 1940, just 26 percent of women and 23 percent of men age 25 and older in the United States had completed high school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Underwood literally had to work for it.
“I’m not going to put another girl through school to have her get married and have babies,” she recalled her father saying. After that, Underwood explained the situation to her school principal and said she needed a job. Through him, she started cleaning for a local family to earn money to pay for her books.
Underwood also wanted to go to nursing school, Carol Wilson said, “but Daddy wouldn’t let her.”
Between her husband and her father, “I was browbeaten,” Underwood said, breaking into a laugh.
Underwood, whose maiden name was Balch, married Maynard Underwood in 1938 at Claremont’s Trinity Episcopal Church, which she still attends. The couple had a son and three daughters, one of whom, Betty Caron, died last summer. Except for a few years in Portsmouth and Laconia, they lived in Claremont. Underwood worked in Claremont, including tampon manufacturer Tambrands, where Wilson also worked, and a shoe company, attaching liners to shoes.
“I had more cement on me than on the shoes,” she said, cracking herself up. “That glue was terrible.”
In 1944, the family built a house on First Street. Their property, which stretched to Second Street, served as a baseball field and football field, and also hosted croquet, badminton and horseshoes, Wilson said. “We always had a yard full of kids.”
Maynard Wilson died in 1998, and Underwood lived alone after that, until a few years ago when heart trouble started making her susceptible to passing out. Wilson checked on her often, and if she didn’t answer the phone after a few rings, she would head over to her house. Often, she’d find her outside, sitting in the swing with her knitting and a cup of coffee.
Rather than go to a nursing home, she opted to live with Wilson, Underwood said. “I don’t need waiting on.”
Despite a few medical scares, she’s been pretty healthy, Wilson said. “She’s a fighter.”
Underwood may have slowed down a bit — she no longer drives orhelps out at a local senior center, but she hasn’t stopped.
She changes her own bed, helps get the supper on — if she can do it — and keeps her eye on Adryan, making sure he washes his hands for dinner, Wilson said. “She’s a loving person.”
And she continues to volunteer.
“She’s just a really good woman,” Linda Patch, a longtime member of the church, said in a telephone interview.
“Anytime you need someone to help, she’s there. If we have tables to move, she’s on one end. … At her age we don’t even want her lugging things, but she lugs things.”
And Underwood has the right attitude, “just amazing, just full of energy and love,” she said. “I just hope that when I get to be her age I have the same attitude.”
Underwood, Wilson and Adryan will help out when the church breaks down its Thursday night hotdog sales, and the women also plan to volunteer at a craft show this fall, Wilson said.
It’s important to pitch in, Underwood said. “If you don’t keep these things going, we won’t have (them). … Don’t forget, you can always help someone.”
Later Tuesday morning, a familiar visitor hopped up onto the Wilsons’ porch, looking for a snack. With the chipmunk’s arrival, Wilson zipped into the garage for peanuts.
“Hurry up Carol,” Underwood called, and then addressed the striped brown creature padding toward stairs leading to the backyard. “She’s coming. You wait a minute.”
The chipmunk took center stage for the next several minutes, as Wilson tossed it peanuts, which it stashed away in the lawn. The boys crouched down, watching intently.
“That’s what keeps me going, is these kids,” Underwood said. Aimee Caruso can be reached at acaruso@vnews.com or 603-727-3210.