Precerpt from In with the East Wind: A Mary Poppins Kind of Life - Community Life in Acton
Precerpt (excerpt prior to publication from the forthcoming memoir, In with the East: A Mary Poppins Kind of Life by Dr. Betty Lou Leaver Community Life in Acton Acton wasn’t just a town—it was a woven tapestry of neighbors, stories, and shared memory. Everybody knew everybody, and yes, everybody’s business too. Not out of nosiness exactly, though there was a touch of that. It was more about staying connected, about knowing what was going on so you could lend a hand if needed—or at least have something to talk about the next time you ran into someone in Milton Mills (the location of the closest store, gas station, and post office, Acton having none of those). One of the easiest ways to stay in the loop was the party line. I don’t recall when Acton finally switched to private lines, but next-door Lebanon still had party l...