Jul 30, 2008

All in the familyBy Kathryn KochWickedLocal.com

Plymouth, MA – Needless to say, there probably weren’t too many women who owned their own business in Plymouth 90 years ago.

Fourth generation John Alden Gift Shop owner Laurie Gibbs wonders what it was like for her great grandmother Mae, when she and her husband, Willard, opened the store in 1918, two years before women won the right to vote.

“Everyone is surprised it was my great grandmother who started it,” Gibbs said.

Following in the footsteps of her great grandmother, Gibbs and her husband, Jon, took ownership of the gift shop in 1994 after her father, John Parsons, retired to move to Florida. Her father had taken ownership in 1969 from his parents, Donald and Doris, who had taken over from Mae and Willard in 1955.

Gibbs said she knows her father misses running the business and understands why.

“It’s what you do,” she said. “It’s in your blood.”

Gibbs grew up with the business. She remembers her father getting ready to go to work and asking if she could go along.

She wanted to join him for his regular hot chocolate at the Howard Johnson’s restaurant next door in the space now occupied by Pebble’s restaurant.

She remembers helping her aunt Margie Petit make change for customers as a little girl. After graduating from high school she went to work at the gift shop full time. Her father showed her the ropes, and when it was time for him to retire, she was well prepared to take over. She said he was a great teacher.

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