When I read the obituary this morning for the woman who grew up in Fairfax and was raised by Thomas & Alice Bevins and actually went by the name Barbara Jean Bevins when she lived with them, it brought to mind the different people here in town who raised and took care of what I remember being called "State Kids." Many of these children when you meet them in later years refer to these kind people who brought them up as their parents.
Liza Woodworth was another lady who lived at the foot of Mill Hill that used to take care of these children as did the Talcott Family just over the Westford Town line on Route 128, as did the Reynolds Family on The Woods Hollow Road in Westford, as did Maryann & John Zeno here on The River Road in Fairfax. There are most likely more, but off the top of my head, those are the ones that come to mind at this time.
I remember talking to Gordon Little down at IBM who was brought up by the Talcott Family and how referred to the Talcotts as his parents and the other children they brought up as his siblings. The Talcott Family brought up several children with disabilities. They later moved to Fletcher.
I had to do some searching, but I finally found it. A St. Albans Messenger Correspondent wrote an article on Maryann Zeno that I have kept in my files. In case you don't know about it, you can click on the following link and read the article. There are several of Maryann's (Adopted) kids that still live in the area, although only one is mentioned in the article:
