Mildred Bechtel

Auntie Millie loved to paint -- received many awards for several oil paintings in Arts Society in Medford, MA; attended church & functions regularly in Medford, MA and had many friends in the Arts, she was very organized -- even saved all her report cards and every Birthday Card ever sent to her. She loved the ocean and even married a Fisherman (Uncle Bud Bechtel from New Bedford,MA) who played guitar & sang with his friend from Rhode Island @ campfires many of us enjoyed often in summertime. She gave birth to a daughter Carol Ann and son Dennis. She loved to take many pictures & took pride in using her Brownie Camera to take pictures of family. Enjoyed singing with her sisters Eleanor, Ruth & Alice in earlier days; (she probably sang in church) later in minstrel shows @ Ellis Haven Campground with Sister Ruth, Brother-in-law Lawrence Sullivan was EMCEE (Mr Interlocketer), Sister-in-law Edith Blanche Holland (Mom) sang in Chorus, daughter Carol Bechtel & neices Maureen Jennings (Sullivan) & Barbara Lomas (Holland) were tamboreen girls w/short black skirts, blue cheer washed white socks, sneakers & shirts, florescent shoe ties, tamboreen streamers & sting bow ties glowed under the black lights; Their black panties had ELLIS-HAVEN Spelled out in Florescent letters (it was the finale to flip their skirts to spell out the letters shown under black light @ end of show. Donna Reitano (Holland) sang solos @ age 8, 9 10, 11 and then graduated with sister & cousins to finally be a tamboreen girl, Millie's brother Albert C. Holland, Jr(Dad) was videoing & taping sound for show, We played volleyball, & horseshoe teams & had tournaments, watched movies on Friday nights, Dad DJ'd the weekly Saturday Night Dances, we had mardi-gras where we all dressed up in costume (there are pictures to prove it!) paraded around the camping area & then had a contest @ the Dance Pavilion. It was a weekly thing to see the girls @ the beach in bathing suits w/rollers in our hair (covered with a scarf of some kind of course) -- those were the days @ Ellis Haven! Many Holland Family members & friends lined up & down the street (we'd get seasonal campsites close to each other & others would come join us on their own site for a week or weekend (Uncle Howard, Auntie Betty, Auntie Gracie, Arnold, Eddie, William, Linda too. We then moved onto enjoy camping @ Terrace Pines in Ctr Ossipee, NH -- TP Forever with (Holland) Chase Family: waterskiing, sailing, climbing mountains, pizza @ the local place was an adventure, monster dashes through the woods -- Barbara would remember riding a jeep through the woods scaring us younger kids with stories of monsters(flashlights in the woods) (there were no monsters but it was fun!) dancing, camping enjoying singing around a roaring camp fire, toasting marshmellows, making popcorn & sandwiches over the fire w/Auntie Ellie & Uncle George (Doug, Mark, Joel, Lenny & Karin, Tina & Kimmy, Jay & Sue had a young romance & later got married. Keith Lomas joined us too and everybody was @ Karin & Lenny's campsite as they took over Auntie Ellie's site/trailer. Millie lived in Medford her entire life... spent many a days with Auntie Grace, Eddie, Linda & William and the rest of the Holland Family camping @ Ellis Haven in Plymouth, MA. Camped with neice Donna @ Old Orchard Beach, ME and was able to manage to do a lot of travelling. Much like today the sisters and sister-in-laws were expecting at the same time...therefore several groups of cousins were in the same age bracket & became friends. Lenny& Karin Chase still hang out & travel together with Barbara Lomas (Holland) & Lonnie Watson; Donna Reitano (Holland) and Linda Borelli (Holland) hang out & travel together. In the earlier days Maureen, Carol & Barbara sang songs from church (taped by Dad @ christening) there were always those great family parties with lots of singing...and lots of cousins! Ricky Sullivan & Donna Holland hung out together @ Ellis Haven w/friends same age. Eddie Holland & Donna Holland hung out together thru the years until his passing in mid adult age. Cousin William Holland and William Frances Holland were same age; Cousin William passed away @ young adult age of enlarged heart. Cousin Joel Chase passed away in recently @ age 42. I'm sure there's a lot more to share about Aunt Millie & the Holland Family History...