by Carl and Sue Schnapp
Carl and I moved to Holliston in August of 1980. We had lived in Ohio all of our lives, moving from our hometown of Miamisburg, Ohio, near Dayton to Westerville, Ohio, when we were married. Carl worked for FDIC and was looking for a promotion. We applied to four cities that had openings- Dallas, Kansas, Atlanta, and Boston. It was our lucky day when we found out that we were accepted in Boston. We were so excited for this new adventure. I can remember calling up my mother and telling her of our good news, only to find dead silence at the other end of the phone. I had forgotten that as an only child, that meant that not only was I moving 850 miles away, we were taking away her only grandchildren, who were 2 and 6 at the time!
Carl left in July to start the new job. He went out with a realtor to look for houses before I came out to help in the process. What a daunting task! His job was in Boston and there are only a million choices of towns from which to choose. He didn’t even know where to start, so he asked people at work for suggestions. They ruled out the South Shore because of the traffic in the mornings, and Carl was in sticker shock with the homes that were north of Boston. Finally, someone suggested that if he moved out west, he could be in a car pool that originated in Framingham. So he went looking at several towns around the area. He found one house that just struck him as the perfect house. He couldn’t say enough about it. This had me really nervous because Carl at the time didn’t really have too many opinions on household things. He just went with the flow, so I was scared to death that I wouldn’t like the same house that he did.
The corporation gave me one week to look for a house in our new area. We spent several 12 hour days with a realtor looking at all of the choices around Metrowest. We took Polaroid pictures of each of the homes and set them out on the bed in the motel each night and weeded out which ones we didn’t like. It all came back to the same house and town that Carl had liked. We both fell in love with the house on Fiske Street in Holliston. It was everything we were looking for and we loved being back in the woods. The Caradonnas lived in the house at the time. They were instrumental in convincing us that Holliston was the perfect town to live in- good schools, good church community, and good people. We were sold!
We had never heard of a septic system or couldn’t imagine what the huge oil tank was doing in our basement(cellar), and we were shocked to find out that if we had moved any sooner, we would have had to take our trash to the dump. A concept unheard of in the mid- west! My dad was sure we had moved back in time 50 years. But, Holliston was just what we were looking for. We love the country atmosphere, the friends we have made, and our girls, Theresa and Emily have thrived here. Even though we had just one week to find our town and house, we made the perfect choice!
Carl and Sue Schnapp
215 Fiske Street
