Memories of the 1940s and of Being a Wave
War was looming in this country in the early 1940s and Europe was in dire straits. Because of the strict gasoline rationing, my mother, sister and I moved from the country to an apartment building in White Plains, NY within walking distance of the railroad station. I was commuting to attend business school and my sister to her job at New York Life Insurance. While living in the apartment, I volunteered as an Air Raid Warden there at night, making sure that all blinds were closed and no light was visible on the outside. As new residents we could not get a telephone until the war ended.
War was looming in this country in the early 1940s and Europe was in dire straits. Because of the strict gasoline rationing, my mother, sister and I moved from the country to an apartment building in White Plains, NY within walking distance of the railroad station. I was commuting to attend business school and my sister to her job at New York Life Insurance. While living in the apartment, I volunteered as an Air Raid Warden there at night, making sure that all blinds were closed and no light was visible on the outside. As new residents we could not get a telephone until the war ended.Continue reading Memories of the 1940s and of Being a Wave →
Rekindling memories is an easy first step to charging emotions for the purpose of writing. That is why Pine Run’s creative writing class always starts with discussion about family, history, hobbies, travels, and other rousing topics that promote a dynamic exchange of ideas. “Listening to others’ stories in the group has really helped me develop as a writer,” says artist Izzie Barth. “We bolster each other, and I find that writing as a creative outlet is almost as satisfying as painting, but it takes up less space. I’ve also learned an awful lot about the computer since joining the class.”
What are the chances that an elementary school teacher and her former student would be living in the same retirement community? It was recently discovered that Lola Glass of Chestnut Cluster was the first-grade teacher of Barbara Molesworth of Quince Cluster. Lola’s husband, Larry, met Barbara at a Pine Run “Keep on Learning” presentation about Doylestown’s Intelligencer reporter W. Lester Trauch. Larry and Barbara were both looking at a photo of the old Doylestown Public School – which was located at East Court and Broad Streets. Barbara said that she had gone to elementary school there and Larry said that Lola taught first grade at the school before they were married. They were astonished to discover that Miss Lola Deibert had been Barbara’s first grade teacher!
The bejeweled platters sparked a great party!
Villager Irv Thompson, the creator of the gorgeous new table made from the wood of Pine Run’s felled Zelcova tree, describes his design:
My introduction to Border Collies began when my sister-in-law and her husband got a black and white one, Mac. I couldn’t believe how smart they were. At that time we had two other dogs, Barney and Sam. They were dogs that have stories behind them but intelligence – not much. Well, because Mac was such a handsome specimen, he was called upon for stud service and with that came the offer to my in-laws to pick a pup from the litter. The in-laws were not interested in having another dog but they asked if we wanted one. Well yes – no. We couldn’t make up our minds. When we finally said okay, they only had the runt left. But we still said okay.
On Monday, May 7th, 2018, several hundred Vietnam Veterans departed on the Bucks County Tour of Honor. They filled five large buses and departed from Parx Casino at 6AM. The group reached the World War II Memorial at 9:45AM in DC. Upon exiting the vehicles, they were surrounded by hordes of children of all ages who fought to thank them, congratulate them and shake their hands. The emotions of these kids were obvious, and no doubt reflected values learned at home regarding courage and love of country. The next stop was Arlington Cemetery and then the Air Force Memorial. The final visit was to the very painfully moving Vietnam War Memorial.
As the Sagafjord sailed from her pier
I joined Burpee in 1954 and worked during the summer months with Jonathan Burpee harvesting Big Boy in a field near what is now Delaware Valley University (Del Val). Two men, Ovid Schifries, PHD and a geneticist, and Ted Torrey, farm manager and plant breeder working at Fordhook Farms in Doylestown, PA, developed Big Boy. They crossed a popular home garden variety with a large male tomato. They grew out the plants, made some selections, grew out and made more selections and then harvested the tomato. Then they grew them out again to make sure that the cross was fixed and “Big Boy” was born! The name, Big Boy, was used when Ovid Schifries said, “Let’s name it Big Boy for Jonathan, who was big for his age.”