When I was 16 or 17, the summers of 1943-'44, Curtis and I spent a month at Hyde Park in the "Big House," (Springwood) with our grandparents. One weekend, Grandmere invited Marian Anderson, American contralto and one of the finest voices in the world, to come to Val-Kill. I was thrilled. On a Saturday Grandmere drove Miss Anderson and me to Wiltwyck School, located exactly opposite the Big House across the Hudson River. Just the three of us with me craning forward from the back to listen to the conversation of the adults. Wiltwyck was an established school for delinquent boys, mostly from New York City, and many of them African American. Grandmere took a great interest in the progress of that school. When we arrived Miss Anderson greeted the staff and the children, and then she sang, a cappella, a short selection of folk songs and spirituals. She and her music were unforgettable.

On another weekend Paul Robeson was Grandmere's guest, and we did exactly the same visit to Wiltwyck. Robeson was America's greatest bass singer and a fine actor, as well. For the children, all boys, this visit was even more thrilling - a great, deep voice, full of passion and shadings, and a consummate male model for the youngsters. Both the Anderson and Robeson visits were held outdoors. The idea behind both occasions was Grandmere's way of interesting public figures, in many fields of achievement, to the needs of Wiltwyck, which were great, and expensive as well. The school provided educational programs and psychological assistance to children who were deemed extremely difficult and disturbed.

Once every summer, Grandmere held a day's picnic at Val-Kill for the Wiltwyck boys and the whole family and other guests at Val-Kill pitched in to serve hot dogs, buns and salads to a large number of children and the school's staff. They arrived by bus. Games were planned and sometimes Grandmere would read a favorite short story after lunch. She sat on a log and the children gathered round. These activities were an example to every one lucky enough to be present of the good will and energy generated by my grandmother when she really cared about the people in question.