Welcome. I am using this site to thank my late Mother and Father. without the love,guidiance, and family values they instilled in me I wouldn't be the person I am today. I am proud to be their daughter.
I suppose the best place to start is at the
beginning. I was born in November of 1938. Just
after
the end of the "Great Depresson" and this country
was
sill struggling to get back on good footing. Times
were still hard and jobs were not easy to find. My
father was employed at a packing house and built our
first and subsequent homes himself. He worked after
work and on weekends.My family lived in this house
for the first five year of my life. This house was
in
the country and my mother hated to be so far away
from her relatives.
The summer I was five years old there was a terrible
flood and our home was under water and my parents
lost all of their furnishings and a lot of their
personal belongings. My mother was due to give birth
to my brother and we moved into a rented house in
the
city.After the waters went down, my father cleaned
and did the necessary repairs and the house in the
country was sold.
While we were living in the rented house, my brother
Danny was born. I was overjoyed as I had been an
only
child for so long and had longed for a brother or
sister. I truly never remember ever being jealous of
my brother. My parents had a way of making each of
us feel special in our own way. He was born on the
nineteenth day of July in 1944. This was to be the
extent of our family as my parents felt that two
children were all they could afford to raise. My
mother said many times she wished there could have
been more as she loved her children so much. We were
her life.
September of 1944 a new world opened up to me. School and friends. I was busy making new friends, my brother was doing all the normal baby things and my father was busy building another home for us in a new subdivison called Rosemont Manor.This was ahappy time for all of us. Then when the shell of the house was built and dad ready to start on the inside, disaster struck again and we were the victoms of another flood. This was the flood of 1946. It was in August that it happened and the water stayed level with the chmmney of our rented home for nine days. Once again all of our furnishings and personal things were lost
We stayed with relatives for a while and then did the only thing we could do and that was move into the unfinished house. Dad hurridly put in the plumbing and we had a kitchen sink and a bathroom. for the first few months we had no electricity and had to use kerosine lamps and a kerosine stove to cook on. When winter approaced we had coal stoves to heat with. One in the kitchen and one in the livingroom. I remember we had electricity by Chrismas and a tree. The house was slow in getting finished because World War two was going on and buiding materials were hard to come by.
Finally the house was finished and life was good
again. We were on high ground and never had to worry
about another flood. To this day I hate a rainy
period and worry about people with homes that are
flooded.From there I had a normal childhood. I had
lot of friends and a special best friend who lived
across the street. Her name was Marilyn. We were
inseperable. We even managed to break the religion
barrior that was so prominant during those years. I
was Catholic and she was Babtist. We went to Sunday
School at her church and hurried to catch the eleven
o'clock mass at my church.Those days of my early
childhood were filled with so many good memories.
On hot summer days I remember us children waiting for the iceman with his horse drawn wagon to make his deliveries to the houses that had ice boxes instead of refridgeraters. We would beg chunks of ice from him and would sit in the shade of a tree sucking on this ice and it was as good as any ice confection I can buy today. If we were lucky and had a nickle, there was an elderly man on a bicycle with a box on the front of it who peddled by each day and sold ice cream bars. These were kept cold in the box with dry ice. I can still remember the steam from the ice when he would open one of the lids. Then there was the milk truck that delivered our milk and butter and other dairy products. I remember too the bread truck. I loved to step inside and choose a package of breafast rolls. I can to this day remember the smell of all those bakery goods.
I was lucky in another thing too. The corner confectonary. My parents had a book there. Most people did in those days. We would get what we needed during the week and the bill was paid on Friday. I was allowed to charge my candy and soda as long as I didn't abuse the privlege. A lot of the time my grandmother would send me to pick up some things for her and she would pay me a nickle for my trouble. I looked forward to these errands.
I had a wonderful chidhood. We never had a lot of material things but we were happy. Our Christmas Holidays were always joyful times at our house. string the popcorn and cranberries for the tree and eagerly awaiting Santa. I can remember jumping out of bed on Christmas morning and running to the living room and being too cold to do much but grab my new doll and hurry back to bed with her until my dad got the coal stoves started good for the day.I always liked to play with my brothers toys as well as my own. It would be dolls for a while and then I would play cars or indians or solders with him.Our stockings would be filled to the brim with all kinds of candies and nuts. I remember liking the chocolate drops the best. Of course I always took a look in the back yard to see if I had recieved the horse I always asked for. Mom would always have a nice dinner and we would visit our cousins across the street to see how they fared and help them play with their toys. They would come to our house and return the favor. This was a big day because in those days it was the only time of the year I remember getting any toys. The only day with the exception of one.
The fourth day of July. Independence Day. On this day our family gathered at our house and had a huge barbeque. Dad woud have the hickory chips soakng overnight and would start the wood in the morning so the fire would be just right to put the meat on. All of my Aunts and my Grandmother would bring all sorts of side dishes and deserts. We bought soda by the case for this event and we could drink as much as we could hold and we did. There would be ribs and porksteaks,snoots and hotdogs. In the evening my Dad would have a fireworks display for all of us. The family would all chip in and buy them. This was the day we got our capguns and caps and those little things we would put a cap in and drop on the sidewalk and the top would fly off. We also had sparklers for after dark. At the close of this day we would all be exhausted.
There were other things in my chidhood memories. My dancing lessons and how I loved to cut through a building called the Arcade Building with my tap shoes on and hear the click click click of them as I skipped along after my lessons. I never put my street shoes on and my tap shoes in their case until I made the weekly trip thru this building. We all did it and the people in the various offices didnt seem to mind.
Our town had a movie theatre and a few of the neighbors kids would get together on Sunday and go to the movies. We would ride the bus to get there and see two movies. We could buy candy and popcorn but drinks of any kind were not allowed in the theatre in those days. This whole day event would cost fifty cents.
I can't speak of my childhood without mentioning the
good times I had while in the Brownies and Girl
Scouts. We made so many pretty things for our
parents. I was lucky to have a leader who was gifted
with the art of turning scrap into beautiful
things.We saved scraps of materal,yarn,ribbon and
most anything and she would show us how to make
something with it. We made a luncheon cloth with
four napkins for our Mothers for Mothers Day out of
a flour sack that we cut into pieces and shredded
the edges of. We had traveling potluck dinners every
month and each girl had the opportunity to be
hostess for a night.
Another thing I enjoyed those days was singing in the church choir. We were always happy to sing at weddings as the wedding party usually gave us a donation which was divided between us. The only thing I didnt care for was doing a funeral mass. The music was always so somber and from the loft we could see the family in all their grief and it always upset me.
Hannah
This is an angel I
adopted in honor of my newest little
great-grandaughter.
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