I was born in Newark in 1940 on Rutgers
St., moved to 15th Ave when I was 5 years old. I then attended Newton
St School at the age of 5. I attended Newton St School up until
my third week in the 5th grade and was transferred to Camden St
School. That school has given me the best couple of years of my
life. All the kids in that school were super special.
The school had summer programs to keep us busy. During school rather
just before class started we played baseball but instead of using
two hands we used one hand. We were very resourceful back then and
had a great imagination. We were not distracted by tv. We learned
how to make toys with clothes pins, or use milk boxes to make scooters,
or carriage wheels to make wagons. We even played with cardboard
boxes. We also played stick ball, catch one catch all, and hot butter
biscuit. We climbed trees, roofs, raised pigeons. We would ride
our bikes down to Newark Airport to watch the planes take off and
land. We went swimming during the summer.
We also collected bottles for deposit to go to the movies. We would
go to the Essex Movie, for it was only 14 cents and the Savoy Movie
across the street was a little bit more. The Branford and the RKO
Procter's were even more expensive and we did from time to time
get to go.
I was a member of Happy Feltons Knot Hole Gang. A baseball club
for kids that affiliated with the Brooklyn Dodgers where we earned
free movie tickets at the Lowe's on Broad St.
During the winter we would get our sleds out and go sledding or
ice skating and, of course, snow ball fights. The fun we had kind
of off set many of the bad times we had to endure due to finances
many of us had to do without. However, as children, we had each
other and very few families had any more than the other.
After graduating from Camden St School I then attended Cleveland
Jr High. Three months later we moved to East Orange. Though we had
a large family back, then four girls and three boys, those years
from 1950 through 1955 were the years that molded this man. Thanks
goes out to all the friends I have made through those years, both
male and female and the sisters and brothers, mom and dad god bless
you all.
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