Court Orders Grow Family To Vacate VFW-This Day In Norwood History-August 27, 1948

All order to vacate within two weeks or face a jail sentence for contempt of court was handed down in Dedham District Court Saturday by Judge Gilbert U Cox to Donald Grow, 27 wounded Manne veteran who has made his home with his wife and three mung children in the VFW Headquarters on Railroad avenue for the past 19 months.

The family were offered quarters in the veteran« post building by former commander John “Tris” Ferney after they had been evicted from a Norwood apartment. The present adjutant Robert Browning told the court Saturday that the invitation extended until the family found new living quarters and that post officers had discovered several places for the Grows. In remarking on Browning’s testimony Grow later said that the VFW officials had found possible homes for him and his family, but that rents were prohibitively high- He receives a government pension of $13.80 a month for partial disability, in addition to his earnings as a taxi driver and occasional work as a musician.

In the court testimony, Browning said that ten months ago the newly – elected Commander Edmund Paduck called a meeting of the post and it was decided to ask the family to leave Browning said that the Grows refused although the V.FW. offered to pay moving costs. It was also stated that since the family moved in, the V.FW. has paid $270 for extra care of the property and $725 for the installation of a new boiler on the premises.

Since the family moved to the veterans organization premises, their two youngest children have been born. Albert is one year old and Maureen is two weeks old. Their oldest child, Kathleen, is two years of age.

In his decision on the matter, Judge Cox said Saturday that Grow had violated common hospitality and gave him two weeks to change his residence. It was reported later that the family had been given an opportunity to move into a home on Veterans Road but that it is not expected to be vacant until the middle of September.