Patty Spalding grew up in the South End on the corner of Purchase and Charles streets. Her father, Edward Jancewicz, was first-generation American and her mother, Mabel VanAmburgh Jancewicz, is a Townie.
”As a young child I remember the special Christmas shopping trips my mom would take each of us children on” says Spalding.
She recalls Kresge’s, JJ Newberrys, and Saunder’s Drug Store, among other places that she and her five siblings frequented on these shopping jaunts. And she remembers the gold and silver prize gumballs in Pattows.
As most people who grew up in Newburyport no matter their age – will tell you, growing up in Newburyport was lots of fun. Neighborhoods were cohesive and kids played around theneighborhood, returning home when the dinner bell rang.
Spalding is among those who can still remember the names of her teachers at G. W. Brown Elementary School and true to her nature, regretted never being able to attend the Jackman School on Atwood Street the city closed the neighborhood schools for grades 5-8 when it opened the Rupert A. Nock Middle School.
“I remember walking with my ‘Gudjie’ (grandfather) hand-in-hand to the Polish Club on Salem Street and the special Christmas Parties held for members’ children there,” she recalls.
Patty Spalding has worked every day of her working life in Newburyport, starting from when she was a junior in high school. She met her husband Kenny here and they raised their family here. Both of them are descended on one side from original colonists.
Believing that she should contribute to my community, especially while the kids were in school, she has served on PTO boards, School Council and the Bartlet Mall Commission. She has co-chaired the Winter Carnival, was Captain for Bartlet Mall in the 2005 CitySweep , has served on the Frog Pond Playground Committee and was the treasurer/coordinator of the Courtyard at the Nock project. She also is an officer of the Back Bay Route One Neighborhood Association.
And as such, she’s spent a lot of time researching the effects of wind turbines on residential neighborhoods and is sharing her findings and concerns with city officials as they consider re-working the current wind energy installation ordinance.
