Stephanie (Holubesko) Bissonnette - mill worker; as told by daughters Doris, Claire, & Jeanne.
It's a story often told, children of immigrant parents sent to work in the local mills to help support their large and growing families. Our mother, Stephanie Holubesko was no exception. She thrived in school and fought her parents to allow her to continue until 8th grade graduation.
Mom was 14 when she started working at Manville-Jenckes mill. After two years, she was offered a job as a "twister". Twisters were the best paying positions but she refused to subject herself to the cat calls of the male dominated twisting department. Instead she applied at the Clinton Cotton Mill in Woonsocket as a "spooler". The conditions were better, pay was a bit better and workers were allowed to bring rejected pieces of cotton home, which mom used to make dresses. She worked diligently on the looms making sure the threads spun evenly; a slub or broken thread would reduce their pay. the more spools a person could handle, the better their pay. Mom was soon promoted to "Forelady" and her work ethic was valued by the mill manager. Then, as today, a good worker was kept working even during slow periods. Mom was never laid-off.
In 1934, union leaders were attempting to gain a popular vote and make Clinton Mill a unionized mill. As fair as the mill managers had been with mom through the last four years, she was a timid person and not comfortable siding with the mill owners and managers. Rather she joined the ranks of the populist strikers. The strikers did not win their demands for unionization at that particular time and all striking workers not only were replaced with other mill workers but they were banned from being re-hired for at least two years. At 20 years old, being without a paying job, was a blow to Stephanie's pride and to her sense of self.
Stephanie was the oldest of her nine living siblings at that time, and was expected to contribute to the support of her family, financially and otherwise. A maternal aunt, Magdalena, advised her parents Ludwig and Antonia (Ziemba) to send her to work in one of the busy cotton mills where she lived in Fall River. Stephanie could live with her during the week and help care for her son Stanley. Yes, it was decided! Stephanie would sleep on the living room sofa at Coicia's house and travel home on weekends to hand in her pay. She was able to keep enough for bus fare and pay Coicia rent.
Ciocia Magda was a survivor and found evening encounters more profitable than working in the mills. There were many evenings when Mom was relegated to walking the streets until Magda's friends had left. Then the sofa was available for the rest of her short night's sleep. This life situation often found mom in tears, regretting her timidity in following the popular striking crowd. However, soon after, she learned that her cousin had been pushed onto the tracks of a racing, on-coming train, because he wouldn't strike. These people were known as "scabs", and often encountered such accidents, many resulting in death.
There seemed to be no good choices.
As soon as possible, Mom did return to work at the Clinton Mill. WWII brought a new challenge when our dad, Harold Bissonette, was called to serve as a forward communications soldier on the European stage. Mom looked once more to the Clinton Mill for work and her wages helped to pay for rent, food and clothing as well a save enough for dad to buy a used, not too reliable, car when he returned home. Doris and I also remember the "victory gardens" near her mill where uncle Henry grew tomatoes for our families. But we don't remember Mom ever complaining about hard work. Instead we remember her always showing gratitude for a place to earn the means to help support her family.