Menzel/Danald article

Madeleine Hilda (Menzel) Danald
By Karen Cuccinello

I found four of Madeleine’s autograph books with dates from 1926 to 1935 in the Stamford Historical Society archives. A few of the oldest signatures were from Eastern School; I believe this was probably from when she was still living in East Orange, NJ, then from 1929 on the signers are from Stamford or Harpersfield.
Madeleine was born January 26, 1917 in NJ to John W. (1877-1957) and Hilda A. (Johnson 1877-1949) Menzel. John and Hilda (she came to the USA from Sweden in 1890) were married in 1909 and honeymooned in Stamford. They continued yearly vacations in Stamford then bought a home from Fred Buck on Odell Lake Road about 1929. It appears that Madeleine was their only child.
Madeleine graduated from Stamford Seminary in 1935, then went on to nursing school at Presbyterian Hospital in NYC. She was a student nurse at Binghamton City Hospital in 1937 and graduated from there in 1939. She married George E. Danald by 1940 as they are in the 1940 Binghamton, NY census, he as a chemical engineer at Photographic Manufacturing Co and she as a hospital nurse.
George E Danald was born September 30, 1911 in Newark, NJ and enlisted in Battery C 104th Field Artillery January 23, 1939. He served during WWII and made a career of the military. They had a son Donald in 1944 in Montgomery, AL and daughter Dawn Ann in 1948 in Aberdeen, MD. The family went with George where ever he served; Japan, Delaware, California, Alabama, Illinois and Maryland. Their daughter Dawn was said to have learned Japanese before English as she was two years old during their first stay in Japan, and Madeleine was a registered nurse in a Tokyo hospital. George was a scientist and his rank at the time of his death May 8, 1963, in Maryland, was Colonel.
In 1973 Madeleine, of Dunkirk, MD was visiting in Stamford and died March 30, 1979. She is buried with her husband at Arlington National Cemetery. Her parents are buried in Stamford.
August 20, 1980 Stamford Mirror-Recorder- Donald Danald, son of the late Mrs. Madeline Menzel Danald, recently moved from Mexico to the home of his late grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. John Menzel. Odell Lake Road. He will be joined by his wife and family at a later date. Mr. Danald who in his early days often visited his grandparent’s home is enjoying living here and renewing old friends. He is employed at Graham Laboratories in Hobart. (Donald passed away in Michigan 2019 and his sister Dawn Kough preceded him in 2002.)
Some of the poems in the autograph booklets:
You asked me to write, Now what shall it be, Just two little words, “Remember Me.”
Remember the pen, Remember the ink, Remember the night we slept in the sink.
Way back here and out of sight, I’ll write my name in just for spite.
When under a spreading chestnut tree, Look up at the nuts and think of me.
From one who knows: Never make love by the garden gate, Love is blind, but the neighbors ain’t.
I like violets, I like roses, Here’s hoping your children don’t have pig noses.
Love many, Trust few, Always paddle your own canoe.
At writing poetry I was always deficient, At prose it is just the same, So I will stop before I begin By simply writing my name. Yours till stones walk.
Some write for pleasure, Some write for fame, But I write simply to sign my name.
Yours until the monkey climbs the Saturday Evening Post.
Roses are red, Violets are blue, Sugar is sweet, And so are you. Yours till the kitchen sinks.