Meet Framingham’s own ‘Tom Sawyer,' author C.D. Peterson

As he walked to his favorite fishing hole, his spotted pointer by his side and stick pole in hand, a young C.D. Peterson met a writer for Ford Times magazine. It was the early 1940s, and the resulting article - topped with the headline “Meet Tom Sawyer” - told the story of a boy growing up on a New England farm.

Carl Douglas “Doug” Peterson, who still bears well the comparison to the boy in Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and other novels, grew up on Hillcrest Farm in Framingham. Now, Peterson has written his own story about his family’s farm, which was located just down the hill from where Bose Corp. is today.

“The Home Front, A Memoir from WWII,” is the story of Peterson’s youth on the farm in the shadow of the war and its aftermath. The second part of the book, “Voices From the Home Front,” includes essays contributed from 37 other Americans who lived through those unusual times.

Peterson’s book takes readers right to the farm. There is the hard work of tending cows, baling hay, plowing fields and delivering milk. Then there are the special times: summer, Christmas and fishing.

“Kids at school called summer ‘vacation.’ I thought of it as my real life. Real life was farming ... “ writes Peterson. “Summer brought me joy. Everyday I felt pure and simple delight.”

Peterson cherishes his memories of the holidays, which also included hard work.

“My grandfather’s sister, Moster Olga, came to the farm every Christmas. Her task was butchering the pig we hung up over a tub in the tractor shed. She would skin and carve away all morning, filling brine barrels with pieces and making blood sausage in the afternoon. It was an old joke, but we always said the only thing Moster Olga left of the pig was its squeal.”

Peterson also writes about the simple outdoor pleasures he enjoyed during his boyhood.

“I almost always had my fishing rod with me. If I wasn’t doing chores, or haying or in school, I was fishing … with my thoughts washed clean and reduced to one, simple, contented focus.”

But the war was a tremendous disruption. Things changed during and after the end of World War II. Everything did not go back to normal. Life changed, communities changed and technologies changed. Conveniences like supermarkets, residential refrigeration, and homogenization produced sweeping effects, eventually leading to difficulties for the farm.

“Right after the war was this big economic boom and Framingham was right at the center of it. We had Shoppers World come in. We had General Motors show up,” said Peterson. The rapid development around the farm meant Hillcrest could not expand.

“The early years of the ‘50s were not the ‘Happy Days’ that everyone remembers,” Peterson continued. Eventually the farm was sold and developed into an industrial park.

"If you could have seen it back in the ‘40s and ‘50s. There were farms all over. Up in Nobscot and out Route 30 over toward Sherborn. There were farms everywhere. It was quite a lovely place… It was a time when we all helped each other. Today it is hard to imagine how united and together strangers could be.”

A few years back, while attending his 60th Framingham High School reunion, Peterson came up with the idea for the memoir.

“It occurred to me that we were the last ones who experienced and could remember such a profound time,” Peterson said. He told himself, “I have got to make sure nobody forgets this.”

“Home Front,” published this year by History Publishing Company, is one fruit of Peterson’s idea. It follows his experiences from his earliest memories beginning Dec. 7, 1941, through the sale of the family farm in 1955. He also started a blog he uses collect and archive the stories of others who lived during that time. More “stories from the home front” can be submitted and read at Peterson’s website www.homefrontmemoir.com.

On June 19, Peterson will speak and sign copies of his book after the Framingham History Center’s annual meeting.

Peterson’s personal story, of course, does not end with the sale of the farm. After graduating from Framingham High School he joined the Navy and by age 20 was flying airplanes. Eventually he earned a Master of Science in management from MIT, and worked for many years at International Paper Company and Danbury Hospital. He has published several books on management topics, a book on flyfishing and a history of Danbury Hospital.

These days, Peterson lives in Danbury, Connecticut, and still likes to fish.

“I am an avid fly fisherman,” Peterson said. “Three or four days a week I'm wading thigh deep in some river. I tie my own flies and travel all over.”

Framingham History Center Annual Meeting and

“Home Front: A Memoir from WWII” Book Launch

WHEN: Tuesday, June 19, 7 p.m.

WHERE: Edgell Memorial Library, 3 Oak St., Framingham

INFO: This is a member and donor-only event. To join the FHC visit www.framinghamhistory.org. As space is limited, please RSVP to laura@framinghamhistory.org or 508-626-9091

“Home Front: A Memoir from WWII”

By C.D. Peterson

History Publishing Company

216 Pages, $18.95