Lee and Karen Duquette
lived in Terryville, CT
(these photos are in date order, but it was from the years 1970 - 1977 in time)
(these photos are in date order, but it was from the years 1970 - 1977 in time)
Below: When Lee Duquette bought the 2 acres of land at the end of the cu l-de-sac, it was just a bunch of trees in the woods. But there was 14 acres of land-locked woods behind their property where Karen, Renee and Brian often went blueberry and blackberry picking. Often they got lost so Karen always left Lee a note to come find them when he got home from work.
After buying the land, Lee had to have a lot of trees and brush cut down and burned.
Below: Looking from the front of the house towards Frankie Lane.
Below: Woods on the side of where the house will be. At one time, Karen Duquette thought about putting a tennis court on the extra lot, but that never happened.
Below: Time to start clearing the land to make room for a house and in-ground pool,
Below: Preparing for the pool
Below: Time to start digging the well - snow or no snow - January 1971
Below: Lee and Brian Duquette - February 1971
Below: Karen Duquette with her two children, Brian and Renee Duquette - standing on top of the basement roof aka- first floor ceiling. February 1971
Below: May 1971
Below: A piece of wood made a temporary ramp into the house.
Below: Brian and Renee Duquette looking out of the sliding glass doors in the dining room - towards the back yard.
Below: Lee's
Grandma Pietro and one of his Aunts
came to see the house
Below Renee and Brian Duquette
watch their dad work on the house.
Below: The Terryville house and dirt driveway - May 1971
Below: The Terryville house and gravel driveway
Below: The back yard of the house with its attached garage - August 1971
Below: Brian and Renee Duquette watch their Dad fixing up the back yard.
Below: The basement door opened from the Left side of the house
Below; the start of the basement interior.
The room next to he stairs will be the laundry room
Below: The basement
fireplace.
There is also a fireplace in the living room upstairs.
Below: The first floor bathroom and of
course
a full bath was also on the second floor.
Below: Brian Duquette's bedroom. Renee also had her own bedroom, but the photo got lost.
Below: The Dining room in 1971
Below: The Dining room in 1972
Below: The kitchen window looked into the back yard. A multi-tiered lazy susan pantry was also in the kitchen. And there was a full-size cabinet with layers of lazy-susans for canned goods. Other photos inside the house were lost before this page was posted.
Below: Easter 1972
Below: Lee Duquette in the adjoining second acre of land. Karen Duquette thought about putting a tennis court there, but they never did.
Below:Lee Duquette took a break from working on the house. So he hung a rope from a tree limb to make a rope swing. Eventually he even put up a rope swing so he could swing right into the swimming pool.
Below: Brian Duquette and neighbor, Ricky Houle. Ricky had an older sister, Sheila who became good friends with Renee and the four of them often hung out together.
Below: Christmas 1973
Below: Easter 1974 - Brian and Renee Duquette hunting for the Easter Eggs
Below Brian and Renee Duquette ready for church.
For Halloween 1974, Lee and Karen Duquette dressed up as trees.so they could take Brian and Renee trick-or-treating at the neighborhood houses.
Below: Thanksgiving was usually held at Lee's parents house on the lake, as was Christmas. But Karen was not allowed to bring food since she was not Italian, so she was charged money instead. She never told Lee about that because she did not want to cause trouble and did not want to cook anyway.
But one Thanksgiving, Karen decided that the holiday had to be held at her house and nobody was allowed to bring anything, nor pay anything. The food all turned out perfect and everyone had a great time.
Below: Karen and Lee's Duquette station wagon.
Below: Through the years, Lee, Karen, Renee and Brian Duquette enjoyed their pool. It had a slide, a diving board, and a rope swing into the pool. Karen had relatives over to enjoy the pool and the kids had their friends over to the pool (supervised of course.) The backyard was also used for birthday parties and more. Only a few of the events are posted here because this page was not added to this website until 2025 and so many photos were lost by then.
Below; Lee Duquette on the slide into the swimming pool
Below: Karen Duquette's and her beloved Aunt Hazel Brink
Below: Karen Duquette's Aunt Eadie Marsh
Unfortunately, Lee's work as a Union Electrician ended in Connecticut, so they had to move to Tennessee where Lee got work underground at Racoon Mountain. It was not easy to leave the Duquette family, but they did not have any choice.
