There were very few
cars in those days so it didn't bother us very much.
My brother Robert was two years younger than I and he was sick for a
long time before he died at age eight. He was in a wheelchair for
quite a while. He had what was called rheumatic fever and the doctor
had to drain fluid from his back. The wheelchair was one of those old
large ones with a wicker seat and back. I would go to the corner store
where VanBrookers is now (Pearl and West Avenue) for groceries for my
mother. Robert would sit in his wheelchair by the window and time my
running to the store and back. I ran as fast as I could and it must
have been good practice because, by the time I reached high school, I
was the fastest runner there. The only boy who could keep up with me
was "Horse Face" Johnson from Cheshire.
One of our favorite times of the year was when we had the family
reunion. In those years we would have from 50 to 100 people. Some of
the games we played then were fun and would be even now. There was a
pile of sand and they would bury hundreds of pennies in it then let
the kids loose to find as many as they could. There would be a ten (or
more) gallon container of ice cream from Johncox Ice Cream Plant.
After dinner we were allowed as many ice cream cones as we wanted. I
remember we could only eat two or three before we were full, then we'd
feel bad that we couldn't eat more. Our favorite reunion was the one
held at my Aunt Alice's down on Seneca Lake.
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