01-17-2010
( Reply#: 4723 ) |
Tom J |
How about you guys sharing some of your family lives? I would love to hear about some of your family traditions and about your everyday family lives.
Those times are gone, and we must keep them alive in our memories. Kids today are just not growing up like we did, and I would MUCH rather grow up like we did.
Tom |
01-17-2010
( Reply#: 4725 ) |
Tom J |
Come on, Region Rats. Have me come over after school and stay for dinner. Describe what I could expect. Tell me about your folks and your siblings. What would dinner be like? What would we do before and after dinner?
Tomster |
01-17-2010
( Reply#: 4726 ) |
Joel357 |
Ok Tomster,
We were a pretty close knit family and through the years we always had Sunday dinner. There was mom and dad, my older sister Janet, my older brother Jeffrey, myself and John my younger brother. When my grandfather and grandma was alive they would join us or we would go over to their house. Sunday dinner was family time. We did that til my parents moved to Arizona, which was in 1987. Other family members would come over, from time to time like the Breyfogles. The extended family was close too.
Joel |
01-17-2010
( Reply#: 4731 ) |
Tom J |
Thanks, Joel.
How about you other peeps?
Tom |
01-17-2010
( Reply#: 4732 ) |
BobK |
We parents never had family Sunday dinners that I can recall, but then we didn't have a dinning room and the kitchen was very small until my Dad expanded it but that didn't increase the eating area. With three boys and Mom & Dad the kitchen was jammed. My mother-in-law did but my wife and I didn't carry it forward for some known reason. My Mother didn't like to cook so most meals were casseroles. She did however make killer meat loaf and turkey stuffing for Thanksgiving. I made sure my wife got the recipes. |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4744 ) |
nitti |
quote:
Originally posted by BobK
We parents never had family Sunday dinners that I can recall, but then we didn't have a dinning room and the kitchen was very small until my Dad expanded it but that didn't increase the eating area. With three boys and Mom & Dad the kitchen was jammed. My mother-in-law did but my wife and I didn't carry it forward for some known reason. My Mother didn't like to cook so most meals were casseroles. She did however make killer meat loaf and turkey stuffing for Thanksgiving. I made sure my wife got the recipes.
Sunday mornings were always mom putting on a pot of spaghetti sauce - to this day the most heavenly aroma. This would simmer while pop read the paper and we got ready for chuch - OLPH. We'd be watching Flash Gordon on tv and always leave before the end.
I finally had to by the VHS set when I grew up and watch them to figure out how they all tied together.
One of my goals in life is to convince Mr.Rapchak to arrange a compilation of the incidental music to Flash Gordon and have his orchestra record it.(Larry, I haven't given up) |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4746 ) |
Joel357 |
We would also watch Family Classics with Frazier Thomas on channel 9. Precursor to Turner Classic Movies.
Joel |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4747 ) |
S C Jones |
My family was not the two-parent, 3 children and dog family. Yes, there were 3 children in the family, but we were not all living at home at the same time until 1953. And we had a dog named Buttons who was my constant companion, and taught me to take care of others. My Dad was our mainstay. He worked swing shift at Youngstown Sheet and Tube tin mill.
We were blessed with neighbors who cared what was happening in our neighborhood and who unintrusively watched out for all the kids, including me and my brothers who many times had no adult at home because he had to work. We got a tv in 1954 or 5; it was turned off at 9:00 on week nights and when Dad was home, he was the one who chose what to watch during Prime Time--and the telephone (acquired in 1955) was never used to just gossip (at least now when Dad was home!!!)
My younger brother and I got an allowance for which he mowed the lawn and I cleaned the house, did the dishes every evening. My older brother found odd jobs wherever he could go to find them and made his own spending money from age 14. He rode one of those ice cream bikes in the summer and also found an auctioneer in Black Oak he could help with stocking supplies that were auctioned. He also could not carry a tune AT ALL--but (or and) the guy paid him to get up and sing in front of the crowd as they gathered.
For meals, we were each on our own for the most part. There were winter days when Dad was off on a school day and he would wake us with a knock on the stairwell wall and a "Rattle you hocks!" We would come down for a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and hot tea with cream in it.
There was always either a big round steak or a Polish sausage in the Fridgedaire (Brand name). The round steak, we each cut a portion and fried for ourselves. Milk was always there and Shredded Wheat, Wheaties bananas, apples, oranges, potatoes (which I never baked, always fried and ate with loads of catsup) Wonder Bread in its blue-checked package with the smiling girl. I often snacked on a slice of bread with
catsup on it. (I just read online that sliced bread was patented in the 1950's, is that true?)
In winter Dad would boil beef or Polish Sausage before he left for work and when we came home, from school, it was still warm on the stove.
We were pretty much guided time-wise by the neighbors who called their kids in for the night. No one had to tell us when to go to bed or when to get up---no wonder I am so independent to this day. So, "my family" was a bit larger than most because it included at least three neighbor moms--one made lemon meringue pie to die for; one made Swedish meatballs for her family and often brought leftovers for our supper. Another always had Jays Potato Chips, popcorn, and Pepsi on hand and shared--there was no snack type food at our house--maybe a twinkie or two.
ENOUGH!!!!
|
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4748 ) |
Joel357 |
My grandma used to make chocolate cream pies when Miner Dunn first started and I guess those pies were famous. She made them in her kitchen on Detroit Street and years later she would make them for us. Those pies were fantastic.
Joel |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4749 ) |
HassoBenSoba |
Sorry, Tom.....but the only time I can remember hearing "Wait 'til your father comes home" was when Mike and I were about to get our butts whipped.
That being said, there was a great sense of comfort and security in our home, especially during the winter months. Our dad was usually sitting by the Hi-Fi phonograph, listening to big bands and popular vocalists as he put together his next day's radio show. Wonderful sense of warmth in the post-Christmas week, with the tree lit up, the presents scattered around, and the Christmas records playing. Mike and I always had books, comics, games, models and toys to create our own little fantasy world. In the early months of 1958, our dad was always building plastic models--mostly airplanes. I remember a WWI Spad bi-plane (he actually used black sewing thread for the rigging between the two sets of wings), a WWII "Flying Tiger" and P-38 Spitfire, as well as a larger bomber, probably a B-25. Very cool to sit by my dad and watch him slowly paint and assemble these; he was very good at it, and the results were beautiful. Of course, he guided us in our earliest efforts at model-making, and our first set of WWII soldiers (by the Revell company) that we painted and assembled was truly a magical thing--- since our dad would tell us about his own war-time army experience when we worked together on the figures. The aroma of model paint and glue brings back a FLOOD of great memories and sensations from that time.
In the summer, the house was always open (no air-conditioning), and my dad, being a cigarette smoker, was often lighting up. To this day the smell of a cigarette being lit takes me back to those times, especially when we'd be watching the White Sox on our little black and white TV, with the warm summer breeze floating through the house and---of course---the aroma of tobacco. Then there were the night games with Bob Elson doing the play-by-play on the radio. A great sense of security and calmed reigned during these times....until, that is, Mike and I would destroy it with one of our outrageous pranks. Then it was time to face the music with our mother, and "Big Mike" would reluctantly be called upon to administer the justice.
Ooh...Ouch...yikes!
|
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4750 ) |
Tom J |
Oh, man, thanks to all of you guys for contributing!
I could listen for hours to your descriptions of your childhood family lives, if we could sit down together somewhere. There is so much that all of us here have in common from our early lives, and we can all relate to what the others are saying.
Keep it up, Region Rats! Share those childhood family life memories with everyone else.
Tomster
|
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4752 ) |
Roger D |
Man o Man Tom. You sure know how to stir memories. My dad worked swing shift at Blaw Knox Foundry in E.C. The days he was home for supper there was always home cooked food. As our parents were all raised in the same area about the same time you know the good "southern cooking" I enjoyed. One thing I remember very well was Sunday dinner. There was a standing rule that my sister and i did the Sunday dinner dishes, taking turns as to who washed and who dried. This rule stood unless we had a friend from church over to spent the day. Then we were excused from 'dish duty'. As you can imagine we both had company just about every Sunday.
Both my parents are gone now and myb dad and I were very close. he taught me to fish and hunt and after I retired i moved back to Kentucky and we saw each other almost every day. I was with him when he caught his last fish, killed his last deer and hunted and killed his last quail. To say I miss him is a great understatement. he died in my home from lung cancer. Even that we were very close I believe that I miss my mother most. I grew up at a time when most mothers did not work outside the home. No matter when I came hom, moring, noon or night mom was there. Dad may be at work but mom was there. Dad was boss but mom ran the house. I was never told "wait until your father gets home". Mom doled out the spankings and hopefully when she told dad what had happened he figured you were punished enough.
I was very lucky to have a good job in the mill and my wife could be a stay at home mother. I, like my dad, would NEVER want to change jobs with a stay at home mom.
Roger D. |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4753 ) |
Joel357 |
I remember my grandma would take us to Wicker Park's amusemnt park. Anyone remember that? We would play dominoes and pickup sticks. She would drive us around in a 1959 Oldsmobile and they had an aftermarket airconditioner installed by I believe Hood Sales and Service. The first time I rode in an airconditioned car. She drove very fast, go, go, go!! Then in 1964 my grandpa traded the Olds in for a 1963 Cadillac Sedan de Ville from Leo P. Knoezer. She kept that car until 1978 and bought a used 1976 Cadillac from Leo P Knoezer. That was the last car she had. Tom you created a monster with this thread, LOL.
Joel |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4754 ) |
seejay2 |
OK, I'll do this with a pic that I stumbled across this weekend. Dad worked at Inland in the transportation dept and held a second job in the IHB. Mom stayed home and tried to keep us kids in line while conducting activities like in this pic.
This is the house that I lived in most of my life on Arizona Ave in Hessville. I can only ballpark date this as something out of the late 50's, early 60's. How many of these items do you see today on a regular basis? When is the last time you saw someone cranking a meat grinder like that? I honestly can't even remember the kitchen when it was that awful color.....Cj
[IMG]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u250/seejay2_photos/Kitchen.jpg[/IMG] |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4756 ) |
Tom J |
Cool, CJ! Thanks for sharing that pic.
Here's one of our tiny kitchen and my mom doing the dishes. It was taken in January of 1964. I would have been 14 years old at the time.
I remember helping Dad grout those tiles on the walls, but I can't say for sure exactly when we did that. It probably wasn't too long before that picture was taken.
Right behind Mom was a door that usually stayed open, and on the other side of that was a set of stairs leading to the basement. About three or four steps down was a landing where the back door was located. The stairs continued down from there to the basement.
I would give anything to go back and find my house exactly like it was back then, including everything in it. Just one chance to wander around the house from room to room and get it fresh in mind mind how everything looked.
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/tsjay/My%20house/Scan0024_024_024_edited.jpg[/IMG]
Here's a picture of Mom, Dad, and me taken in March of 1972. I was waiting to be called back to work in Idaho with the Forest Service for my second year of temporary employment. I was hoping to get a permanent position, but it did not work out, and I didn't go back any more after being laid-off in December of 1972.
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/tsjay/My%20house/momdadtomMar1972.jpg[/IMG] |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4757 ) |
BobK |
Joel, I remember my Uncle and Cousin putting in a lot of those after market A/Cs.
SC, wasn't that Butternut bread in the blue and white checker wrap and Wonder Bread in the white with different color and sized dots?
|
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4758 ) |
Joel357 |
Tom,
You were quite the hippie,haha. Yeah Bob it did a pretty good job cooling off their car. Bob, check out my family's www.youtube.com seach for jlm1228
Joel |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4760 ) |
BobK |
Joel, what address on Detroit did your Grandmother live? We lived at 444 Highland for 5 years, one block over from Detroit.
My wife's Uncle's brother-in-law was the service manager at Knoezer's. We bought our first new car there, a 67 Cutlass Supreme. |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4761 ) |
Joel357 |
Bob,
Grandma and Grandpa lived at 446 Detroit Street from 1924 to I believe 1940 or 1941 and then moved to 6519 Forest Avenue. |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4762 ) |
Tom J |
quote:
Originally posted by BobK
Joel, what address on Detroit did your Grandmother live? We lived at 444 Highland for 5 years, one block over from Detroit.
My wife's Uncle's brother-in-law was the service manager at Knoezer's. We bought our first new car there, a 67 Cutlass Supreme.
Bob:
Hey, we had a new 1967 Cutlass Supreme too! Dad got a two door hardtop in that bluish green color (teal, I guess) with a black vinyl top.
He was a dyed in the wool Olds fan, but it turned out that he wasn't crazy about the Cutlass. He found out that he liked the bigger Oldsmobiles, like the 88s, much better. He traded in a cream colored 1962 Olds Dynamic 88 four door hardtop for the Cutlass. That '62 was the family car when I got my driver's license.
Tom |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4764 ) |
Joel357 |
Tom,
I learned how to drive a 1973 Delta 88 at Munster High School and the cars were provided courtesy of J.J. Wright Oldsmobile in Lansing, IL.
Joel |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4765 ) |
cartoonguy |
Cool photos, thanks for sharing, bet all the kitchens in Hammond looked just like that, I know ours did.
I totally forgot about Silvercup Bread, and talk about Hippies, I was Woodrow Wilson Elementary School's first one, boy did that cause quite a stir in it’s day, but I was nothing compared to hair styles that followed. |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4766 ) |
Joel357 |
My dad was a Pontiac man |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4767 ) |
BobK |
Tom, we had a white two door with a black vinyl top. I loved the car but not the gas mileage. It was getting 12 MPG new and I figured it would improve as it loosened up. When I sold it in 73 it was getting 9 MPG. 330 ci /w 320 hp, glad I didn't get the 442. |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4768 ) |
duane |
quote:
Originally posted by seejay2
[IMG]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u250/seejay2_photos/Kitchen.jpg[/IMG]
We had a kitchen sink just like that in our house. Large, cast iron with a wood cabinet below. The cabinets look very much like the ones in my current house, which was built in 1919 and still has the original cabinets, but alas, not the sink. I love the photo, with the meat grinder, the dining table, the Silvercup bread (remember the Silvercup bakery building in downtown EC on Indy Blvd? (later became the library building for St. Joseph's College before they abandoned downtown EC for the former Standard Oil Research Building in Whiting.) |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4769 ) |
S C Jones |
Duane, It looks like the paint matched the chairs and probably the table top.---My dad mixed his own colors and we had a muddy green kitchen that no one could match today. Waste not, want not....[8)]
quote:
Originally posted by duane
quote:
Originally posted by seejay2
[IMG]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u250/seejay2_photos/Kitchen.jpg[/IMG]
We had a kitchen sink just like that in our house. Large, cast iron with a wood cabinet below. The cabinets look very much like the ones in my current house, which was built in 1919 and still has the original cabinets, but alas, not the sink. I love the photo, with the meat grinder, the dining table, the Silvercup bread (remember the Silvercup bakery building in downtown EC on Indy Blvd? (later became the library building for St. Joseph's College before they abandoned downtown EC for the former Standard Oil Research Building in Whiting.)
Grand Park Subdivision 1940-1961 Boondocks of Hessville! |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4770 ) |
Bill Bucko |
quote:
Originally posted by nitti
Sunday mornings were always mom putting on a pot of spaghetti sauce - to this day the most heavenly aroma. This would simmer while pop read the paper and we got ready for chuch - OLPH. We'd be watching Flash Gordon on tv and always leave before the end.
I finally had to by the VHS set when I grew up and watch them to figure out how they all tied together.
One of my goals in life is to convince Mr.Rapchak to arrange a compilation of the incidental music to Flash Gordon and have his orchestra record it.(Larry, I haven't given up)
The Flash Gordon serials were certainly THE greatest inspiration of my young life. As an adult, I spent years tracking down as much of the music as I could. I got a huge jolt of recognition the first time I heard Liszt's "Les Preludes" and his Sonata in B minor! (I still can't listen to the Sonata without hearing "Calling the commander of the Nitron Squadron!") Specialists have now documented the source of every bit of music used. In addition to classical music, movie scores by Heinz Roemheld, Karl Hajos and Franz Waxman were used heavily. See: http://flashgordon.ws/ and for the music, see: http://flashgordon.ws/The_Music.htm . It's worth while going to a large library and looking up the chapter on Flash Gordon music in Film Music I.
It was Flash Gordon that made Sunday mornings inspiring to me! Not church, but Flash Gordon. I still treasure my personally autographed photos of Buster Crabbe and Jean Rogers.
Bill
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
01-19-2010
( Reply#: 4772 ) |
linbu |
Bill Bucko, I've been trying to email you by going to members, clicking your name, and writing in the square that pops up. It's not working. I have a picture that may be of interest to you. Could you send me your email address, as I've lost it. Thanks, and sorry I had to come through here to do this. Linda |
01-19-2010
( Reply#: 4773 ) |
Tom J |
quote:
Originally posted by linbu
Bill Bucko, I've been trying to email you by going to members, clicking your name, and writing in the square that pops up. It's not working. I have a picture that may be of interest to you. Could you send me your email address, as I've lost it. Thanks, and sorry I had to come through here to do this. Linda
Linda:
That Email feature is supposed to be working now, but it has only been back "up" for the last two or three days. Try to send another Email to Bill, please, and let me know if it goes through. If it doesn't, then I will tell Jim Clavin that we still have problems.
Thanks.
Tom |
01-19-2010
( Reply#: 4774 ) |
linbu |
Tom, it wasn't working yesterday or this afternoon. Linda |
01-19-2010
( Reply#: 4775 ) |
Tom J |
Linda:
Please try to send me an Email that way, OK?
Tom |
01-31-2010
( Reply#: 4884 ) |
Cindy M |
Those Winter Sundays
by Robert E. Hayden
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices? |
