Those were the days: The Soares clan, with friends & neighbors

Vintage photographs from the 1930s and beyond from the family of Victor Faria Soares, Sr. and Rose Raymond Soares of Somerset, Mass., my grandparents. These were digitized by my uncle, Arthur Faria Soares, who also provided me with many stories about my family and his experiences growing up. The children of Rose and Victor Sr. were: Victor Jr., Beatrice, Raymond (my father), and Arthur.

My uncle, Arthur Faria Soares, who digitized many of these pictures, titled this "Bea and Connie on Dad's Car." That would be his sister, Beatrice (on the right), and her best friend, Constance Quental. The Quental family lived near the Soares family, and the youngsters were quite close. There were six Quentals and four Soares, so I imagine they formed quite a "tribe." There are many pictures of the Quentals in my collection. Mr. Quental was a carpenter who fell on hard times during the Depression and was unable to finish the house he was building for his family. So they lived in the capped basement until World War II brought the Navy to nearby Newport, RI, and Mr. Quental found work again.