Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
My children are now grown but in 1974 when my son Brian was 7 and my daughter Heidi was 3, I experienced a Halloween with them I’ll always remember.
Heidi was born with a severe hearing loss and although she would be getting hearing aids soon after her fourth birthday, she didn’t have them yet. She was in a preschool program with other deaf children in Duxbury and was transported to and from school by a special cab company. She became very good at lip reading and sign language. Sometimes I drew her pictures if she didn’t understand something and that worked very well for both of us. She had no understanding of Trick or Treating so taking her to see what it was all about was best.
The week before Halloween my son and the neighborhood kids were all trying to decide what costumes they would wear on the big night. By the 70s, kids were more interested in store-bought costumes than homemade ones, but in our little group most of them put together their own with a little help from us parents. Disappointed because he had outgrown his Lancelot Link costume, Brian let Heidi wear it and settled for a beard and mustache put on with makeup.
It’s always a plus when the weather is perfect for Halloween. Brian came home excited and we put newspapers on the floor and table to make jack-o’-lanterns out of the pumpkins we had so we could put them outside with some candy and a sign ‘ONE BAG ONLY!’ I learned long ago that making anything but something simple for supper on Halloween is useless. After some grilled cheese sandwiches and roasted pumpkin seeds from the oven, the little group of kids who were coming with us arrived and off we went!
My grandmother and parents lived in Hanson and were expecting us, but we did stop at a couple of friends’ houses in Halifax first. Jack-o’-lanterns on steps and porches flickered their lights as we drove by. Eerie sounds, witches, skeletons, and huge spiders lurked at lamp posts and graveyards in people’s yards. A fat overstuffed scarecrow was propped up against a fence at the first house we stopped at. The kids got out of the car with their bags and went up to the house. Heidi was holding my hand and seemed undaunted by some of the sights and more interested in watching intently as candy was put in each bag. As I walked forward with Heidi to the door she stopped, shook her head no, so we left.
At the last stop in Halifax Heidi didn’t want to take the bag with her, she didn’t wait for me, she ran ahead with the kids to stand and watch, looking up at the people who were passing out the candy and then looked back at the kids and then got in the car. I didn’t think too much of it, I knew she was processing what was happening.
My grandmother lived in a big blue house near my parents. I parked the car, and we walked down the well-lit path beside the peony bed to the two spacious cement steps that led to the open door where Gram was waiting and smiling under the big overhead lights. She wanted to know who was who under the make-up and behind the masks and when she saw Brian, she called him her pet name for her great-grandchildren which was pollywog. The kids giggled at that and I was pleased at their politeness as they answered all her questions. Gram spotted Heidi and bent over to say hi to her and Heidi smiled back, smiled at me and pointed to Gram. I knew that meant she remembered going there during the Summer. The kids were just about wiggling out of their costumes as Gram asked if they were ready for candy. She started passing it out and all of a sudden Heidi ran off the bottom step with a determined look on her face. She picked up a nice smooth rock that was on the ground, then she stepped towards me wanting her bag. The other kids had come down off the steps and Heidi ran up to them and when Gram put the candy in her bag, Heidi smiled up at her, her eyes shining, and gave Gramma the rock. Gram had a laugh like musical notes that rang out at her delight with Heidi’s gift. She lifted her up in her arms, walked to the big mantle in the dining room and put the rock in a special place telling Heidi she loved it and thanked her. Heidi’s face glowed as she hugged Gram and smiled at me with a look of complete satisfaction.
Gramma kept the rock on the mantle and loved telling people the story about Heidi and the lovely gift she got for Halloween. Years later when Gram fell ill she asked my dad to give Heidi the rock to remember her by.

Linda Ibbitson Hurd is a Halifax resident who grew up in Hanson and graduated from Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in 1965. Her fond remembrances of life in a simpler time are a delight.