My mother was born in Harwich. And my father came over from Portugal when he was 18 months old. At that time everyone was coming to the states from Portugal. That's how they came to Cape Cod. A lot of the Portuguese had settled in New Bedford and Fall River. My father lived in Harwich. When he got older and married, a friend of his talked him into buying the land where the house is now in West Hyannisport.

I think it was $1,800 for a little more than two acres and it cost $2,700 for them to put the house up on Craigville Beach Road. My father always wanted a lot of kids. My mother said, "You want a lot of kids? You better build a big house." That's why it's a 10-room house. There were seven of us kids. I was born in that house, in the bedroom upstairs to the left. So I am a native.

Back then, the Cape was a place where everyone knew everyone, people got along with one another, and did things together. You knew your neighbors. A neighbor of mine used to change my diaper. She's still alive—I see her once in a while. Every time I see her, she says, "Don't forget, I used to change your diaper!"

We always had good food. We had a cow and chickens and a pig in the back yard. When we were cooking, we always used to mix up a little bit of everything. We had a lot neighbors that would come over for linguica and everything. In those days, you didn't need a license to go get clams and quahogs. There were a lot of clambakes in the backyards.

I really like steamers from Sandy Neck when I can get them. I make stuffed quahogs and put linguica in—you can put linguica in almost anything you want. I like just about any type of shell seafood except for oysters. I don't know, they just look too gooey to me. But I was well into my 20s before I ate lobster. The way I used to see some people eating it, getting all the belly meat out, that used to turn my stomach. Now, give me a lobster and I'll eat the belly the same way those old-timers did.

There's a few things my mom used to cook that my sister and I learned how to do. I keep telling people how to do a pork loin with the bone on it. I put it in the same pan that I'm going to use in the oven and I marinate it for three days—I tell people they have to marinate it for three days, no less. It's all wrapped in tin foil. With the garlic the way I do it, it's to die for. I grind up some of the garlic with a little salt and vinegar, I stab the pork, take a spoon and pour the garlic and vinegar right in those holes. When I take it out of the refrigerator and put it in the oven, it's all set. The whole house smells so good.

Down on Long Beach Road, Governor James Michael Curley had a house. When the Kennedys were walking down the street, you wouldn't know who they were if you didn't know who they were. They were just like anyone else: no shirt and ties or any of that.

I knew Ted because I was a call fireman in Hyannis for 20 odd years, then I became a fire commissioner for nine. Every once in a while, Ted would be at the functions we had. I used to be over at Bobby Kennedy's house all the time because my first wife worked there. I knew all those kids from when we were young until we got old.

I don't think the Kennedys being in Hyannisport changed the town much. I think, if anything, they tried to protect the Cape. Ted Kennedy was very good to the people here. A lot of people didn't like him, but a lot of people don't like anyone. He was good people if you knew him.

It was a nice life, growing up here. Much better than today. In fact, I wish we had put a gate on the bridge when I was a kid and kept everybody else off!

For more on the DeGrace family's life in West Hyannisport, read Eva DeGrace's letter online at www.capecodlife.com.