...so we can slop around on memory lane some more. Thanks, Herb!
Here we go with the memory tests again... Our house (1078 Mountain ave, Summit-6-1958) was built in 1940 by Andy Hay, a local builder. He built all the houses from our house down to the Romond's house. Peppy do you remember what kind of a car the Jefferies had? What Color? What style? I even remember your dad's first name.... "Edmund". Something has often bothered me though and that is every time I look at the Liptons Tea man with his mustach he brings back memorys of your father. Is there a resemblance or is my memory incorrect???
June 23, 2008 10:02 AM
Herb said...
One other thing.... Do you remember "Vito Mondelli" He would drive his old rattle trap truck up our driveway 2 times a week and sell my mother veggys and eggs and you name it. I can remember my mother and him haggling over a few pennys in price on things. It was a game for both of them and it seemed they both looked forward to it. We did most of our shopping at O'Conners Market on Plainfield Ave just up from Columbia School. The butcher there was Andy Danyo. He and Dad were good friends and did a lot of Ice Fishing together up on Swartswood Lake where we had our summer place. I have many fond memorys of "The Lake" from long ago.... Perhaps we can go there as well.....
Well, where to begin? Jeffries' car...I'm not sure, maybe a Henry J. It must have gone past the bus stop many times as we were waiting there. I remember he was always late for the train and went around that corner (Mt. Ave./Park Ave.) at high speed. There was someone on Dogwood Lane who had an early Volkswagen with the flaps that went up for directional signals. Or was that the Jeffries?
Yes, my father's name was Edmund. A closer resemblance, I think, would be to Arthur Fiedler, the longtime director of the Boston Pops Orchestra.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pops/background/bios/fiedler.html I'll have to check out the Lipton Tea man. (I just did. Couldn't find him on the internet)
O'Connor's Market... lots could be written about that place! I worked there one summer (1961); wasn't old enough to sell beer so every time someone came through the checkout line with beer I had to go into the back where the butchers were chopping up carcases and get one to come out and punch the numbers in the register with their bloody fingers so I would technically not be selling beer. Their aprons were bloody too. Ah, memories. Charlie Fisher used to buy whole carcases and have them custom butchered (Biddie, chime in here).
I always envied you people who had places at Swartswood Lake. Kihlgrens had a little cabin there, too, and we were their guests a few times. Didn't you and Biddie live there for a while? I think I visited her there once when your older daughter was an infant. How long did your family keep that place?
Vito Mondelli and vegetables are associated in my mind, but we got our eggs from Mr. Lang who had a chicken farm in Gillette. There was a Dugans Bread truck going around but we weren't customers. I think my mother with 3 active kids on her hands welcomed the trips to the grocery store and civilization. I remember that your mother didn't drive...was that correct? Stanley was the nice man who delivered heating oil, putting it into a hole in the ground beside the house...I could never figure that out. How is your sister DeeDee?
Well, this is long enough for now...
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P~ if you search for Vintage Lipton Tea on internet, you will get links for Ebay items for sale with the guy on the logo and yes he sort of looks like Feidler
My father used to go "jaw" over at O'Connors market. We dreaded whenever he made another meat order - my mother and I were required to spend hours wrapping all the chunks up in freezer paper under his increasingly drunk (and short-tempered) supervision.
He got me a brief job there one summer - it only lasted a short time before I had to move on to another job that he had arranged for me. It always puzzled me that he would keep me so isolated from social activities but then plop me down into jobs/experiences that I was ill-prepared to deal with - either from skill sets or social skills. I was scared to object.
Reading over all your mutual memories of Berkeley Heights back then, I can't help but feel so sad about the isolation and misery my father laid on my mother, Bill and myself. Tom and Jimmie were his favorites and rarely caught his anger. Sorry - don't mean to throw a wet blanket over your fun reminiscing - I've been enjoying them.
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Yes, I saw the Lipton guy--thanks, Kristen--and there's some resemblance, tho Dad never wore a cap like that. Looks more like Mark Twain on the tin. Can't believe those tins are worth money...If I had just kept all those things I tossed our through the years ...
Hey, I have a McCarthy poster from 1968, signed by him. Any offers?
Offer on the poster.... I will burn it and not tell a sole that it came from you..
Their car was a Lasalle Convertable. Made by General Mtrs. It was brown and probably a 1938 or so. Stick shift with a flathead V8 Engine.Can't remember the VW though. We had 2 of them a white and a red one. That would have been in 1960-61. Peppy, I remember that you all had a prewar (I Think)
Black Studebaker sedan we had an old grey 40 Packard 110 and then you bought a New Plymouth, blue one I think.
I can still see your father cutting your front lawn or plowing your drive in the winter with your Gravely Tractor. I used to love that Tractor!!! I remember Dick's motorcycles in a a million pieces all over your garage floor.It was a very big garage with a hugh single door. His first cycle was an Indian Scout and his second was a spectacular Vincent Black Shadow. That bike would be worth at least $50,000 if you had it today... Very rare indeed! I remember the day that the cops chased him and he outran them on the Vincent. Brought it home and took it all apart in the garage. When they showed up there was no bike to be seen! I don't think they ever figured that one out!!
Charlie's food proclivitys... Liver Mush made up in hugh galvanized garbage cans also Chutny by the Ton!!! also in garbage cans I think. Hugh casket shaped Freezer in the basement " to the left and down when you went in the side door". Or the day that Bid ran from my house down to hers in the rain just as a lightning bolt hit a tree she was under.
The Lake... Lived with Bid and Mikey on Dove Island for one summer. It was the summer that my dad died. I hung on to my part of the lake property until the 80's and then finally sold the main land property. The state took Dove Island through Eminent Domain and made it part of the State Park. I have not gone back since...
DeeDee is married with 2 grown sons and lives with her husband on the Delaware River in Upper Black Eddy, Bucks County, PA. Mom died in her 90's 10 years or so ago. Dad died at 61 back in the 60's.
Tony Delia remains my best buddy to this day. He and I went on to graduate from FDU as Chemists. He lives in Reading Ct with his wife Barbra. was three grown children and god knows how many Grand Children!!!
One other thing comes to mind.. The Langs.... Mr Lang was the father of Bob Lang. Bob and his wife Doris lived next door to old Mr Lang. They lived on the right hand side of the road to Gillete a short distance before you crossed the Passaic River.. Bob was an officer in the Signal Corps and served in the same unit as my Dad. They both went through the same training in preparation to shipping over to France and Germany in 1944. Prior to there leaving Mom and Bobs wife and me followed dad and Bob Lang through their training. We were in Brownsville, TX and then Camp Bowie in Shreveport, LA. They then shipped over and we returned home to Berkeley Heights for the rest of the war. Mom and Doris Lang were very close friends and would both make Dolls Clothes together to sell at the Union Village Methodist Church sales. The 2 ladys helped each other through the 2 years until the men returned. Dad and Bob stayed in the Army Reserve until my father died and remained good friends throughout. Mom was very close to Doris for many years until Doris passed away......
Peppy.... Tid Bit #??
If you continued down the road that went past the old methodist church for a mile or 2 you would come to Smaltz's Farm on your left. It delivered our milk 2 times a week into that little box next to the back door. Mom would have washed the empty bottles and they would be waiting for pick up at the same time..... Remember how the cream would seperate out and form a thick layer at the top of the bottle... Tasted great on cereal in the morning!!! This was befor homogonized milk was made available (cream didn't seperate). That came latter... And Duggans is a fond memory.. Mom loved their Crumb Cake... Dad & I were partial to it as well...
Oh wow! great memories! You remember more than I do about some things.
The LaSalle...I can sort of see it now. Mom had a red VW about 1963. She kept it until 1970 when I persuaded her to get a Volvo like mine. Yes, our old black Studie lasted a long time. Then we got the blue Plymouth and the first summer it went through a hurricane in MA when we were staying in a little cottage at Horseneck Beach, near Westport Point. Then we had a crummy little black Nash, then as a second car a red Plymouth convertible. Dad looked great driving this, his white hair flying. I drove it to high school once or twice (I still have nightmares about this), but I hardly ever got to drive it as George took it to where he was statoned in the Coast Guard. My first car in '63 was a grey/white Chevvy and after that I had 3 Volvos, then 2 BMWs, and now I'm back to Chevrolet (Prizm)
I never knew, or forgot, the episode with Dick dismantling the motorcycle...what things do surface!
Schmaltzes Farm...yup, we got their milk in a box at the back door. The cream was always poured off for Dad's coffee, and probably was bad forhis health.
I'll have to scan some of my old photos.
The graveley tractor was an important member of our fasmily. The first time I was able to start it with that leather strap was a milestone. I was never allowed to gobarefoot when the cutter bar was on. Do you remember Mr. Proctor's Alice Chalmers tractor? And his barn with the coal stove?
Our neighborhood had such variety of people and places and things going on... it was great.
Oh, a lightening bolt hit a tree Biddie was under...so that's the explanation. That's great. Actually, coincidentally, I have incorporated just such an occurrence in a little novel that I have been writing for the last year and a half...Characters not based on anyone I know, though.
The VW with the flaps may have been Wesners, 2 houses up from Kihlgrens. John Wesner played the bagpipes, practised outdoors, and you could hear him all the way down to our house.
Thanks for mentioning all these things. It sort of validates my identity to hear things that I remember too. Wow, I'd better get out those albums.
I'm sorry life was so hard on you Mom.
I wish there were something I could say that would make it all better, but there isn't.
Otherwise, I really appreciate these glimpses back into the past. Helps to know from were you came to see were you are going.
Funny you mention the Leather Belt on the Gravely. It is one of the things I remember best about that red and black tractor. About an inch wide with a hole punched through one end that fit over a little pin on the starting pulley. They were an absolute bear to start and almost impossible when it was cold out. The Proctors had one that I spent many hours riding behind when I cut their grass. Mr Proctor had an electric starter installed on his and I sort of remember your father doing the same to the one you had??? Is that so? It made life a lot easyier on the one that I used.
I used the Orange AC (as in ALLIS Chalmers)every time I cut their lawn. Hitched the wagon to it and hauled grass clippings etc away. Also had a side mounted sickel bar that I used to cut the field between the barn and your back yard with. Every now and then I would take the old AC on a jaunt through Proctor's Woods. One time I was way back and the tractor had an ignition failure. It took me hours running back and forth to the barn to finally get the damn thing running. Mr P would have had a fit if he had found out!!! The P's had 2 big BLACK sedans that they drove. Mr P was very proper and strongly believed that the only proper car was a black one. He drove a 53 Packard and Mrs P a Buick Special. He had a black man that would come out to the house every month or so and wax both cars. He would spend all day on them. He taught me that if you sprinkle a little CornStarch on the finish when you are doing the final polishing it would remove any streaks that may have been left. That trick really works and I will still do it from time to time. He was a very nice old man and we got along very well.. I wish I could remember his name..
I do remember John Wesner.. He had a tremendous model train set up. It filled his whole basement. I can still remember him sitting in the middle of it making things happen.He was also an Eagle Scout. Next door to the Wesners lived the Mischos. Frank drove a Neat Buick Century and a MGA Convertable which he put up for sale. I sold my red VW and bought Frank's MGA much to my Dads consternation!!. Had a lot of fun with that car until Bid decided to customize it with the help of one of Mr DeCorso's busses.. I will leave it to Bid to fill in the details!!!
Peppy I wonder if you remember the neighbors on the other side of our house. The first family that was there were Fred & Lorretta Fuller. They moved away in the early 50's and John and Inga Reitmeyer moved in. I always felt that Dad had a little twinkle in his eye for Inga and I remember Mom keeping close watch on him when we would socialize. Dad and John had many long conversations about the war in Europe that were so interesting to hear. As it turned out John was an Eastern Front Luftwaffe Pilot and flew a ME-109 and did a good job of it. It was always amazing to see and listen to these 2 men who short years before were intent on killing each as they became good friends and would shoot the bull for hours on end while enjoying each others company.
One last memory photo and then back to work.. "On rainy days while waiting for the bus we would all stand under the old slopeing roof of Cousin Anna's front porch" I can still remember the rickety boards in the floor. That old house was ancient 60 years ago but it kept the rain off our heads... They had a funny looking mail box. It was long and had a hinged cover that would open up to expose the whole insides of the box... neat pictures from long ago....
Wow, there are about 5 different essays I could write on things you have just mentioned.
Mr. P's tractor...I didn't know you cut his lawn, too. Yes, now I recall that, you gave us rides in the grass clippings. He would certainly not have liked you taking the tractor into the woods! He was a stern little Englishman (possibly Yorkshireman), the president of his own company, and I was rather afraid of him, though I used to frisk around their property when I saw both cars were out. It was so interesting...the grape vines, berry patch, the barn, much nicer lawn than ours, fruit trees, the brook where he had begun a wading pool for the grandchildren who soon outgrew it. I remember the black man (Ernie? not sure)who washed and waxed their cars. I used to hang around and watch. He had a chow dog with a black tongue, always tied up, and we were not allowed to pet him or fool around. The day Mrs. P got a white car was a step toward independence. Dick had the lawn cutting job for a while, perhaps before he went to college.
Cousin Anna's front porch...our bus stop until it was changed to across the street. It was indeed a rickety porch and one end was broken in. We were supposed to stay off thr porch but of course if it rained...There was so much minor danger everywhere in our childhood! So much unrepaired stuff or houses being built. They (the 2 Anna Waites) had blackberry and raspberry bushes in the back of their little house, which was heated by a coal stove. I remember picking there once for them. They were really out of the 19th century, must have been born in the 1870s. Your mother was very good to them.
Your memory of the gravely was right on target. It was very hard to start. I don't recall a newer starter put on it but there may have been. Learning to shift those gears was helpful for later driving of a car...I learned on the Studie,ugh, heavy beast.
Next to Wesners were some people named Hassler. So many German names in the neighborhood, I just now realize. I recall the Fullers next to you but not the people you described after them. They may have been renting.
Michos...he worked for IBM in the early 1950s. He used to give us kids little things like pads that said "Thimk" at the top.I understand he moved to Florida later and made money in real estate along with that character Bebe Rebozo (Nixon crony)
Well, I'd better stop here. To be continued.
Hey, Herb! Any more memories?
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