Edited interview with Sharon Mozden, daughter of Anna Dugas. Conducted by Joe Manning (JM), on April 7, 2009. Transcribed by Hilary Buxton and edited by Manning.

JM: How did you react when you first saw the photos of your mother?

Mozden: Oh, my gosh, I can't even begin to tell you. It was very emotional for me. I have no pictures of my mother as a young girl, so they are very precious. She and her husband adopted me when I was about five years old. They had four children of their own. One of their daughters, Claire, had adopted me when I was about nine months old. I was born in Hartford (Connecticut) in 1948. I had been in an orphanage called St. Agnes Home. My real parents were Greek, but I have almost no information about them. My mother told me that I was the last of seven children, and that they couldn't afford to keep me.

But several years after Claire adopted me, her husband was killed. Unlike today, where almost anyone can adopt a child, the rules were different. The State of Connecticut said she wasn't allowed to keep me, since she was a single parent. So the state decided to take me back, but Anna said no, and that she and her husband wanted to adopt me. So I went from calling Anna my memere to calling her Mom.

JM: What kind of relationship did you have with Claire after that?

Mozden: It was a good relationship. Claire lived just down the street from us, so I saw her often. I used to call her Mommy Claire. They had a summer place by a lake, and I remember going there in the summer for a vacation and staying for a week or so. Unfortunately, she died when I was in high school. She had a massive heart attack.

JM: Did you recognize your mother in the pictures?

Mozden: When I put them up on the computer, my husband said, ‘Oh, my gosh, it's your mom.' You know who she reminds me of? She reminds me of her oldest granddaughter. I got them framed, and now they are absolutely stunning. She would be so flattered and humbled if she could see them. They are like a museum piece. The framer was so enamored with the picture of her in the mill that I made a copy for him, and he wanted to ask his manager if he could hang it in the shop. I hung the pictures in our den; it's the perfect place for them.

JM: Where did you live when you were growing up?

Mozden: In Taftville, which is a little section of Norwich.

JM: What was your mother like when you first started living with her as an adopted child?

Mozden: She was a very loving person, but she was never overtly affectionate. The very first time she ever called me sweetheart was when my son was born; but she was very loving, caring, generous, unselfish, and very humble.

JM: Were her other children still living in the home when you were growing up?

Mozden: No. By the time I was adopted, my parents were in their 50s, and I was the only child at home.

JM: As you grew older and your parents were old enough to be grandparents, how did that affect you in terms of comparing yourself to other children of your age who had younger and more active parents?

Mozden: Back then the families all lived on the same block, and I had a cousin in the neighborhood whose parents were much younger. I went to the beach with them, but I never went to the beach with my parents. My mother never wore pants; she always wore a dress. When she went to church she always had a hat and gloves.

JM: How did your mother treat the situation of you having a different biological mother?

Mozden: That was never brought up.

JM: But when you were five, you must have been old enough to realize this was going on?

Mozden: Well, they told me that I was very special. That's how they handled it.

JM: But you knew you were adopted?

Mozden: Yes, they didn't hide that.

JM: When you were growing up, did your mother work?

Mozden: No. I think she worked for a little while when she was first married, but after that, she was always home. I went to a small Catholic grammar school. I'd walk home, she'd have lunch, and then I'd walk back to school.

JM: Did your mother talk much about growing up in Winchendon, or growing up as a child and working in a mill?

Mozden: She talked a little bit about it. I think now about what they had to do if you had a large family. I don't think she even finished grade school. Neither she nor her sister Alice graduated from high school. I went to nursing school, and I was one of the first to go beyond high school.

JM: Have you ever been to Winchendon?

Mozden: I don't think so. I think she might have gone back to visit there when she was first married, but I've never been there.

JM: Could your mother read and write?

Mozden: Oh, yes.

JM: Did your mother speak French when you were little?

Mozden: Yes. When she got together with her family, she would speak French.

JM: What did your father do for a living?

Mozden: He was a custodian in a couple of the local schools. They never had a lot of money, but we always had what we needed.

JM: My records indicate he died in 1977.

Mozden: He died the year before my son was born. He loved children. I remember my mother saying, ‘It's too bad Daddy is not here; he would have loved this.'

JM: He died 15 years before your mother died.

Mozden: That's right. She was 94 when she died. She had finally gone into elderly housing, the last year or two, and then the last six months or so, she was in a nursing home.