For some reason I woke up with OLD faamily names on my mind, names from back in the 30's. I thought of Warren Woggaman, Stoney Guild, Bob Wolf, the Schmalls, the Bureans, all old neighbors from my childhood, way back in the 30's.
Warren, I think, had polio, or some problem, he spent much of his life on his front porch. He was the first "invalid" I knew. Stoney lived next door, worked in a factory, somewhere. They had a daughter a little older, Margie, used to walk me to school. Bob Wolf and my Brother were friends, I think Bobby was a little younger. I know he was at my Brother's wedding, went to UD and played basketball.
His brother Dick, had an eye problem, had to hold his head way back. The Schmalls, three kids around my age. They were Catholic, the first Catholics I knew. They wore things around their necks and had strange things hanging on their walls in their house. They were close friends.
The Bureans, lived across the alley, three or four daughters, I remember Dorothy. I think she sometimes used to babysit for me. I was in their house a lot. They introduced me to "ironed bread." Yes, ironed bread. They used their iron, to iron the bread. I am not sure whether it was electric or whether they heated in on the stove. Not many have heard of ironed bread. I can still almost picture Dorothy, she resembled one of the Andrew Sisters, the one in the middle.
When we moved I lost track of most of them, they were friends and neighbors, but when we moved to a more affluent area, "Oakwood" .... where the rich folk lived, well, I don't know if it was us or them, but, we drifted apart.
I think all of those homes have been torn down to make room for a freeway, much of my old neighborhood is gone. I'm going to post all these names on a Facebook site, see if anyone remembers any of them .........................
