the front porch with me and talk. We loved each other. My mother did not like him because she felt he was a rebel --- which he was. We were together on and off about 2 yrs. and he taught me how to kiss - and that’s all. Kids did not do what they do now in those days. Maybe some did, I don’t know. There were other wanna be’s like the fellow who would be at my house while I was on a date or party and my mom would have him painting the baseboards while he waited. And there was another fellow who told the other guys that, “He had me,” because I would not go out with him. I confronted him in front of all he friends and embarrassed him to death. In Jr. High I was asked to be the singer with a band that some kids put together. I had a pretty good voice. The teacher in Algebra class had me tutoring some of the boys in algebra class. I always got 100’s. I was a cheerleader for the basketball team also. I always walked to grade school to and back about 2 miles each way, maybe more also to Jr. High.
at school to let me practice on the school piano at lunch time. I began lessons which I paid for. After a shor t time, my employer got sick of my practicing and wanted to pay me more just to clean. I quit! It is stupid to take lessons when you don’t have a piano. I never learned. I love piano music. At 15 I started at Technical High School for the next two years. I walked to school along the rail road tracks with others 2 to 3 miles each way. Then I got to take the bus. As a junior, I became a majorette and practiced my baton twirling constantly. It was so cold in those outfits at the games, I swore I would be a cheerleader the following year and I was. Cheerleaders jumped around a lot and kept warm. My dad went to every game just to watch me perform - what a guy! Jimmy Backus was on the football team and one year ahead of me. He was fabulous! The woman who trained the cheerleaders did not think Jimmy was good enough for me, but I loved him. At the end of the year, Jimmy was mad at me for some reason and he asked another beautiful blonde to his prom. I was heart broken, but let it go and started to date another as I had lots of choices. That was the end for me with Jimmy. Unforgivable! We did remain friends until he died in 1998. He told me later how sorry he was as he had a terrible time thinking of me. At 16 I left home and my dad paid for me to live at theYWCA. The reason was my grandmother whom we lived with; she was from the old country and did not understand teenagers or American ways. Because I wore dungarees and a big white shirt, she thought I had gone to the devil and made my life hell. My mom understood and let me go. Now I am a senior and was totally prepared to be on my own. TheYWCA was like being in college. Most of the girls were attending Marywood College and the University of Scranton and it was FUN there. It was like a college dorm - there was a huge pool, little theater, pool and ping pong rooms, lounge with couches and separate par titions for privacy, and a tennis court for visitors. There was a cafeteria on my floor and I had a charge account (paid by DAD). I also had two other food charge accounts at two local restaurants. I did not take too much advantage, but I did feed some of my friends. I had a beautiful student friend named Charlotte. She always liked to borrow my clothes especially a navy blue corduroy jumper princess style and I would always zip her up in the back. One night I was zipping her and the zipper would not go past the waist. You guess it. She was pregnant. She was a Jewish girl and engaged to an Irish guy. When she told him, he broke up with her. She was afraid to tell her parents so she didn’t. When she had no money, I would get extra food at the cafeteria for her. When my dad found out he said he was proud of me for helping her. I did it until the baby came. She adopted the baby out and was heartbroken. Then she went home and married another Jewish guy who wanted her but not her baby. I always think about her. My first real job as a senior was at the 5 & 10¢ store. I had to leave after a time because it interfered with cheerleading for football. In junior and senior years I always took part in school plays. Then I got a job near Technical High School baby sitting two fresh Jewish kids and even had my own room there where I stayed on occasion. One
Sometimes I went home for lunch so that was over 4 miles a day. I was warned never to get into anyone’s car. There was a perver t just down the street from my house standing next to a billboard doing guess what??? I use to run past him on the other side of the street every day. I never thought about calling the police. After my dad moved out, my mom and I moved into the next door
with grandma and rented our other half. I became the man of the house. My mom got a job in the First National Bank and became a secretary to the President of the bank. Everyday I had a list of chores to do before I went anywhere. I learned to do it right the first time. Believe me! I did all the cleaning, washing clothes (ringer washer) hanging clothes on the line outside, cutting grass, cutting hedges, shoveling snow, shoveling ashes from the furnace into a bushel basket and carried them up from the cellar on the outside stairs to carry all the way back to our long backyard every week. I even shoveled a ton of coal from one bin to another so we could get another ton. I did all the ironing and cooked dinner most nights. Mom didn’t care about Christmas trees; so, I would go to our butcher, Charlie Billus, six blocks away who was also a grower. I charged a tree and dragged it home and trimmed it myself. I then played phonograph records and marvelled at the beauty of it. I would make grandma watch me dance and I do not resent any of this as it gave me a sense of accomplishment and made me extremely responsible. Duty first! I also became very confident and mature. I wanted to learn to play the piano, but we could not afford lessons; so I got a job cleaning a neighbor’s house. Par t of my deal with her was that she would let me practice on her piano. I also got the Nuns Marilyn
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