Last updated January 12, 2022
How Rich met Joan. Rich was home on leave from the Air Force when one of his friends said that he and his girlfriend were going to play tennis. The friend said he needed another man to join them in a doubles match. Joni was the other girl, they hit it off right away. “Love” does not always mean zero in a tennis match.
School. Rusty also walked the half mile to East Street School for kindergarten. One of his memories is about the “Happy Tooth” sessions.
Pets. Rusty had a dog that he named Kingfujiwuji. He once took Kingfujiwuji to the veterinarian where the vet put a cone on the dog, and didn’t expect Rusty to pay. We did have another dog in the family named Pal. He was some sort of mixed breed, but was well loved. Unfortunately, one day when one of us boys was picking something up from Myeral’s Meat Market, Pal escaped his makeshift leash and took off running across East Street. He was struck and killed by a car, No amount of pleading with Mom would get us another dog.
Ouch! Rusty once got his arm caught in the wash machine wringer. There must be more to the story than we know.
Neighbors. Rusty claims he remembers all the names of the residents of Bly Street. Here’s my recollection:
Going left to right in the header picture Ritzer, Hirmer, Hartmann, Schroeffel, Sesky, Rossmueller, Straub, Straub, Zupsic, Saar, Hofenrecter, Hoffman, Hartmann, ??, Kaufman (I can’t remember those going down the hill except Braddock) and Ritzer.
Mary. Rusty tells this story about Mary. Mary and Ozzie would occasionally be at the house playing 66 with Mom and Dad. Mary would bring 2 bottles of gin in her purse. When she came in the house she would give Rusty a big hug and a bottle of gin, while Ozzy went upstairs. Then she would take the other upstairs. She would start out by pouring herself a drink, and from time to time she would ask Rusty to fix her a drink. Because he used the downstairs bottle, Mary made it look like she wasn’t drinking too heavily because her upstairs bottle was still half full.
Sneaking Out. The attic was used as the boy’s bedroom. There were two twin beds and a double bed. There were two windows, one overlooking the vacant lot between our house and one over the kitchen area (see picture on left). Although it didn’t happen often, the window overlooking the vacant lot was used to avoid going all the way down to the cellar for a pee. The other window was also used occasionally for another purpose. It was possible for healthy boys who wanted to sneak out for a little night time adventure by climbing out onto the kitchen door’s roof, then down to the yard. Climbing back in was a little more difficult, but with a little bit of a leg up using a chair from the front of the house. A scramble first thing in the morning was needed to put the chair back in place.