Claremont Native Discusses Book

By Arthur Vidro
Joe Steinfield, who grew up in Claremont, returns this weekend to discuss his newest book.

The discussion – followed by a signing session – will be at Violet’s Book Exchange on Opera House Square, starting at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“Time For Everything,” released last month by Bauhan Publishing, is a collection of short essays. One major section of the book discusses the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the rule of law. It is Joseph D. Steinfield, attorney, talking to readers on matters of great importance. Yet he does not use legalese; he is writing for a lay audience.

The other major section of the book contains little essays about people, heroes, friends, family, sports, being Jewish, travel, and other topics. It is Joe Steinfield, Claremont native, graduate of Stevens High School (class of 1957), sharing memories. This section picks up where Joe’s prior book left off. That book, also available at Violet’s, is “Claremont Boy: My New Hampshire Roots and the Gift of Memory” (Bauhan, 2014).

Joe grew up in an era when Claremont had factories and jobs aplenty. It was a pre-Interstate shopping mecca for the region, a safe and happy place to be.

“In those days, the 1940s and ‘50s,” writes Joe, “Claremont was prosperous and people seemed to get along. Drugs existed in those days, but in faraway places like New York City, not our town. There was no shortage of alcohol, of course.

“Crime was something else we didn’t have. Supposedly, there had once been a murder in Claremont, but no one ever talked about the details, like who was the victim or what became of the murderer.

“Pollution? Of course we had it. The factories, including my father’s mill on the Sugar River, contributed to it, but no one ever talked about it.”

In Joe’s time, one didn’t just know the shops; one knew the shopkeepers. Joe remembers the downtown of his era, when Jewish merchants were lined up and down Pleasant Street and there were three hotels.

Joe has seen many changes to Claremont over the decades. “Like so many mill towns, Claremont has gone through difficult times,” says Joe. “The town then was reasonably prosperous. It was a fairly bustling downtown. Back then, every storefront window had a store behind it.”

Joe grew up on a street called Edgewood, which today is Foster Place. “John McLane Clark owned the Claremont Daily Eagle [now the Eagle Times]. His widow, Rhoda Shaw Clark, moved next door to us. She ran the paper for many years.” The Steinfield family read the Eagle. “When I was a kid, we got two newspapers,” writes Joe. “The Daily Eagle and the Boston Record.”

Joe’s memories are sharp. He draws connections between people and events that lesser observers would never have noticed.

The writing is straightforward, touching, accessible, witty, and at times poignant, such as when describing his mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s: “She had the good sense to outwit the disease. Before it took away all her faculties, she died of something else.”

Joe drops a few pearls of wisdom into his books, such as “Oftentimes facts are really just opinions expressed with total certainty.”

Throughout the books are memories of Joe’s meeting famous people, such as Duke Ellington, Daniel Ellsberg, Dom DiMaggio, Bob Cousy, Dorothy Loudon, Janet Napolitano, Michael Dukakis, Ozzy Osbourne, and Julia Child.

Child never endorsed products, and if her likeness appeared on one she would sue, through Joe’s law firm. Then she’d give the recovered money to her favorite charity, the American Institute of Food and Wine. “Then,” writes Joe, “she would say to me, ‘I do hope they do it again soon. The Institute needs the money.’”

“Time for Everything” sells for $22, “Claremont Boy” for $24.95. Each can be bought from the publisher. But spare yourself the shipping costs; go to Violet’s.