I was born to Arthur Melvin & Helen Belle KELLERMAN_ROTH at the Akron City Hospital at 11:59 pm on 06 April 1948...so my birthday was really the 7th, but I've always celebrated it on the 6th.
My older brothers were: eldest, Daniel Melvin, 8 years older and William Eugene, 5 years older. Dan sang...was the lead in his senior class musical, played the trumpet and Bill was a drummer. Five years after I arrived, sister Marcia Renee was born.
We lived in Ellet (east Akron) a block away from
My Father, Arthur Melvin ROTH was b. 8 Oct 1916 in Comstock, Custer Co. NE. to a farming family that had been there since my gr-grandparents, Jonas Specht and Virginia EUBANK_ ROTH moved there by Prairie Schooner in 1879 from Brocton, Edgar Co. IL. Dad was one of 8 children born to Richard Edgar and Minerva "Minnie" Ann DURHAM_ROTH.
Dad came east to Akron, Summit Co. OH. to take care of his elder sister, Nina Louisa's two children, Elaine & Bob, while she worked after her first husband (Dale CURTIS) died. That was in 1935, a year after Dad graduated from Comstock High School. Don't remember hearing how Nina came to Akron.
Dad was our barber. He cut Dan's, Bill's and my hair for most of my life. He was also in Indian Guides with me...the precursor of Cub Scouts. We had the I.G. meetings at our house. I remember making a teepee shaped candle at one meeting. We also made drums out of Quaker Oats boxes and stitched model Birch Bark Canoes.
Then came Cub scouts. I remember trying for and receiving merit badges....though specifics elude me at present.
After Cub Scouts, Dad became the Treasurer of Boy Scout Troop #57 (same troop as the one my Mom's younger brother, Uncle Fred, was part of when he was a boy). The meeting hall (Official Regional Scout Headquarters) was in Goodyear Heights. A large room with a polished wooden floor. Can't remember a specific number, but there were a lot of boys in that troop. We'd go on camping trips for two weeks every summer at the Official Regional Boy Scout Camp : "Manatoc" in the now, "Cuyahoga Valley National Recreational Area" between Peninsula and Hudson OH. Had a choice of two time periods (Jul or Aug). I usually chose August because we had to swim and the small lake was COLD in July...fairly BRISK in August.
Two weeks of earning merit badges. We learned to start a fire, cook a potato, a carrot and hamburgers for one merit badge. One of the merit badges was learning to use a gun...a small calibre rifle. Though I enjoyed "Cowboys and Indian" progams on TV, I didn't like guns, so I never got that particular merit badge. Another was for using a compass and locating certain landmarks and finding our way to a predetermined location. One of the jokes played on all Tenderfeet (first time scouts) by the Wolf Lodge boys was for us to find a "Sky Hook" and bring it back with us...from watching hundreds of TV westerns and Disney's "Spin & Marty" episodes, I sensed the equivalent of a "Snark Hunt" and didn't fall for the joke. Some of the other guys with me went to the "Quonset Hut" and asked for one and were laughed out of the building ! "I TOLD you there was no such thing as a "Sky Hook"!" {:-)
One of my earliest Camp Manatoc moments was the first time I went there. I forgot my mess kit & my boots...Boy Scout Motto : "Be Prepared"...I wasn't. We went on a hike in the rain...I was on the end of the line of scouts...someone broke a bees nest...the bees didn't get angry until I passed by and they swarmed after me. I ran, slid down a ravine and landed in a small creek...eluding the bees...got my only pair of shoes soaking wet as well as my clothes...and had to have my evening meal cooked and brought to me in my tent AFTER everyone else had eaten...no spare mess kits...wasn't very popular on that trip. I was ALWAYS PREPARED after that fiasco !
Required of each scout was Mess Hall Duty...being a waiter for all the guys in your troop. The Mess Hall Lodge was a LARGE wooden structure. The wood was stained very dark. It was filled with many large round tables that sat about 8 boys, including the Scout Masters and their Assistants. We had to set the tables: dishes, silverware, butter, glasses, keep water and drink pitchers filled and deliver the meals. All the guys on Mess Hall Duty usually got razed at least once during the two weeks.
We here "housed" in canvas tents that slept two boys. The tents were all on wooden platforms to keep the eventual rain from soaking everything we brought with us. We each had our Official Boy Scout Trunks (I still have mine!) wherein we kept our clothes, shoes, Boy Scout Manuals, Cooking Utensils and things we made during those two weeks. Each of the two boys assigned to a tent had "Deck Duty"...took turns washing the deck every morning...or at least sweep the dust away...keep it clean. The sides of each tent could be rolled and tied up during the day for air circulation to keep the mildew away. All in all it was a pretty good setup.
One of the Unofficial Initiation "ceremonies" was to wait until everyone had gone to sleep, sneak away NUDE and RACE down the road to the Manatoc entrance stockade and back to camp ! That prank was frowned upon by the Scout Masters...though the Assistant Scout Masters might "look the other way". However, my Dad was the Troop Treasurer and if I got caught, it would be embarrassing for him as well, so I didn't do it...which brought some residual resentment from the other guys...until I convinced them I was NOT a "rat" and would NOT "squeal" on anyone !
The small swimming lake at Manatoc had a shallow end for non-swimmers who were all urged to learn to swim and a deeper end for boys who already knew how to swim. Dad had earlier taught me to swim at Jindra's Landing in Suffield OH. where we had a yearly membership. The lake at Manatoc, I was to discover, was ICE COLD in July ! That year I had to chose July for some reason. I was a pretty good swimmer by then, so when we all lined up on dock to jump in for the first time and swim out to a bouy and back to the dock, the whole line of swimmers jumped in and only two chose to swim to the bouy...IT WAS FREEZING ! The rest of us immediately climbed back out and ran for our towels ! I don't remember swimming that summer.
On the last night of one two week period, when the parents were visiting and taking us back home, we produced a skit wherein two tall scouts on ladders, held a large blanket up. Several of us got behind the blanket. Two were out in front facing the audience of parents, Scout leaders and ALL the other troops. THATS a LOT of boys ! We pretended that everyone was looking at an oversized radio. Every time the two in front "turned the knob", we, behind the blanket "changed the channel" and changed what we were talking about. It was scripted and quite funny...everyone enjoyed the skit.
Not many boys wanted to go home at any given time. Camp Manatoc was too much FUN ! {:-)
My Mother, Helen Belle KELLERMAN was b. 21 Jan 1918 in Niagara Falls, Niagara County, NY. Her parents were Lloyd George and Frances Violet HUGHES_KELLERMAN who moved here shortly after Mom was born. Grandpa "Kelly" got a job at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company around 1919 or 1920, then sent for Grandma & Mom.
My Mother: What can I say about my mother that hasn't been said by most people everywhere?
She was ALWAYS there for me...ALWAYS supportive...ALWAYS inspirational. I learned to play the piano because I saw her own joy when she played and sang to us. I get that same joy when I play...my voice, though on pitch, will never be the same quality as hers was. I'm a good chorus person simply because I can stay on pitch, but while my solo vocalizations are adequate, they are not Frank Sinatra-like, nor Alan Jones-like, nor Ricky Martin-like ! {:-)...the list/beat goes on...{:-)
Mom always kept our house (and clothes!) clean and always kept us well fed and...even in lean times. She was a member of a local Knollwood Garden Club and always had arrangements of flowers around the house to brighten up our microcosm. EVEN when three rambunctious sons kept a constant whirwind going ! She was truly amazing !
When I brought some artwork home from school, she was always supportive of my artistic talents. She'd always buy me coloring books and crayons and watercolor sets. One of the later coloring books had pictures of several Pastoral scenes in all four seasons...I LOVED that book ! Birds and animals also populated those pages. I got a set of crayons with 100 colors with that particular book ! I was estatic !
I'd help her can fruits and vegetables every fall. She'd also prepare corn-on-the-cob, green beans, raspberries & rhubarb for freezing. Her cooking got better and better as years passed. One day, in the mid-'60s, she prepared a Beef Burgandy in a "Dutch Oven", that had Burgandy wine, potatoes, green beans, onions & carrots...the recipe said "Warm up the oven to 250 degrees, place all the ingredients in the pot, place the pot in the oven and DON'T PEEK until it is done 4 hours later". It took ALL her will power not to peek and we were all rewarded with one of the tenderest, BEST TASTING pieces of beef and assorted vegetables we had EVER eaten !!! Her culinary talents blossomed after that ! {:-)
She'd always have great meals prepared whenever we went on our MANY camping trips to Lansing MI on the Ausable River...or on the Middle Loup River near Comstock, NE....or on French Creek in the Grand Teton Mountain Range...or in Yellowstone Nat'l. Park...pancakes cooked on a Coleman stove ANYWHERE tasted unlike pancakes made at home and THE HOME-COOKED ONES were ALWAYS good ! Something about the clean air and sunshine on those outings always made food taste better !
And "The Bank of Mom" was always open to us. Ice cream cones were a nickel each for single scoops and a dime for the tall scoops ! . Whenever "The Ice Cream Man" came around the neighborhood, she'd always let us get something...as long as we saved it for AFTER dinner..Ice cream sandwiches...popsicles & creamsicles...mmmmm ! We had a Reiter & Harter "Milk Man" who brought four quarts of fresh milk and a bottle of cream...and a "Bakery Man" who brought fresh made bread and breakfast rolls of every kind to the house every day. I especially liked their cream sticks with maple frosting and jelly rolls ! My FAVORITES ! {:-)
Whenever I hurt myself, she was ALWAYS there to soothe my psyche and my injuries...we also had a Family Doctor who ACTUALLY came to our house whenever we needed him ! On one of my early birthdays, Mom had planned a party for me, inviting all my neighborhod friends. However, I woke up the morning of my birthday (1957 - 9 yrs. old) with small spots ALL OVER my body...Measles...or was it Chicken Pox??? In any case, my party was cancelled. My friends all brought my presents to me. I thanked them, but had to send them home. EVERYONE was disappointed ! So what did SUPERMOM do? She invited all the same friends to accompany me to the Movies at the Ellet Cinema, two blocks away, on my birthday the next year ! We all went to see a NEWLY released movie called "Westward Ho, The Wagons !"...FESS PARKER of DANIEL BOONE fame was the star !.. But we had to sit ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT of the first row of seats ! The movie house was PACKED ! So we sat there having to crane our necks to look UP at the screen. It was very exciting to see all the action UP CLOSE...but we all complained of stiff necks afterwards ! Still had a great time !
I only saw my paternal grandparents once before they died. We made a trip out to Comstock in 1951, when I was 3. My one and only memory of Grandma "Minnie" was that of the day she walked out into her back yard, where I was playing (under Mom's supervision) feeding their free-range chicken, grabbed two chickens by their necks and began twirling them around and around in the air. I WAS MORTIFIED ! I began BAWLING hysterically...after all, I was a suburb-bred boy who thought that the chickens we ate came from the A & P Grocery store at the top of Ogden hill back east, in Akron !!! I can imagine Grandma "Minnie", a thin, but wirey & hardy farm woman saying to my mother, "Helen ! WHAT's gotten into the boy of yours???!" "Minnie" died that next year, in 1952. My brothers and I didn't go to her funeral. We stayed with our maternal grandparents while Mom & Dad went out again.
I have no memories of Grandpa Richard. I believe that was because when he died in April of 1959..I had just turned 11...Mom & Dad took us out of school...(AN EARLY VACATION OUT WEST...Home of all the Cowboys and Indians we watched on TV westerns EVERY Saturday morning !) without informing us as to WHY were were going...Thought of the day back then was to shield your children from the harsher realities of life...Their hearts were in the right place, but it was still a BAD choice. Here, we were going OUT WEST! AND TAKEN OUT OF SCHOOL TO DO IT ! {:-) YEA!!!!!...However, when we got there, everyone was sad and or crying and we THEN learned that our Grandpa Richard was gone ! When I saw him in the casket in his living room, I lost a goodly portion of my early childhood memories. To this day, I still don't remember a lot of things that happened to me when I was young. Some of those memories SLOWLY returned over the years. But I lost a majority of my childhood for along time while I was growing up.
My maternal grandparents, on the other hand were constantly in our lives. A MAJOR Blessing ! They had both lived in Centre Co. PA. for much of their lives. Grandpa Kelly in Wingate and Milesburg and Grandma Violet in Lewiston, Mifflin Co. and moved to Pleasant Gap in Centre Co. before moving to Niagara Falls, NY.
My Maternal Grandmother, Francis Violet HUGHES_KELLERMAN : Our many visits to our grandparent's house were always exciting. Grandma raised Violets in her dining room's double window. They as well as my grandparents were a constant joy to us. Milk and Cookies were always offered at Grandma's ! She baked pies and cakes all the time. She kept their home clean. She loved to play Scabble and card games.
Grandma Violet would always be at Grandpa's and our side on all our/their camping trips keeping us well fed and happy.
Grandpa was an amateur photographer and he took photos everywhere he went. All their camping trips to Canada, Michigan, Alaska...around the perimeter states of the U.S....photos of Grandma abound ! Grandma collecting some ice from a Glacier in Alaska, Grandma sitting at their numerous camp sites, fixing meals, arranging flowers for the table, wearing a sombrero in Tijuana, Mexico...the list is endless !
She was truly a helpmate to Grandpa and they were together until he died in 1975 of cancer. She lived to be one month shy of 97 years old. I constantly marvelled at her life and living through horse and buggy days to men on the moon and beyond...the collapse of the Berlin Wall...the decline of Communism. She changed with the times, but never lost her inner self. I loved her dearly.
Grandpa "Kelly" was a hunter, fisherman, woodworker, cabinet maker, musician (mandolin and harmonica), photographer...you name it, he could do it. He had a woodworking shop in their basement at 418 Frazier Ave in Goodyear Heights, Akron, OH. My brothers and sister and I were constantly by his side watching him create many beautiful things out of wood and metal. He made a large model sailboat for my brother Bill, inlaid coffee tables, lathed lamps & furniture. He made me a large two-shelf window seat with matching bookshelves for the end of my bedroom (after Dan & Bill moved out) and a large desk with 6 drawers ! He designed and built kitchens for Grandma and some of their friends and re-designed our kitchen on Ogden Ave.
Grandma & Grandpa would take MANY trips and usually took Marcia and I with them. They took me along with some friends, the COOPERS and one of their grandsons to Rice Lake in Canada one summer. We went out in a boat and stayed until after dark and caught 52 sunfish...which we had to scale and clean BEFORE we went to bed that night. A LOT of smelly work, but we had many great fish dinners ! The other grandson and I were climbing a tree one day. Actually it was two trees, growing up right bedside each other...one was dying...we got about 15 feet in the air and I turned to say something to the other kid and reached for a branch, not realizing it was the dead tree branch. I took hold of it to pull myself up higher and immediatedly went crashing down to the ground. Fortunately for me, as I fell, I broke many limbs that cushioned my hitting the ground. It scared me silly and knocked the wind out of me. Grandma & pa came running to me. Momentarily stunned, I kept saying "I can't talk, I can't talk"..to which ever practical, Grandma replied "Well, you're not doing such a bad job after all"...which made me calm down enough to realize that I WAS talking ! {:-) Worst thing was a bruised back. Otherwise I was OK.
Dad, Mom, Marcia and I would accompany them to Milesburg at least twice every year to see Grandpa's brothers and sisters. Marcia and I would stay with one of Mom's first cousins: Margene SPICER_HOLDERMAN & husband, Kenneth "Pappy" HOLDERMAN & their three kids: Sam, Dave and Susan for two weeks in the summer. Sam was close to my age, David between mine and Marcia's age and Susan was Marcia's age. My grandparents and Mom & Dad would go back to Akron and come back to pick us up at the end of the two weeks. Then we'd some back for a visit in the fall when the leaves were at their color peak. THOSE trips were a little bit of HEAVEN for Marcia and I ! {:-) Three sets of granduncles and aunts owned grocery stores. So we would be put to work stocking shelves or bagging potatoes (NOT my favorite passtime !). I'd much rather be wandering over the mountains with my cousins, following trails or looking for Indian Arrowheads. My cousins had a quite extensive arrowhead collection !
We had several Family Reunions, when all the aunts, uncles and cousins would meet at a large log cabin owned by a friend of theirs ("The Pines"..as the cabin was surrounded by long-needle pines) which was located along the Bald Eagle River. Quite a LARGE crowd. We'd make a grill out of large cement foundation blocks as large as the metal mattress wire-frame of a single bed. We'd lay one on the top of the grill and load it with marinated chicken pieces, cover them with the other mattress wire-frame and then grab hold of both springs to turn the chicken over ! Another smaller grill was used for large vats filled with water for corn on the cob. What meals we'd have ! "Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" ! {;-)
Mom & Dad lived on Hollis Street after they got married. They moved to 2517 Ogden Ave. in Ellet (East Akron) in 1940 after my eldest brother, Dan was born. Our house...a small two story house, was the last one on the block when they moved in. By the time I was old enough to play at the homes of my friends, there were three new houses on our side of the street, with a fourth beginning the next block being built. I remember playing at the site...loved the smell of new wood.
Next born was brother, Bill in 1943.
I remember Dad reading the Sunday "funnies" to my younger sister, Marcia Renee, and I, pointing to the words as he read. Have a feeling that was how I learned to read. Since I'm now 53 years young, I don't recall the specific year in which I learned to read. {:-)
Since Dan was 8 years older and Bill was 5 years older than I was (we shared the upstairs bedroom), I really didn't get to know them much because they were out visiting friends at places that were too far for me to get to. Bill began practising his drums when he was 12 and began playing out by the time he was 17. Dan played trumpet. So they were always busy at school functions and eventually out playing at night when I was in bed. So I relied on my many neighborhood friends for company. (See below)
Dad always had a vegetable garden in our back yard, so we always had fresh vegetables and I'd help Mom with canning them each fall. He grew: Corn, Tomatoes, Green Bush Beans, Watermelons, Peppers, Broccoli, Radishes, Carrots, Onions, Lettuce and Zuccinis. We'd also can Peaches and Raspberries. Mom would make jams ad jellies. We had a large four door freezer in the garage, so we'd freeze Corn, Beans, Carrots. Dad would buy a quarter of a cow, so we'd have steaks and LOTS of Hamburgers grilled outdoors in the summertime backyard picnics with family and neighbors : the PENNELLs when they moved into the house on our right after the BRANDS moved away and the TYRRELLs on our left after the COMBSes moved out...many time both families would join ours.
Mom had an equally sized flower garden next to Dad's vgetable garden. She grew Daffodils, Tulips, German Bearded-Iris, Mums, Shasta Daisies, Black-Eyed Susans, Peonies & Zinnias.
We also had several Lilac bushes in the back yard. I remember the scent wafting it's way up into my bedroom windows in the spring. We had a large Forsythia and a large Wegelia bush on the opposite sides of the back yard. We had wild daylillies near the foundation of the house on the right side facing Odgen Ave. We had three LARGE Elm trees in our front yard (double lot) and four of them across the back yard...until one year a Dutch Elm Blight got to ALL the Elms on Ogden...and that was a LOT of trees. After they were removed, everyone planted Sugar Maples which are still there today (30 Sep 2001)
My baby sister Marcia Renee arrived when I was 6 years old. I LOVED my baby sister and helped Mom take care of her a LOT. She was the CUTEST little girl and Mom made many dresses for her. One of my favorite photos of her is one taken one Easter when she was about 3 or four years old. Cute little hat on her head, black patent-leather shoes, white purse and gloves. Standing in front of our house on a bright sunny day !
I "helped Mom take care of her" after she got old enough to walk.
I remember she posed for some photos in a "Poodle Skirt" Mom had made for her...What a DOLL !
��I got to know her better than I got to know my older brothers. We both went on trips to PA with Grandma & Grandpa. Later in her teen years, we were both in the chorus in several musicals at Goodyear Musical Theatre around 1965...I was 17 and Marcia was 12. "CAROUSEL" was our first production working together along with our older brother Dan and his wife, Joanne TAYLOR_ROTH who were leads in the shows. Joanne was "Julie JORDAN". Marcia was one of the "SNOW Children"...kids of Enoch SNOW (Dan) and his show-wife, "Carrie PEPPERIDGE" (Irene ULRICH). Linda CAPPER was the Carousel Owner. I was a sailor and a dancer. We were also working together in "Guys & Dolls", "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" and "The Most Happy Fella" at Goodyear Theatre.
In Aug. of 1971 I asked her if she'd be interested in being a lead singer in "my" first band, "Qiana". An aquaintance of my brother Bill's, Bill PARRISH played the bass and was also a lead singer...great voice ! Bill's sister Eva PARRISH sang backup and some lead vocals. On drums was a student of my brother Bill's, Frank MARGIDA and myself on piano...We had two weeks to prepare for our first gig. Marica sang a Kick-Axx version of "Bobbie Magee" ! We also did tunes by Sergio MENDES and Brasil '66, "The Fifth Dimension", "Chicago", "Sly & The Family Stone" & Carole King. At the end of the two weeks, we had a total of 24 songs memorized (somewhat...{:-). Our first gig was a private party...we set up in the owner's garage. Beautiful sunny day...Marcia was nervous as were Bill, Frank and Eva...I was not quite as nervous having performed in many Goodyear musicals for audiences of up to 1400 people...but being so "Up close and personal" was a bit different...on stage, one had an orchestra pit between oneself and the audience. At that party...they were "In our faces" ! I gave my fellow band members a bit advice I picked up from Goodyear theatre's director, Jack HORNER..."As long as you don't freak out and ADVERTISE a mistake by making a face, most people won't KNOW it was a mistake !...Relax and SMILE and you'll be OK" We began our gig and did 45 minute sets...however, we went through ALL our songs and still had two hours left ! Marcia WOWED them with her rendition of "Bobbie Magee" and "I Don't Know How To Love Him" from "Jesus Christ, Superstar"...Bill WOWED them with "Chicago's "God Bless the Child That's Got His Own"...We WOWED them with our version of Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" using our voices as the horn parts and Sly & The Family Stone's "Thank You For Lettin' Me Be Myself..Again" ! Fortunately people asked us to repeat several songs. When the gig was officially over...THEY ASKED US TO PLAY FOR ANOTHER HOUR ! For which we got paid extra ! {:-) WE WERE ON OUR WAY ! About six weeks later, my best friend from high school, Dale BECKETT stopped to hear us at the Brown Derby on State Road and the next day, he was playing guitar and singing with us! "Qiana" was the second most popular band in Akron...the first being brother Bill's band, "Dogs & Kids" with Connie SHARP as lead singer.
We also performed in front of abt. 2000 college kids at Akron U. as opening, midway and closing act for one of their sorority/fraternity talent shows. We opened with "HIGHER" by Sly & the Family Stone. In the middle of the program we sang "I FOUND LOVE". Te finale was Marcia singing "BOBBY MAGEE" and she brought the house down ! WHAT A RUSH ! I was SO PROUD of her !<.p>
Because of internal problems I won't go into here, our fantastic band disbanded in June of 1972
I moved to Wolfeboro, NH. a few weeks later to be accompanist for The Downeast Players (D.P. my summer stock group from Maine 68-69). Marcia came up for a visit in the fall and we formed "Two Of A Mind", a lounge act. We performed at the Wolfeboro Inn on weekends, Marcia being the featured singer.
The D.P. put on a production of "The Drunkard" a melodrama for New Year's Eve at The Wolfboro Inn. I was "The Drunkard" and also accompanist. Since "I" got killed off early in the show, I could do both jobs. Marcia played a chanteuse a la Mae West and was a HOOT !
Marcia's boy/man-friend, Bill KENDALL came up to see Marcia and ask her to marry him. Even though I was going to miss her a lot, I was SO HAPPY for her ! It was a VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS. She went home to Akron with Bill and they got married.
When I say "older" or "younger", I mean, than I was :
Two streets away...next street after Albrecht was Triplett Blvd. which lead to the Akron Airport and "Derby Downs", famed Akron Soap Box Derby race hill. Freel GOSS, another friend of Tom CROYLE's lived on Triplett. Also on Albrecht, lived the HUNTS, Sam ?, Joel LEWIS and younger brother
Much of the terrain was by Hilbish Ave was over-grown fields with MANY wild Black raspberry bushes. By the time I was at Hyre (1961), I'd learned that many of the people who lived in the area would go pick berries when they were ripe. We picked enough for my mother to "can" many times. Many "campouts" with friends...Glorious childhood memories ! {:-)
I'd spend a LOT of time by myself, simply exploring those woods. There was a creek that ran through the woods that was very long and meandering. I learned later, when I got more adventurous, just how long that creek was. I don't believe I ever found it's source. I'd ride my bicycle over to Hilbish Ave. though I wasn't allowed to go that far...a steep hill, unpaved, two-laned road...dangerous for children to ride down because it was so steep. Eventually, the city paved it. It has been a four lane street ever since.
In the creek, were crayfish of every size, from small to very large..large enough to eat, though the thought of eating them never entered my head. It wasn't until I was about ? when my oldest brother, Dan married a girl from Norwich, CT. and we drove up for the wedding, that I learned about lobsters, cousins to the crayfish in my creek !
Part of the woods was steep hills with tall trees that had grapevines hanging from them. We'd cut them at ground level and use them to swing out over the hills. It was a fairly dangerous pass-time, as at the end of the furthest arc of the swing, we'd be about 20 feet from the ground ! But the vines were thick as my wrist and very sturdy. Those "swings" would last for years and we'd have a ball playing "Tarzan" !
We'd build tree houses and also dig large "foxholes" for war games and camoflage them. I wasn't so much for the war games as I was for just BEING in the woods and pretending I was a pioneer.
By the time I was a young teenager, I was hanging around with two separate crowds: (1) Two MENKEL, Bob SYPHERD, Mike SERMERSHEIM & Bill WALKER and (2) Tom & Dick CROYLE, Gib McMASTERS, Dave & Bruce SALSGIVER, Jeff HARLAN and Freel GOSS. Crowd #2 was mostly older guys: Tom, Jeff & Freel were several years older than the rest of us, Dave was a year older than I and Bruce & Dick were a year younger. They also were "The Smokers"...We'd go sit in one of our foxholes and smoke a few cigarettes...it always made me cough...didn't care for it, but I wanted to "be part of the crowd".
Crowd #2 loved to play football and we'd go to Hyre to play on their field on weekends. I didn't much care for the sport...didn't like to be tackled by the older guys...THAT HURT! {:-(, but once I got past the other guys, went out for a pass and got ahold of the ball, no-one could catch me. Tom noticed that "plus" about having me on a team first.
Gib McMASTERS was a good friend of mine. His family's house wasn't built until I was about 12 years old. When my parents first moved from Hollis St. in Goodyear Heights, where my maternal grandparents lived, our house on Ogden was the last house on the block. By the time I was old enough to wander around, three more houses had been built, taking part of the woods away...loved to play around the houses as they were being built. Of course, you never did that in view of your parents...that's a no-no. But fortunately, none of us were seriously hurt.
Gib's older sister, Pat, "baby sat" Marcia and I a lot...she taught me how to dance. She was VERY nice. We all thought she'd be the future wife of my brother Bill, but that was not to be. Saddened Marcia and I a lot.
When I was very young, we had a dog named "Tobey"...a short, fat, black & white "something"dog...Terrier?
Several years later, we got "Pepper" a LARGE black terrier who, when I was FINALLY old enough to take him for a walk...he TOOK ME for a walk ! Pulling me along. It took all my strength to keep him from running away with me. The very first time I "took him for a walk", he pulled me UP the next hill on Ogden and down the other side and at the bottom of that hill was a creek..one of our/my FAVORITE spots...nice and refreshingly cool on hot summer days...when he saw the creek, he LUNGED ahead and pulled me INTO the water. When I came back home, everyone had a good laugh ! {:-)