Timmy

First, a few words about this delightful story and its author...

Timmy was written and illustrated in 1938; the cat, his people and the adventures described in what my family have come to call "The Timmy Book" were all very real.

The human couple depicted in Timmy were my maternal grandparents, Laurette and Frederick Charlton. The hotel where the story begins is the one they lived in and ran -- the Roger Smith in Stamford, Connecticut. (It was the flagship of what was to become one of the most respected chains of its time; the Roger Smith in New York City is now protected by historical landmark status.) The cabin on the lake where the story takes them was in Orleans, Vermont.

The cat -- Timmy -- was every bit as pampered, spoiled and loved as the story would have you believe.

Laurette's sketches and oil paintings illustrate the original book. (No; I haven't posted them online yet. Sorry!) She studied at both New York's Grand Central School of Art and the Art Students League; her works hang in many private collections, and she was honored by several one-woman shows at respected museums.

Although subtitled "A Story for Children," Laurette wrote Timmy primarily to entertain herself and her adult family (Laurette's own child, Anne -- who was to become my mother -- was 22 at the time this was written. I was yet to be born.) The result: this delightful work has been read and re-read by four generations of friends, neighbors and visitors... "kids of all ages."

My family is delighted that -- thanks to the web -- new generations of children and adults around the world will be able to enjoy reading about Timmy's timeless escapades.