Bill and Hazel Nevis in Europe: October 1957 Azores

The first stop on the cruise is the Azores, Bill's ancestral homeland. They dock in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel. It is some 220 miles to the familial home island of Pico, so Bill and Hazel do not have time to get there. Nevertheless Bill was extremely excited about this visit and was always proud of his Portuguese heritage. 

a not-too-successful profile of Bill Nevis, Ponta Delgada port, São Miguel, October 1957

port of Ponta Delgada, October 1957

plaza and city gates of Ponta Delgada, October 1957

plaza in Ponta Delgada, October 1957

street in Ponta Delgada, October 1957

street in Ponta Delgada, October 1957

street in Ponta Delgada, October 1957

street scene near the Igreja Matriz de São Sebastião (Saint Sebastian Church), Ponta Delgada, October 1957

construction, Ponta Delgada, October 1957

street in Ponta Delgada, October 1957

street in Ponta Delgada, October 1957

women on the street in Ponta Delgada, October 1957

Teatro Micaelense, Ponta Delgada, October 1957

overlooking Ponta Delgada, October 1957

Lagoa das Sete Cidades, São Miguel, October 1957

Lagoa das Sete Cidades, October 1957

Bill Nevis, Lagoa das Sete Cidades, October 1957

pineapple plantation, São Miguel, with SS Constitution in background

silhouette of Bill Nevis, São Miguel, October 1957

farm on São Miguel, October 1957

street scene by Igreja Matriz de São Sebastião (Saint Sebastian Church), Ponta Delgada, October 1957

port of Ponta Delgada

next post  Bill and Hazel Nevis in Europe: October 1957 Lisbon

previous post  Bill and Hazel Nevis in Europe: October 1957 NYC departure

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Bill and Hazel Nevis in Europe: October 1957 NYC departure

Bill and Hazel set sail on a tour of Europe on the SS Constitution (on their "Sunlane cruise" from New York City to Naples via the Azores, Lisbon and Spain, attracting high-end clientele), departing New York Harbor in October 1957. It is the same ship featured in the 1957 movie An Affair to Remember starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr and in a few episodes of the sitcom I Love Lucy from early 1956.

Bill and Hazel on the SS Constitution, October 5, 1957

view of New Jersey from the SS Constitution, October 5, 1957

view of the Empire State Building and Manhattan from the SS Constitution, October 5, 1957

departure of the SS Constitution from Manhattan, October 5, 1957

next post  Bill and Hazel Nevis in Europe: October 1957 Azores

previous post  Leonard's Story:  September 1957

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Leonard's Story: September 1957

Bill and Hazel visit Leonard in Madison, Wisconsin, on their way east for a voyage to Europe. I assume Leonard interned there after graduation from USC Medical School.

Conrad Hilton Hotel, Chicago, September 1957

Leonard Nevis at Lake Michigan, September 1957

Wisconsin State House, September 1957

Wisconsin, September 1957

next post  Bill and Hazel in Europe: October 1957 NYC departure

previous post  Arnold and Newlin: July 15, 1957

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold and Newlin: July 15, 1957

Arnold's appointment at the University of Texas, Medical Branch Galveston is offered for 1957–58. 

next post  Leonard's Story: September 1957

previous post  Arnold and Newlin: April 5, 1957

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold and Newlin: April 5, 1957

Bill announces that he has sold the family business and is drawing up new wills. Here we learn of the $10,000 for Leonard's ex-wife Pat.

next post  Arnold and Newlin: July 15, 1957

previous post  Leonard's Story: December 10, 1956

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Leonard's Story: December 10, 1956

Hazel saves the drafts of her letters to Leonard, Pat, and Pat's Aunt Be and Uncle Dave. In them we learn of Leonard and Pat's decision to divorce and of the difficult year they have had with each other. It is clear they are no longer in California, perhaps in Madison, Wisconsin, where Leonard might have been interning after graduation from USC Medical School.

Hazel mentions in passing that they now have a color television; Arnold's family would not get a color TV for another dozen years. 

Bill and Hazel keep their word treating Pat as a daughter. While she was not around family gatherings when Leonard was (and especially once he remarried), she remained a close friend to Laura and later when Arnie and Newlin moved to Los Angeles, she stayed in close contact, occasionally babysitting the their young children. Arnold and Newlin always visited her on our trips back to California. And Bill and Hazel made a point of including her in their will.

Pat remarried later in life (becoming Pat Mattison) and still lived in Los Angeles after all those decades. When Laura struggled with cancer in the 1990s, Pat and her second husband took care of Laura's finances, and after her death, part of Laura's estate. Here is Pat in 2006, around age 84, still imbibing and enjoying life:

next post  Arnold and Newlin: April 5, 1957

previous post  Arnold and Newlin: 1956 Cape Cod

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold and Newlin: 1956 Holidays and Texas move

 Eddie turned three in September 1956:

Arnold and Newlin took Eddie and Allan to his folks in Glendale for Christmas (and to her family in Florida at New Years):

Newlin with Eddie and Allan, December 1956, Crawfordville, Florida

They return to Boston to find the Solar House has had a fire, as described in this Christmas newsletter:

After his graduation from MIT, Arnold accepts a position as assistant professor in physiology at the Galveston medical branch of the University of Texas and coordinator of their Muscular Dystrophy research program. Newlin later said that Arnie's position was funded by a wealthy Texan whose wished to fund the research, so Arnie checked out how she could set up a charity for that, but concluded after traveling around the country investigating existing charitable organizations that the bureaucracy that was needed to run the charity would consume more money than would go to research. He advised her to donate her money to an existing charity instead of continuing to fund his position. 

Arnold took out a loan under the GI Bill to buy that first house in Galveston, Texas.

next post  Leonard's Story:  December 10, 1956

previous post  Arnold and Newlin: 1956 Cape Cod

first post in Flashbacks:  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold and Newlin: 1956 Cape Cod

Since Eddie and Allan look too young for the photo with their Aunt Laura, I suppose it must be 1955; perhaps Laura came alone at age 17 to visit her brother's family.

In 1956 Bill and Hazel Nevis arrive with daughter Laura to attend their son Arnie's graduation from MIT. They tour Cape Cod with Arnie, Newlin, Eddie, and Allan.  

Laura, Massachusetts, 1956

Laura, Massachusetts, 1956

Laura photographing Newlin with Allan and Eddie, Massachusetts, 1956

Laura in a covered bridge, Massachusetts, 1955 or 1956

Arnold and Laura at a Massachusetts beach, 1955 or 1956

Arnold and Laura at a Massachusetts beach, 1955 or 1956

Newlin with Eddie, Bill with Allan, and Hazel on Cape Cod, 1956

Bill, Arnold, Hazel and runaway Eddie on Cape Cod, 1956

Arnold with Eddie on Cape Cod, 1956

Hazel, Bill, Arnold, and Allan, Massachusetts, 1956

next post  Arnold and Newlin: 1956 Holidays and Texas move

previous post  Arnold and Newlin: 1956 Eddie and Allan

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943