Sandy Gifford's genealogy includes some of the oldest families in Westport. Her mother's maiden name was Potter. Abe Potter was the postmaster back when they delivered the mail in horse and buggy. Her father was the fire chief in Westport for 26 years and helped start the fire department.

Ms. Gifford always wanted to be a nurse, even as a little girl. In 1959, she applied to schools in Boston and went to nursing school there. She has lived all over the country but has returned to Westport and says she is happy to be living back here.

FATHER? "My father got paid 50 cents an hour if he went to a fire, so needless to say he had another job. On Sundays, he made his rounds of the fire stations. There was one on Reed Road and one in the north end.

OTHER MEMORIES? "We had a big old typewriter that must have been made in the 1800s. You pretty much had to use a hammer to push the keys down and that's what he did payroll on."

FIRE EQUIPMENT? "My father decided they should have a fire truck that could carry the water on it. He designed one and took it to the builders of fire trucks. They said it wouldn't work. It did. My father didn't know anything about a patent. Maximilian did one with a patent. The town has one from back then it didn't restore. It was left out in a field."

WORKED FROM HOME? "Those were the days of the crank phones. All our phone numbers were weird. My mother had a list of all the firefighters in town. It was all volunteers."

UNIFORMS? "We had an old stairway that went down to the cellar. That's where he hung his fire clothes."

FIRES? "I remember my father having to go to fires. The saddest memory I have is when I was a little girl. This entire family burned, nine altogether. My father talked about having to carry these little girls out. It was 50 to 60 years ago. He said they were all huddled together in a corner. It was out by St. George's Church."

OTHER FAMILY MEMORIES? "My mother's house was in (a story in) Westport Shorelines. It was a kit house. They bought it for $1,500. My mother to the day she died said she couldn't figure out why her taxes went up when she only paid $1,500 for the house."

LAND OWNED? "My family owned land on Drift Road down where Route 88 is today. When 88 came in, they took that by eminent domain."

MEMORIES OF WESTPORT? "When I was little -- the building is still there -- it was a store on Drift Road, Fred Tripp's store. He had an old fashioned wagon and he delivered groceries. Dad worked in Little Compton in construction. One day, Tripp said, 'I think you've got a fire,' so we opened the cellar door and there was smoke down there. We had to call my father in Little Compton to come home."

OTHER HOME FIRES? "I use to smoke and one time I set the chicken coop on fire. My father came home and he got angry. He said to me, 'I wonder how the chicken coop caught fire, and I said, 'I bet the chickens were smoking.'"

DEVOTED TO TOWN? "My father devoted his entire life to the fire department and he did not get monetary rewards. He just loved the fire department."

OTHER ANCESTORS? "My great great grandmother was the first lay minister the Quaker Meeting had. The cemetery behind the Meeting is all my family. As a girl, I remember I went to silent meeting. The old oil stove would go glug glug glug and that was my highlight."

1954 HURRICANE: "I remember that the water completely covered Hix Bridge. My grandmother had a big old tree that must have been 100 years old and it came right out of the ground."

By Peggy Aulisio

paulisio@eastbaynewspapers.com