Ida Mary Boccucci and Norbert Noel Deslauriers grew up as next-door neighbors in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood, but it took a while before they got to know each other.
“My first job was at the Royal Typewriter,” Ida says, referring to the nearby Hartford factory. “I was 16 years old. I bent springs to go in the typewriters.”
“I worked spraying radiators when I was 16,” Norbert says, but he soon switched to Royal, where he set up machines for factory assembly.
“Those days, everybody worked there,” Ida says. “He was on nights. I was on days.”
Ida’s parents, brother and two sisters emigrated from Italy and settled in Hartford before she was born in 1918. When she was 13, the principal of her public school came to the door and asked why Ida was skipping school — she was on the honor roll and a good student, he said.