Jean Foley Doyle has never lived more than one-quarter mile outside the borders of Newburyport, so we thought that qualifies her as a Townie.
She certainly thinks of herself as one, especially when she’s busy writing about the city.
She’s hard at work researching her second non-fiction book, Life in Newburyport, the follow-up to her first book of the same name. This one picks up where the first one left off, which was 1950, and goes through to 1985.
“I’ve got so much information,” the 79-year-old says, “I think I’ll break it there.”
She’s already gone through the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, urban renewal and the building of the industrial park. Now she’s looking forward to seeing how values changed from the 1970s to the 1980s (people were big on history in the 70s), expressed through of all things Yankee Homecoming.
Jean grew up in “Joppy,” went to the Immaculate Conception school and Newburyport High School and taught history at the high school for 30 years. She has lived in Newbury on and off throughout her life – and lives there now – but she’s no Newbury-ite.
As long as she’s in close proximity, she’s not concerned about a border here or a little over there. “As far as we’re concerned, we don’t think of that as not being in Newburyport.”
She’s hoping to have the book out by 2010.
