(2010)
Vista do Mar Condominium.
Ordinary folk in Provincetown no longer live through old age in the houses where they were born. A notable exception to that rule was Jean Charlotte (Days) Hendrickson (1925-2013). She was indeed born here and was still living here within months of her death at 87. The house had been constructed by John Rosenthal (1833-1915), who was in charge of the earthwork batteries on Long Point during the Civil War. Because their guns were never fired in war, the batteries were called Forts Useless and Ridiculous. (Then again, maybe they were neither useless nor ridiculous. After all, the Confederate Navy never blockaded Provincetown!) In 1912, Rosenthal sold this property — which was even then known by its unusual double address — to Antone Days and William C. Days (1889-1975), Jean’s father. Her mother was Georgianna “Georgie” (Veara) Days (1895-1973). The property would remain in the family’s hands for 102 years.
In the middle of World War II, with two brothers in the service, young Jean enrolled in the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, a unit known as the SPARs (from the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus Always Ready). In Provincetown, SPARs performed clerical work for the captain of the port, based in the Board of Trade Building, 307 Commercial Street. Her future husband, Robert Paul Hendrickson (1924-2012), was meanwhile serving in the Coast Guard as a boatswain’s mate. Jean was later active in the ladies’ auxiliary of the Lewis A. Young Veterans of Foreign Wars post. She worked as a telephone operator and as a host at restaurants, and volunteered at the Council on Aging, helping with the meals-on-wheels program and on bingo nights.
After her husband’s death in 2012, Jean Hendrickson continued to raise the flag outside their home every morning in his honor. The 2012 photo at left is by David W. Dunlap. The photo of Hendrickson is from the Gately McHoul Funeral Home.
A year after Hendrickson’s death in 2013 at Seashore Point, her son sold the property to Kenneth S. Hale and Robert P. Santos of Fort Lauderdale. They established the two-unit Vista do Mar condo in 2015. One unit (No. 118) consists of the first floor and part of the second. The other (No. 116) occupies most of the second floor and all of the third.
¶ Last updated on 20 September 2018.
Grave sites in Provincetown
Days, Georgianna. Find a Grave Memorial 107021562.
Days, William. Find a Grave Memorial 115988193.
Hendrickson, Jean. Find a Grave Memorial 193105883.
Hendrickson, Robert. Find a Grave Memorial 193105882.
Rosenthal, John. Find a Grave Memorial 135701942.