Memoir ‘Notes from a Small-Town Son’ released as video
By Emma Palova - Contributing Writer
5 Mar. 2025
Donald Earl “Mac” MacNaughton penned his memories of growing up in Lowell, from 1918 to 1929, in pretty cursive and simple language, speckled with gentle humor. Never expecting to be published, he wrote his first entry on January 25, 1985. It reads, “The old grouch is once again sitting at the table, looking out at all that beautiful, white stuff covering everything that’s already been covered since day one. Anybody in his right mind would be in Florida, or Bermuda, or Tahiti, or anyplace where the natives want to know what snow looks like. Anyone who would want to know what snow looks like, should, likewise, have his head examined.
Of course, I can remember many times as a kid, I would play for hours in the danged stuff; get cold and wet and slide some more.”
Inspired by the Lowell Area Historical Museum’s (LAHM) Letters Home project, Lowell composer, Roger MacNaughton has produced a video of his dad’s memoir, accompanied by his own music, “River of Peace.”
“Dad would have been thrilled that it’s out there,” Roger said. “I only wish dad had written more. It’s important for us to remember what life was like. You made your own fun like, rolling a hoop.”
Born in 1914, Donald writes in his memories about having fun long before the Internet, like the first champion Model T sled or the upscale Cadillac of sleds, the Flexible Flyer. He also was the proud owner of skis made from old barrel staves. “I had limited success with these. They had the same ability to go backward as they did forward. As a result, I spent a lot of time traveling in one spot.”
Fascinated by wares and inventions at the time, Donald wrote about the fancy high-top shoes, the first radios and ice-wagon deliveries. He was also puzzled by the name Flat River, saying, “I’ve never learned why it was called Flat; every river I’ve ever seen was just as flat. Anyway, the river divided the town into the east side and the west side. We walked home from school across the frozen river.”
After graduating from Lowell High School in 1932, Donald started working as an errand boy at The Lowell Ledger, which was located in the same place it is currently, on the west side. “The school was on the east side,” Roger said. “I used to stop at the Ledger to say hi to dad.”
At the time, between 1957 to 1962, Harold Jefferies was the owner of the paper. He hired Donald
as an errand boy and he soon advanced to the head pressman. Donald had tons of stories to tell, but the most popular one was when he accidentally dropped the letter “r” from “shirts” in an ad for the Coons Clothing Store. It was the pre-Christmas paper, dated Dec. 14, 1944, so it sold out; people no doubt looking for “shirts.”
“He built-up the story that it was in huge font, but it wasn’t that big,” Roger said. “I found the ad in KDL archives.”
Roger pursued the publishing of his dad’s memoir, even after his friend, The Lowell Ledger Publisher Roger Brown turned him down, in 1991 and LAHM placed it in its files. “I didn’t want it to be sitting somewhere in files like the movie ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’” Roger said.
So, he embarked on a labor of love that took five months of part-time work. Roger created the video in his home studio, using his dad’s manuscript, recording himself reading the manuscript, much like a voice actor will record a book on tape.
“I didn’t edit dad’s original copy in any way,” he said. “I tried to remain true to his exact intentions. This took quite a while, as I am certainly not a professional voice talent. But I am pretty good at audio editing-fixing my own mistakes.” Roger placed snippets of his own musical piece to underscore the intro and outro of the video, and to provide transitions between dad’s chapters. “The track is called ‘River of Peace,’” he said. “I like the dreaminess and flow the piece added to the project.”
Once, Roger had created the 41-minute voice and music track, he loaded it into his video software program, which became his timeline. Then, using actual images from his dad’s youth and the Lowell Area Historical Museum’s website, he placed photos into the timeline at appropriate places, as well as Donald’s handwritten manuscript in scroll mode, for times when the right photos for the topic couldn’t be found.
“I’m hoping that interested Lowell people will find out what life was like in their small town at the beginning of the 20th Century,” Roger said. “Beyond that, almost anyone, anywhere, who is interested in history could learn things.”
The whole piece is an MP4 file uploaded to Roger’s YouTube Channel,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wu73f_WmHY
on his website rogermacnaughton.com and on LAHM’s website under the oral histories tab MacNaughton, Donald…A delightful telling of childhood memories of growing up in Lowell, between 1918-1929, with narration and music by his son Roger MacNaughton.
https://www.lowellmuseum.org/oral-histories.html
“Making this video is a huge relief for me, because it means I have finally honored Dad’s wishes. It's as if his ‘book’ was finally published,” Roger said.
The actual manuscript is placed at LAHM where it can be viewed. LAHM is located at 325 W. Main St., Lowell.
