Norman Chester REMINGTON b. 6 Aug 1918 Coventry, RI d. 21 May 2007 Providence, RI

1918 - 2007 (88 years)

Name	Norman Chester REMINGTON
Born	6 Aug 1918	Coventry, RI
Gender	Male
Died	21 May 2007	Providence, RI
Buried	24 May 2007	Woodland Cemetery, Washington & Knotty Oak Sts., Coventry, RI
Person ID	I00002	Sorensen-Remington Family Tree
Last Modified	7 Aug 2018

Father	Chester Philip REMINGTON, Sr., b. 10 Feb 1894, Anthony Village, Coventry, RI , d. 9 May 1948, Providence, Providence Co., RI (Age 54 years)
Mother	Laura Russel CHAFEE, b. 28 Apr 1899, Bristol, Bristol Co., RI , d. 14 Mar 1975, Natick, Middlesex Co., MA (Age 75 years)
Married	28 Apr 1917	Coventry, Kent Co., RI [1]
Notes	They were married on Laura's eighteenth birthday. Chester was 23.
Family ID	F00024	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Edna Virginia BERRY, b. 25 Mar 1918, Providence, RI , d. 20 Nov 2010, Warwick, Kent Co., RI (Age 92 years)

Married 6 Sep 1941 Providence, RI

Notes

I have a copy of their marriage certificate. They were married three months before the attack on Pearl Harbor which brought America into World War II.

Dad & Mom were engaged on 27 Jan 1941.

Children

	1. Elizabeth Ann Remington, b. 27 Mar 1947, Providence, RI (Age 77 years)
	2. Russell Chester Remington, b. 27 Jun 1948, Providence, RI (Age 75 years)
	3. Lois Edna REMINGTON, b. 1 May 1951, Providence, RI (Age 72 years)

Last Modified 7 Aug 2018

Family ID F00013 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Photos » Slide Show		Norman was born when his mother was 19 years old. She had been married on her 18th birthday.
		May 1941 diploma; Dad was working for Metropolitan Life and had been accepted at Wheaton College in Illinois, but less than two months after marriage in September, the attack on Pearl Harbor changed all their plans and he enlisted in the US Army in 1942.
		Baby Norman with Major
		Norman, 1919
		Note on back of 1919 photo
		Chafee four-generations: Laura (Chafee) Remington with Norman, Frank Paine Chafee, and Samuel Russel Chafee.
		Norman and Raymond
		Raymond, Russel, Elliott, and Norman, 1923 on the farm in Coventry
		The Linden Farm where my dad was born, off Knotty Oak Rd., Coventry

		Norman's class in Coventry c1924/25.


		Norman and Raymond worked as caddies at this golf course in the 1930s. It is now the location of my church, the Cranston Christian Fellowship.
		Back row: Raymond, Chester Sr., Norman; middle: Russel, Elliott, Chester; Richard in front; Easter 1934.
		A group photo from the Central High School Yearbook, 1935-36. Norm is in the middle.
		Central High School, c1935, probably the Italian Club. Norman is the handsome tall fellow in the back.
		Norman Remington, age 18 Senior Portrait, High School
		June 1936, diploma from Central High School, Providence, RI
		A page from Norman's high school yearbook, Central High School, Providence, RI, 1935-36.

		Norman and Edna


		Norman with bro Russel
		Richard and Norman, the youngest and the oldest, c1942

		1942
		1942
		Elliott, Laura and Chet, Norman, and Richard
		Norman was in the Panama Canal Zone during World War II, US Army




		Usually my dad is the tall one, but here one of his Army buddies seems to be taller!

		Newspaper article about the US Army in Panama during WW II; my dad Norman is playing a portable organ for the church service in the top photo.
		Norman and Edna with their two mothers, Laura and Ellen
		Family, l-r: Edna, Grandma Berry, Norman, Elsie, Albert holding Allan, David in front, Loretta, and Helen. I guess this must have been taken in spring or summer 1942, just before Norman enlisted in the Army, WW II.
		Norman with Elizabeth and Raymond with Richie

		Me (Lois) as a baby, c1952, with my parents and Ruth Ella.
		Four generations, 1954
		Gospel quartet: Bill Key, Ronnie Anderton, Russell Eldridge, Norman Remington
		Easter 1955
		Easter 1957, Norman's and Raymond's families with Grandma
		Norman worked for MetLife for his entire career.

		Remington brothers with mom -- 1970
		December 1977, open house at our home; my dad Norman Remington with three cousins -- Dottie, Helen, and Gladys
		Norman with Ben, Rich with Karla, Paul Sr. with Danny, Paul, and Laura
		Norman & Edna's 40th anniversary, 6 September 1981
		Sorensen and Remington grandparents with all the kids, c1983
		August 1980 -- we always celebrated Norman's and Ben's birthdays together, 6 Aug and 7 Aug.
		Grandpa Remington with Ben
		Aunts, uncles, and cousins at summer 1984 reunion; front l-r: Chet & Lillian, Edna & Norman, Jackie, Ray & Fran, Althea & Richard; back row cousins l-r: Elizabeth, Derek, Keith, Rich, Lois.
		Summer 1985
		August 1987
		Siblings and cousins, summer 1988 at Woodstock, CT, l-r: Edna (Berry) Remington, Barbara (Remington) Shaw, Margaret (Whitford) Baker, Norman Remington, Dorothy (Whitford) Johnson, Bill Simpson, not sure who is in front of Gladys, Dorothy (Remington) Marcotte, probably Leslie Marcotte behind, Helen (Remington) Bartlett, and Donald Remington; in front Carole (Whitford) Simpson and daughter Christine
		Cousin reunion summer 1988 at Woodstock, CT, at home of Arthur and Dorothy Johnson, l-r: in back Norman Remington, Bill Simpson, and probably Leslie Marcotte; Edna (Berry) Remington with kitty, Barbara (Remington) Shaw, Margaret (Whitford) Baker, Dorothy (Whitford) Johnson, Gladys (Remington) Champlin, lady with arms folded -- I don't know, Dorothy (Remington) Marcotte, Helen (Remington) Bartlett, and Donald Remington; in front Carole (Whitford) Simpson and daughter Christine.
		August 1988
		Heidi's graduation from Houghton Academy, 1991
		August 1991

	September 1991
	Anthony and Dottie Colaluca with Norman Remington, 1991.
	Cousins: Norman Remington in the middle with his brother Richard and their cousin Dottie (Chafee) Colaluca, her husband Anthony on the left, and a friend Ruth Martell on the right.
	Family September 1991
	Cousins getting together in California: Norman Remington, Austin Chafee, Austin's first wife Patricia, Edna Remington, and Lois.


	January 2000
	Raymond and Norman Remington, and Laura Sorensen

	2001
	Family, September 2001
	Malcolm Whitford and Norman Remington, 2002
	Norman and Edna, 2004 Berry family reunion
	Getting together in RI, c 2005, l-r: Ben Sorensen, Katherine & Paul Sorensen, Norman Remington, Lois, Edna Remington, Bev Howard Winsor, and her brother Warren Remington Howard.
	October 2005, celebrating Uncle Ray's birthday
	Norman and Raymond
	Remington uncles, aunts, and cousins at Uncle Ray's home
	Edna and Norman Remington, bro Richard Remington, Dan Sorensen, at 87 Darrow Dr.
	Brothers Raymond, Richard, Norman Remington
	In his retirement, Dad made a lot of pies. He always wanted a pie in the house. This one looks like blueberry.

	Program from Dad's memorial service on Memorial Day, 2007

Notes

I have two different copies of his birth certificate, one a card issued at Coventry, RI, and the other a paper from the RI Dept. of Health. I am told he was born on a Tuesday.

My dad Norman was born on the family farm off Knotty Oak Rd. in Coventry, RI. We have some pictures of the farm (see Remington section of the photo gallery, "Remington brothers together," at our web site). Tragically, the two-family farmhouse burned down when my dad was six years old. After this, his family moved into a shanty and stayed there for a while. Quoted below are some reminiscences from my dad Norman about his grandmother Angeretta (Whitford) Remington, about the big farmhouse, and about the fire there. They always believed the fire was set. The adjoining farm belonged to my dad's uncle, John Francis (we called him Uncle Fran), who kept cows there even when I was a child in the 1950s. We used to go blueberrying there, and I was afraid of being confronted face-to-face by a cow, which did actually happen once! In very recent years that property has passed out of our family, and part of it is now a new plat. One of the streets is Remington Farm Drive. On an old map, I've seen that another Remington may have owned that land adjacent to my great uncle.

About the farmhouse: "There were two front doors. The first one as one approached from the road led into a long hall way extending the width of the main section of the house. At the end was the door opening into the ell kitchen. Doors on the left were to my Grandmother's bedroom (used whenever she was with us) and to a downstairs bedroom. At a right angle to that was the door to the cellar stairs. The stairway to the upstairs rooms began near the door to the kitchen. From the right side of the hall were doors to the parlor (as it was called in those days) and the dining room.

"Grandma's bedroom windows were between the front doors. The second one was Aunt Velna's front door, which opened into a small entry, from which a door to the left led into her parlor.

"My grandmother [Angeretta] was a practical nurse, attending women about to give birth and for some time afterwards. Confinements lasted several days at that time. Between work opportunities she would be on the farm, sleeping in her room in our house, where the furnishings were hers. So my earliest memories are that she was with us from time to time. When she was there she was a great help to my mother. Later on she also worked as a housekeeper/cook. When I was in the second grade she kept house for a Mrs. Maynard (or Menard), who was legally blind. This was on Boston Street, Anthony, which is off the main street directly opposite the big mill.

"The fire destroyed the house December 27, 1924. It was discovered some time before daybreak, when my mother thought my father was trying to waken her. Later, she always said she thought it was an angel. Anyway, she smelled smoke, and woke my father. Our collie dog, Major, usually was in the kitchen overnight (no doubt, during cold weather), and he pushed open the door to the hall, again no doubt because of flames and heat. All of us were out of the house, and in my father's truck, in the big meadow across the driveway from the house, while it was still dark."

Dad enlisted at Providence, RI, on 29 Aug 1942, as a Private in the US Army. He was a resident of Providence, married, an insurance clerk with 2 years of college; height 74 inches and weight 158 lbs.

Sources
[S012488] Coventry Town Records.