Things we remember or heard about
Joe was the first one to call me Terri. Actually, he used to say, “Terry and the Pirates.” I liked that name and I decided that I would use it. The nuns and the kids at school called me Teresa. My family called me Sis or Sissy. Once I went to Meyrels Meat Market (not sure of the spelling) to shop for mom. The guy behind the counter said, “What’ll you have, Sis” and I thought he knew my name.! 😂
When someone calls me Teresa, I know it is someone from my grade school years.
Last updated July 4, 2020
In grade school, Joe’s nickname was “needles” because he was thin. His 
nickname changed as he got a little older to “Joe Cool”. Look at the picture of him in his 57 Chevy convertible. He was indeed Joe Cool! His favorite song was Charlie Brown by the Coasters. “Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown. He’s a clown, that Charlie Brown. He’s gonna get caught, just you wait and see. (Why is everybody always pickin’ on me?)”
Last updated March 4, 2020
One day when mom and dad were in Ohio for some reason, Bill and Joe were home alone. Bill and Joe were horsing around , and for some reason, Joe was chasing Bill around the house. They ran from the kitchen through the bedroom then the living room to the entry hall and back to the kitchen. Bill slammed the kitchen door and Joe crashed his hand through the single-pane glass and got long slice in his arm. We wrapped a towel around it, headed out the door, and ran down the back city steps to see if we could get any help. Fortunately, the house at the bottom of the steps on Royal Street was occupied by a local cop who happened to be home. Joe Heinz took one look at the blood and rushed us to Allegheny General.
In those days leaving a teen and a pre-teen alone at home was not considered child endangerment.
I don’t remember whether the window was repaced with glass or another door.
Last updated December 19, 2019
Bob, Joe,Bill and Russ had the same paper route over a span of years. Bob had the route first, then after a few years, shared it with Joe. When Bob quit the route Joe shared it with Bill. This was a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette route that stretched from 2500 East Street to North Ave and included Howard Street and Madison Avenue as well as East Street. One boy took a side of East Street and its companion street, Howard Street or Madison Avenue. The Post-Gazette was a 6 day a week morning paper. We had to be out of the house by 6:30 so that we could get the papers delivered and not be late for school at 8:00. There were about 60 customers on the route, and we were paid 1 cent per paper. Saturdays we went collecting the 30 cents per subscriber, plus 2 cents if they had “the insurance”. I’m not sure what kind of insurance it was, probably life insurance. We often got small tips. Bob was able to save enough to buy a bicycle.
Last updated July 4, 2020
A couple of short memories:
I was unable to determine how Joe met Delores, but I do remember that Joe was vying for Delores affections with Christy Dorsch. Guess who won?
Joe used to hang out at the Mobile station on the corner of East Street and Tripoli St. . He had a couple of reasons , he had a girlfriend who lived on Madison Avenue whose grandmother lived across the street in the building next to the building Judi lived in. He could meet her on the way to or from the grandmother’s home. Because he station was owned by some one named Fritz or Frisch, and Joe was friends with the son he and others such as Bobby Texter and Charlie Saar hung out there . He had a passing acquaintance with Judi.
Rusty tells the story of Joe and Butchie Saar using an electric drill to turn back an odometer. The car was pulled up a little on the unpaved section of Bly Street and they had run an extension cord from one of the houses. They took turns, lying on their back holding the drill against the connector on the back of the speedometer. Because the drill did not have the latching device to keep the drill on, they had to keep spelling each other.