Growing up in the town of Old Bridge, New Jersey, Eileen Claveloux had many wonderful Christmas memories. But perhaps none were as memorable as when her father tried to build a fireplace in their home for the holidays.
The family of seven lived in a suburban home, among a row of other similar looking houses which didn’t include many unique amenities. But Lou Claveloux, a mechanical engineer by profession, was determined to give his family a traditional holiday hearth for the home. So he knocked down one of the walls of their home in order to build it.
“We had a hole in our house during the colder months of the year,” Eileen, who now lives in Sunderland, recalled. “My dad was a person who really believed that he could do just about anything if he set his mind to it.”
The drafty hole in the wall was not made in vain — Lou Claveloux completed his fireplace in time for Christmas.
“He always carried a picture of that fireplace in his wallet,” Eileen said. “He didn’t carry any pictures of his five kids. He was very proud of it.”
The story is exemplary of just how much Eileen’s parents, Jean and Lou Claveloux, loved the Christmas season. The couple met when Lou was working at a chemical company outside Wilmington, Delaware, and would play basketball at the local YMCA, where he met Jean. Their Christmases were filled with big family gatherings, traditional family recipes from Eileen’s Armenian grandmother, and of course, the annual Christmas fruitcake.
“They always made the fruitcake right after Thanksgiving that would be ready for Christmas,” Eileen said. “And it actually was good.”
Later, the couple moved to Madison, Connecticut. Lou Claveloux suffered a spinal cord injury that left him unable to walk, with doctors questioning if he would be able to live very long. But under Jean’s nurturing care, he continued to live on for another decade, passing away in 1998.
“My mom was absolutely steadfast that he would remain home and she would care for him,” Eileen said. “It took a lot out of her to do that.” Jean Claveloux passed away five years later in 2003.
Though the elder Claveloux couple never lived in western Massachusetts, Eileen says she gives to the Sidney F. Smith toy fund in their memory, since the goals of the fund reflects the values her parents would have agreed with.
“When there wasn’t a whole lot of money, they just made sure that Christmas was really fun for everybody,” she said. “They were kind of like kids themselves about the holiday.”
To be eligible for the Toy Fund, families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett, and in Holyoke in Hampden County.
The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton; Deals & Steals, 1 Pearl St., Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Once Upon A Child,1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Plato’s Closet, 1472 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; World Eye Bookshop, 134 Main St., Greenfield; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., and 1584 Dwight St. No. 1, Holyoke.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
