 She goes from one, she has flight of ideas. You know what I'm talking about? You go from one thing to another. I know. Plus, Virginia Pitcher was talking about the house that Rachel lived in when she was a school teacher here. Yes. I used to call it the hen house. Yeah. That's right. That's about Ada Wood next door. Oh boy, she was something else. She was something. Yeah? Ready? Ready? What about Ada Wood? Tell me. Let's start out. What do you remember about Ada Wood? Well, she'd like to talk. And I think I remember my father said he took her out one time and it was a big laugh because I don't, she was not to attract. And but she was, you know, she just lived there. And she's related to the gal that writes for the spotlight. What is her name? Not Alison Bennett. Yes. That's her niece. Her mother and Ada Wood were sisters. That's the person she came out to visit. Sure. She used to tell me she was to come out to visit somebody. Absolutely. Yes. That's who it was. Yeah? Wow. Alison loves words, though. Oh yes. I went to high school with her. Well, after that? I think she's younger than I am. She didn't graduate with me in my career. I went to Bethlehem Central High School, you know. We was two years up here and then from there we went, we were bused to Bethlehem Central. Yeah. When you say bus, do you mean why? Well, they had a Hunkerford bus line and it was independently owned. And I think we had to wait on the corner by the Methodist Church here and they would pick us up. They didn't go house to house like the buses do today. And there was only the sophomore year and from then we went to Delmar. You mentioned earlier you went to Grammar School? My first school, I went to nursery school, way up when Mrs. Vosburg. And it was really something. And when I think about it, we learned so many things up there. We walked from my friend Marjorie Obright-Hainer lived in the house here with the brick front. And we would walk all the way down, Borisville Avenue, up Center Street, all the way to the end where Vosburgs lived. That was a long walk when you were four years old. And winter and summer and we went. And I don't know how much my mother paid Mrs. Vosburg. We were red stories and we had lunch hours, we rested, we had little prayers. And then when the weather permitting, the best was I remember was going back into the woods. I learned everything about the nature, the wildflowers. I saw trailing our beautists, dog tooth filers, every kind of violet-gown, pinksters, things that are not our obsolete today, and birds. We learned about birds. And it was just a nice school, really. And I think she taught us to take our coats off and put them on and our shoes. She taught us so many things. She was so calm and peaceful. They were very nice people of Vosburgs, very well educated, more than a lot of the people were, you know. And how many people were at school? Well, there was Marjorie and I, and I think Jean Fryer, who was a Conrad Fryer, would be a great-granddaughter, would be Margaret Barrowman's sister. She has died. I don't know if Margaret went or not. And maybe Lola Southbrook, I'm not sure, because she didn't live. I can't remember. There were a few of us. I don't know if Wesley Jacobson, I don't know who all went. My mother was great for school. She liked me to go to school. And it was just four years old, and of course there were cars on the road you have to worry about, and child molesters and things, I guess, but we had a good time. And then from when we went into first grade. And I often think, I don't know when I learned how to read or write, I just did. No big deal. No. Nobody tested us when we went to school. We just had to learn. And some went that weren't as smart as some others, and even handicaps were right in the school with us. And did Mary Vosberg's daughter ever help out at the school, do you remember? I can remember. See her daughter was the doctor, the obstetrician. And in fact she delivered my grandson in Bellevue Hospital. And then the other daughter was a librarian, Marion. And I can remember him, he was a tall man. But that's a long time ago, and they were older, Marion. Those girls were older than I was a lot. I would think. So I, by like 20 years. Well maybe, and Mildred Guffin was older than I was. Mildred was 81, and Marion Vosberg has got to be 88 or 89. Really? Yeah. But Doc died recently as he was about 92. Oh yes, or maybe older, I don't know, she was a lovely lady. She delivered so many babies, a thousand I guess. There was a lot, huh? Yes. You said, when you went to the kindergarten, Mary would read to you? Oh yes, we had Story Hour. It was really well organized. And I can remember the one room had the fireplace, and we had picture books, we had, we learned enough a lot. Virginia Maxwell showed me a book, the Robert Louis Stevenson's, The Child's Garden Yes. 1923, that Mary had given to her, says to Virginia Smith, oh yes, see I'm telling you, she instilled us in to read, you know. I've got an old book here, I don't know where, how old it is, but of all the old verses. So what year did you go there, so you're 61 now? I'm 69, I must have been. So 65 years ago? Yeah, I was four years old. So I wasn't living in this house. I lived over here, and I also lived in that house there. So you mentioned you also went to school over here? And the Zae owns it, now Bidwell owns it now, the upper story, that was the first and second grade. The house or the building in the back? Just up the upper floor. The house? Zae, yes. Oh. Yes. What was that like? Well it was just desks and I can remember the teacher, I think it was Ms. Mendoos and was the teacher and there was a great big pop-bellied stove and we went up the back stairs and that was it. And one of the things I remember, so once in the winter the snow came off the roof and it buried one of the kids, went right under there and boy the teacher went out and my mother lived up and they went out with their bare hands and got this boy out, you know. And he was all right, of course they got him right out, but the snow was deep and I think we had more snow than we do now. And we used to go there and we'd go out and play first and second grade and from there we went up to the others, the three room schoolhouse, the third and fourth, but then in the fifth grade I went to this elementary school. I was fifth and sixth grade was in one room. Was it a three room schoolhouse then? That was a three room. There was third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and seventh and eighth and Mr. Barton was principal. And first and second were we here then? Yes. This right. The second floor of the Zae house right here? Yeah, where the green porch is. Yeah, how it used to be the green tall. Yeah, that's right. It used to be the green tall. And Mr. Barton lived right next door. I can't remember when he bought that house. He lived on Pleasant Street or way up on Pleasant Street for a while. Somebody told me, is the building in the back about a few more houses down? Is the building in the back, someone said they used that as a schoolhouse? Oh, yes. That's where my nephew lives, Glenn Schultz. They did use that, but that was when I was older, you know, because we lived here. And the list is on tape so I can't say what I want to say. You could cut it out because Marguerite taught there. She used to, we could hear her yet. My father would say, listen to her mouth. No wonder how the kid's going to learn anything. She's hearing the hell out of the kids. You could hear her. She was a good disciplinarian. She was a good teacher. I heard that Sheena and Vandalinda were pretty tough. I heard her in fifth grade. She slapped me right across the face one day. I stuck my tongue out. And you didn't go home tell your mother in those days. I'm going to get another one. Before you got it out of your mouth. What'd you do to her teacher? But she was a good, fair teacher and was fifth in the sixth grade. And you know, like Harold Mead, I remember he was in the sixth grade. He was a great ahead of me. And I remembered making an Indian village when I was in the fifth grade with Ann Vandalinda. And we went out and we got bark off of a tree. What tree do I'm talking about? To make the canoes. Birch tree. Birch tree. And we made little canoes and we had wigwams and Indians. I can remember. It was quite, it was in the corner I can remember. And that's where I saw the Indians or the Gypsies go down one time. We were sitting there in a bunch up and went down. The road gone past like from New Salem on down. But they're covered wagons. Talk about the Gypsies a little bit. What did you say and who was there and what did they look like? Well, that, when we just watched going down, they had wagons with old furniture up. But every year they would come through the village and the one that was most vivid, and Marjorie Hayner would vouch for this, right up the road here where Bergoons lived. We used to play and the whole band of them came up through. And they told us that they would steal little girls. My grandmother used to tell me that. And this little gypsy lady was in a cute little wagon. And a little buggy it was. She had a little white dog. And she said, do us like this, to come over to see her dog. Well, we were petrified. We ran so fast to get to where Marjorie lived down a couple houses. We thought, sure, they were going to steal us. And they, and she was a little, I can see her, a little bit of a white hair sitting there. And she says, come see her, my little dog. Come on girls, come see her. You know, we thought they were going to, they'd have the horses and you know. Remember that just as well as anything. That was before we saw them up in the, but every year they came. And they used to come in the store when my father was in the Schaefer store. And if he saw them, he'd just lock the door because they'd steal. They'd come in with their big skirts and they had pockets and they'd push up on this and they'd get your attention. One would get their attention and the others would do the stealing. And they'd come over here when Severson was here and Clifford would holler and yell, tell them to get out and everything. They'd come for ice or something. So, but I've always been afraid of gypsies. One time they came in the hospital when I was working and I wouldn't even go in the lobby to come home because they were going to put a hex on the doctor. They camped right in the main lobby and wouldn't budge. Yes, sure. But they wouldn't see them anymore. They come in Cadillacs now. But we had good times when we were little. We really did. I think that up in the mountain, I know later years they used to go up in Thatcher Park, but they would kick them out if they knew they were there. And one time they were up there and they'd do dances and the police would kick them right out. They'd have, you know... What were they came from? Southern part of the downed Florida way, I think, I don't know. Don't they originate in Italy and Spain? I don't know. So, but they have a night, they do... There's some good gypsies, I guess, I don't know. My grandmother knew them. She's from the Scarry Valley, my father's mother, and she used to tell me. She's the one who got me scared of them. She would tell me about the gypsy ladies, all the potions they made and all this and all that, you know. And how they, she says they take children and she got me sort of scared. But... Well, talk a little bit about the grocery store. Oh, well, that's where, right next to where the library is. It's an apartment there, right next to where the dentist is. It was just a little store and had a pop-belly stove in it. And my mother's uncle owned the whole building. George Smith owned it. Of course, he was an older man and he'd come and sit there by the fire all the time. He wanted to see people coming and going. And my father ran the store and they brought things in in bulk. He had to do up the sugar in five-pound packages and the flour and the butter. If anybody came in, they had a little cardboard, you know, boat type things. And he would weigh out the butter. They wanted a pound or whatever it was. They had no frozen things, of course. They did have some bananas. And then, I don't know, somebody must have delivered bread, Hagam and Bakery in that time. I don't think it was Fryhofer would leave bread in the porch in the early morning, you know. And... But my mother helped him on Saturday. There was a little weed hustle down there and we'd go, I'd have to go, and then I'd stay all day. And there was a lady upstairs that I'd stay with. In fact, she's still living. She's living down in Pennsylvania. And, um, Steffen. And they lived... Steffen Farm was up on Altamart Road and I don't know which one it was. It might have been the one... I can't really say which one it was. It could have been the one that burnt that one there. And, uh, she's still living. But I played and I played with the... The Hurwigs were there, and Russo, Douglas Russo, and he's dead. And, uh, we played in back of that. It was an old water tank in back of a shed. Back of the church. They used that church. We used to climb in that. We'd get all dirty. Douglas' mother'd grab a stick and bebelled us one. Get out of that thing. And we would ride and sleigh ride. And we'd sleigh ride down that center. You know, there wasn't many cars. But we'd have to steer off, you know, somebody. But we were always doing something, I tell you. Go back to the store for a second. You said it was popular. You told the people, even in those days, still sit around here at night? I don't know. It wasn't open at night. You know, five, six o'clock. But I can remember it was my great-uncle. He'd just sit in there. Of course, he owned the building. And he'd just sit there, you know. And, uh, but my father, and it was good because it was during the depression. My father had that. So I actually didn't suffer during the depression. Like some of people, you know, people were suffered. They didn't have food. Some people enough to eat. Anything, you know. But, um... Your father, did he have another store at one time, too? No, no. I don't know. He... He came... He was in Canada for a while. He worked for a towel supply outfit up there. And then he came down here and then he had bought a farm up on Clip Road, and that's where I was born. And then I... See, I think I was a baby. I lived in Schenectady a little while. I moved in this house over here next to the upstairs. And then I moved here. And then my father bought this house. When I was nine years old, I was here. Now, he was an older person, right? My father, my parents were older when I was born. My father was 41. My mother was 39. Which, today, they have children, you know, but they were always... They seemed older to me, I don't know. Did they sell milk in the store? You know? Mine were crowns and sieversons. They used to deliver... It was unpasteurized. And they just... You had a pail and they'd bring it and dump it in your pail to the door, as I can remember. But then sieversons bottled it later on and took it to be pasteurized down at Yeoman's Inn. But they delivered raw milk a lot. And nobody... I didn't hear much about the fever once in a while. I guess Cofftree and Mr. Cofftree had a Gladys Cofftree's husband. I don't know. But, of course, when they started pasteurizing, that was... I had raw milk. Did you give me a copy of a picture that you lent to me? Is that your father in the store? Oh, yes. I don't know where it is now. Well, that's another store. Then he opened up a store with Virginia Maxwell's husband. A picture. They had a store down on the other side of the street where maybe the laundromat is or in there someplace. That was another store he had. That wasn't the Shaefer store. Did you have another store? Yes, you know. The woman who was in the picture, who you told me... Oh, that Tifty Tinkle, I think her name was, she had this little room down on the end. She had sandwiches and everything. You know, she'd come out with some delis, you know. But she was a good person. I never know what happened to her. You describe it as what, a tearoom? I don't know what it was. I think she served sandwiches. I don't know what she did, but she used to come up to the store and I wonder if Virginia might know something about her. Because Harold used to tease her. Terrible, her Virginia's husband there, her first husband. She was a real... Tifty Tinkle? I can see her hair. I can just see her hair. Her hair was straight back. She shaved right off. I don't know where she came from or where she went to. But we, as I say, we had... We did a lot. We didn't have television. That's one thing. We had to use ourselves. We played a lot. We used to play house with dolls. And we had... She lived up here and we'd sift dirt and make mud pies. Let them dry, turn them out and they'd come out just pretty much if we were careful. And then with the church activities we always went to those things. The picnics and the movies down at night. And I think I can remember going to the first moving picture in Altamont and it was Moby Dick. My father went up there. It was in the Masonic Hall in Altamont. It was one of the first... I think it was the first moving picture they showed around here. I remember we went there. And you used to go to the I-Files falls in the morning. What was that like? Describe that. What was the fall like? Well, they had a balcony up on top and they had all seats down at the bottom and Gert said she played there. I don't remember her playing but I do remember Flossie Watson and Mrs. Van Wormer, Betsy Van Wormer playing there. They were silent movies. I'm pretty sure. But every Saturday night we went there. And when you say they played at the movies tell me what you were playing. They played the piano. In the upper right-hand corner and they played while the I suppose maybe they saw the movie before and got music that sort of went with the action. I don't know. But we thought it was great anyway. There were Cowboys, Tom Mix, and all that business. So... Do you remember anything else that the God calls them all? Oh yes, they used to have minstrel shows. But they were fun. People with local talent. And one time the Presbyterian church down here put on a big show they had somebody come in that was in theater that really directed it. It was good. And what else did they do down there? My father was an oddfellows hall. My father was a member of the oddfellows in the stairs they had why they ever built that big building. I don't know. I don't think there were any oddfellows anymore maybe out in West, maybe, or out in New England. But they had parties and my mother was a Rebecca and we went to things they had. But as I say in the winter we did a lot of things in the winter down back here we used to ride down the hills and I had a pair of skis. No, not like today just plain skis. And we'd go right down the whole sleighs and everything and we'd have to go all the way up the hill again. And skate on Severson's pond that was the greatest. How did that work? Oh great, I'd about freeze my feet. And then he'd come down and the ice would be like that and he'd come with the the horses and cut the ice, you know. And he'd build a big bonfire for us lots of times there. And just everybody about skated there and I remember there was a I think it was still there there was like a little spring and we used to drink out we'd get thirsty, you know. We used to put today with all the septic tank but we could drink it and never get sick but we used to have good time my feet would get so cold when I'd go home I think I couldn't even stand on them. My mother used to say you're going to get chill winds and I think I did my feet would burn and itch, you know. Something you don't hear of anymore, chill winds. And the snow I can remember drifting right up even with the terrorists here and then sometimes Phil Severson would take his sleigh and take us on sleigh rides from the church the church would have and we'd go on sleigh rides he was good he was a gruff old guy Reed was scared to death of him one time he teased Reed and Reed was scared to death of him but he would take us on sleigh rides and you know and I'd see we had Scouts 4-H I wasn't much for the Scouts The Girl Scouts, that was right Yeah, they had Girl Scouts the Bossburg was into Girl Scouts that Phoebe that lived with them she was adopted Phoebe LaNaye I think was and she was in but that was when school was mostly you know Who were your friends you mentioned Marjorie and Jane Cummings now she was one of my best friends she was my age we'd fight but we got along and I can remember her father so well Jim Cummings we'd tease him What do you remember about him? I just remember him being an old sick man and her mother was younger than he she used to play at the movie place you know a smart talented woman you know but he was I think he had, as you say he worked in the quarry up there and he had some kind of lung emphysema yeah because he couldn't breathe and he was coughing and but I can remember him sitting in that chair and we'd tease him it was terrible, I'd stay overnight and he'd try to get up the poor guy he couldn't get up, we'd get up and we'd tease him and hide under the bed and he'd take us cane and go like this try to hook us and get us off under the bed and he'd say some choice words to us too but then Jane as I say she turned out to be a minister and there was other ones we played with there was Luther Patton who was the minister his father was the minister they were a little older than I was Jane was more my age and mostly Margie were friends our mothers were friends and another thing our mothers would take us a big deal in the fall was going out to my fair we'd go down to the railroad station get on the train, go all day to the fair and then come back it was a big deal, go on the grandstand go on all the rides another thing, we'd go to Albany on the bus, get the bus here by the church, I think that was the Humphrey and then and my mother and we'd go all day and shop, you know Myers and Whitney's was in Albany and we'd go and have lunch and buy clothes and where the State College owns a D&H building was a plaza there, that's where you got the bus of course that's all changed so and boy that was a big day how many times do you do it a year something like that oh to go to the Albany oh my mother we'd go once a month anyway maybe you know and of course the fair was only once a year and but in the church picnics we had church picnics we would go up to Burn and that place is still there I think it's apartment house now I can remember going to church picnics up there and how would you get up there people with cars cars like they didn't even have school buses either because we had like a basketball team even in this school up here and our parents would take us different parents would drive the team so Mary Colette was our basketball coach Mike the funder was the fellas we had a good time Virginia pitcher's father used to referee we had some gay times I tell you and then they had a town basketball team and we used to go to see that you know when we were older Mary Tork was a good friend of mine too I piled around with her Mary what's her name now Mary you know where I'm talking about Tork's down there Mary Sharon Sharon I haven't seen her lately we used to be best friends go around and I'd stay down at her house she'd stay up here and we were in a growth hotel got to be it wasn't nice anymore they used to have some characters that stayed around there and crazy dances at night and we'd stay and watch them you know and it was really but I can remember the growth hotel I can't think of the name of the people but going in and seeing I often wonder what happened to that big bar that was in there it was beautiful as I remember and my father was saying it was a solid mahogany bar or something in there too bad they didn't know what they would do with it if they had it you know they should never take in that station house now never never yeah of course we'd go there and talk to the Mr. Mead and the station masters you know Mary Tork see Mary and I would go back and forth she'd come up here and I'd go there inside the station when you went in do you remember anything about inside the station yeah just you know it's all I can remember you know I heard there was a round of radiated in there do you remember the round of radiated I don't know I can't remember that but I can remember the telegraph there was Mr. Mead and Mr. Hodge worked there too Doris Rayet's father worked there and it was the Ricky's always had the store and then there was the barbershop was down there next to the Harris house and Kelly was there anyone blessing who had the barbershop blessing no I think Charlie Fields ran it then I can't remember who else they had the barbershop we'll go back a few years back a couple of years your grandfather held out along the Alton on Road oh I don't remember him living there no he lived down here when I knew him he lived where it's the name of the people that lived there right next to where my nephew lives shouts there he lived in that house and then he lived there with my mother with my aunt and then my other aunt and uncle Rockwell bought the house and they sold that to Grace and Grace sold it for this I don't know who else bought it I lost track but it was a big deal up here but I remember them up there that was before my time yeah but my mother's picture I have that's an old picture my mother was a little girl and that picture was taken but I could remember telling me many things about the Alton on Road and going to the Tigard School now they call it the Vail or what do they call it Esther calls it something else yeah that's when her mother taught I don't even remember that but my mother that's when my mother went there that was old my mother was in Katherine Wideman's mother went there the Martins a lot of them my mother was the Smiths and the Martins and the Crowns and the Hennises well your mother would probably be what over 100 years old 69 and she was 39 when I was born I'll figure that 108 years old hmm yeah and they all walked to school from all around I guess there wasn't any cars or anything you know so she probably was going to that school in 1890 then you know, she was 8 years old yeah and she went directly to Albany Business College from that school and I have a book here that I think I'm going to take into Albany maybe sit in the other room I found it where her penmanship was beautiful and her punctuation her spelling you know they taught a lot of things in those days today you know you wonder it's just that World War II came and the scientific and the computers and all and that's what but they still had smart people in those days you won't get an argument from me on that no but she did, she went there were very few people our parents that went to high school even high school her words were exception I think Mildred and all went to Wellesley or some place Basser, alright pardon me and but our generation they started sending their kids to college you know like I went to college, Margie went to college who else? Donald Spore was a dentist Virginia Pitcher went to college in fact she and I both went she will say she's way ahead of me and but one of the parents that we went to school with a lot of them were second generation from Italian and Polish and their parents weren't educated you know they were hard working people for example, I can't imagine when you're mentioning that that any of the talks went to college oh no no no why do you say like oh no no that way? none of the Rickies did either Corrine did but she's a but none of the like Julia Fields and they never that but their children went to college very very few of them went to high school let's say they got through high school and there was Altamount High School now Gert went to Altamount High School I think and Esther of course went to college her mother was a teacher So you're saying that a lot of people, your generation seems very odd really that people in their late 60s and 70s and Gert liked in her Virginia 70s not too many women fear of what the college would look like No they didn't they got married and well my mother was for education she thought I had to be educated done what she wanted me to do I'd probably been better off she wanted me to go into business go to business she wanted to go to college but she wanted to take business she says then you can be in a secretary or you can teach business and that's what they should have done but they didn't but she you know what do you think she learned that you know the intensive education well maybe an omnibusiness college I read a lot I read a lot of books around and my father he might I don't think he went to high school well my mother didn't either there wasn't any high school for her they had normal schools in those days you know some of the more affluent but I can't other than Bosporus and Guffins I can't think of any of them that were Jocelyn I guess Marguerite's father was the principal but then they went to like Oniana Normal School and they didn't get they got certification I don't think they got degrees like they do today in education and BS and you know but there wasn't there to learn you know they didn't have the wide so say to the site of factory when you were younger oh yes it was right near Mary Torx went down there what do you recall about that anything in particular smell the old apples you know bill worked there my husband worked there most everybody in the village worked there was during the depression why did he make twenty cents an hour or something people won't believe it when I started working I made eighty-nine cents an hour in Omni Hospital Medical Center and you worked describe the smell what do you remember apples for many apples you know in vinegar they made vinegar and prune juice but it was a job you know and of course the foundry was there Bill was telling about the foundry his father was in the foundry and there was a lot of work around but see when World War II came I changed everything around here what do you mean by that well everybody went in the army except a certain few and so like Virginia and Virginia and I used to watch for airplanes I think we used to go way over some road and we I think I take sewing or something and it's for airplane spotters you know during the war you know I don't think we ever saw airplanes that were questionable or not but but there was nobody around and everything changed in the war do you remember why it was like when nobody was around oh yes yeah I was married to Bill what was it like describe it what did it feel like didn't feel very nice because you hit blackouts all the time you know you had to pull the shades down and you know that some of the fellas got killed you know and I remember one time I didn't hear from Bill a long long time and I got all worried you know and he was in Germany then and Margie Hayner's husband got seriously wounded but he came back two of my friends Lockwood's you know were killed one of the Hempel boys was killed they were all, Mike was on Lantley's Bill and his brothers Torx they were all in the service except Harold Meade Jerry Badgley and Porter Reed that's the only ones I can think what did the women do did they do anything special well a lot of us had kids we had children I had Reed and we get together you know had birthday parties and sent letters to the fellas mostly and of course my father was here I wanted to go in the service but I didn't because I had my father Bill didn't want me to go anyway but I just wanted to go so I wish I had to go now I had a good time maybe I think I would but but anyway no it was just there were still people they still had things at the firehouse and everything they invited all the people we went you know but it was a long haul it wasn't a happy time the kids today if they had some of the young ones you know you didn't have everything you wanted you didn't have things to eat that you wanted to you didn't have coffee you didn't have so much sugar you didn't have butter you just didn't have everybody was in the same boat so what's the difference but once they come home they got better jobs and the things started booming and you forgot about it but it wasn't a very hope there's never any other war like that one you had rations oh sure how did that work I can't remember you got books you could have so much meat I know they rationed everything cigarettes they rationed flour they I don't know about flour they rationed sugar coffee oh they had that awful stuff in the coffee what was it oh it was terrible they mixed them in the coffee I can't think of it chicory chicory yeah it was terrible and oil you had to be careful we had coal then our furnace we didn't convert and gasoline of course there weren't as many cars as there are today you didn't do very much let me tell you so well how did you mention it changed radically when the fellows came back oh yes well one by one they it was more industry opened up you know Bill went with the telephone he went back to the Duffy Monk because he had to have a job but he didn't stay there he went into the telephone company that's where he got a start didn't make much at the start but he did alright and got a today the kids want big jobs at the start you know listen to me when I'm telling of course you'll probably be qualified for a good salary job so all together different but I mean it's even you look back you know I think of some kids I went to school with and boy they did well and people thought they were kind of stupid but they weren't stupid they were maybe so maybe they couldn't do a lot of math or something but I know some that ended up good successful business people you know just by hard work and everything do you have a company? Kenny Tice is one and he's dead I was always very fond of Kenny and he came from a family that was not you know and he worked hard and he had a beautiful business married a nice girl and and I say as I said a lot of there was a Polish and the Taddies they all did well because they worked hard they had to work and their parents a lot of them spoke broken English they couldn't you know Who comes to mind? Well Tarks and Rickies they were all you know I think I think the father and mother were born here I'm not yes I don't think maybe one of them came over from L.E. but the Cupics, the Samelas and the Temptions who else? Temptions or what nationality? Polish Well they call them Temptations but it's Temption I think T-Y-M-C-H-Y-M they lived up and oh who else was New Yons Mahalski's they worked in the foundries and you know they had farms and they all did you know I see them once in a while my friends I'm glad to see them you know When you say you're glad to see them obviously Warriorsville is very different in that time because it was so self-contained Oh yes A lot of them lived in outlying districts up near school road and up in that section the Temptions and well no the New Yons and all of them lived on what is that street? Railroad Avenue that goes up it's that prospect Bill always called a spaghetti alley What, how come? The Temptions there they used to have some times my his father made home brew and they made wine and there was the cocoa Teddy Coco lived down it was a big it was some characters in this town let me tell you Now if you talk to some of the Italian people what they will say is that it wasn't outright prejudice against them but some people didn't do the Italians as well as that's right they didn't they used to you know think well they're just Italians or you know and I don't know why because one of my best friends was Julia Julia and I don't know if you know her or not she lives up in Pheasant Run now and I don't see her as much as I'd like to but she was my next sister and we went to school together she wasn't a good student really I don't think she ever got out of eighth grade even to eighth grade I don't know and Charlie you know some of them didn't but they had to work that's the thing of it is when they get a certain age their parents would say just go out and work and then they'd have to bring the money in give the money to their parents it was the way they lived that's all they had big families the Thomases were Italian Nelson Thomas was you know Nelson Thomas he's Polish he's Polish and of course Wanda died and there's a Jenny Sickles that's his sister and they were smart they were smart in school they all went to high school I guess they went to Delmar no they've I think Jenny they had got the high school up here Jenny Jumper than I am so but I went to Delmar so let's go back a second when you were small we were talking earlier in the winter high skating and stuff did you swim during the summer ever? oh yes we used to swim we used to swim down the DNH one thing go rock down the tracks go down there and swim in the DNH and then we also they would dam the creek up here back of where I don't know who lives there now but Friars owned the place of Margaret Barrowman's father owned the place there and we'd dam it up and we'd go swimming back there just on our own and we also swam up at Wendell Specks they had a place and then Venduzza's had a grove up there we swim right in this creek here can't now of course but we'd swim every day so you say you can't now what do you mean? what's so contaminated but they'd dam it up and we would swim and I don't know how I learned to swim but I just do I don't know you know remember how you do things now you have to go to swimming class and everything of course you're taught correctly today let's say but you just learn to swim that's all just like you said in reading and writing yeah I don't remember I do remember doing this Palmer Method business where I don't know if you know what I'm talking about round and round and I can remember I don't think it was Anne Van Linde it might have been but she wasn't above doing it if you didn't hold your hands right crack you right over the hand with a pencil or something you have to hold your hands just so and there were some beautiful writers I'm not one of them but some of them are today look at how some of the doctors right can't read but they had that's the way we're taught now when you were talking about to see us in form obviously at that time there was no road over there oh no oh this house was here to the right here was a smoke house a shed that held some coal like and then the out house alright on this side here he built that what's apartments back there that was a cow barn that was a very modern cow barn back in there was a huge barn well you got pictures in your book there was a wagon house a milk house and an ice house it was really quite a farm you know but then they come in they took it all you know did you ever walk up into the farm where the houses are on sale in Hillsman oh sure do you remember there was a little bridge I think because there was all apple orchard back in there I think there were maybe we just went in the creek I don't know probably did I was I used to come home wet all the time you know see it's so changed now but you can't people don't believe it was it was really nice it really was was back in there so did you say there were all apple trees up there oh yeah I think there's still some in Salem Hills I think they in some of the houses still have an all apple tree because when I used to walk there I'd see an all apple tree all apple orchard and it goes right straight over to New Salem or New Scotland into the Yeomans farm I think in there Sam's farm Sam Yeomans yeah maybe yeah because it was all orchards because they would go out and the cows would be out there I can remember I always remember they had always had a mean bull and I was scared of the bull they had an old man it was he was really relative of theirs and the bull would get mean and he'd take a pitchfork and go right after that bull he was a little old man he was really Elmer it was Elmer Groke who was a brother-in-law of Mrs. Severson but he worked for him you know and the cows would be all up in there and yeah it was you ever went to the milk house for example? oh sure the milk house was a little house right here and I can't remember how they did it before they bought then they bought a bottling machine you know and Clifford and Stella and they built the business up where Phil he just delivered milk like Many Crowns used to deliver milk in your pan and they'd come and put milk in your pan I wonder you didn't really get sick sick sick we did we had to get measles and all the stuff that we weren't immunized against you know hooping cough and I never had that I don't think I had everything else but when you were very young what doctors did you go to? Dr. Jocelyn and then there was the Dr. Land that came in then there were doctors in Delmar my mother took me to Dr. B. Wirt and Dr. Brown there was a Dr. Holmes they were all old doctors is there anything you remember about Dr. Jocelyn? oh yes he was a jolly old guy he was everybody knew Dr. Jocelyn yeah I remember he came to see me when I was a little girl there when I had measles the old not the German measles the old black measles I guess they used to call me when I was really sick and when I got through they left me with nosebleeds all of a sudden my nose would bleed and he'd have to come rushing up and pack my nose I can remember oh I was sick and with sore throats we'd have sore throats it's a wonder my mother that's what happened my mother's heart those sore throats you know the strep throats and they had no antibiotics that's why then they started with a sulfonylamide you know and that was wreck your kidneys and a lot of stuff and then the penicillin now there's too much penicillin too many antibiotics back on? all finished well another question we were talking about food well milk people didn't eat out in restaurants in those days or now another thing I can remember that my father he had an always had Buick cars and I remember when I was real small he had an all open one can I get up or not or somebody at the back door alright oh the cat doesn't knock there okay yeah as it can be down like anyplace or I see you no when my father was in the Schaefer store of course my mother worked hard she helped him every Saturday I don't know if she did during the week or not but every Sunday usually he bought another Buick a nice well it must have been like in 1930 maybe we go on like trips it was a trip we go to to the parrot house to eat sometimes and Duane's Burg they had the hub restaurant up there we go up there and it was quite a joint for those cars and today you can go in 15 minutes you know but we used to go about he did we went out then and ate on Sundays different places you know you take her out were there any places in the village he I don't think so they fed him down to the Harris House but my mother wouldn't be caught dead any place there was beer or anything you know but I don't know maybe it was prohibition there wasn't beer and Grove Hotel sold meals but no they didn't go like that but this is when I was like oh I was in maybe 12 years old then you know 9 to 12 but we used to he used to go out like that to eat you know oh they were all WCTU my father did you know there was prohibition you know and they were against liquor most of the ladies in the church was around here they weren't you know and was your mother WCTU? oh I think so I don't know maybe she didn't I don't know but she was brought up strict you know my father wasn't a WCTU her you know he liked to have a drink down there so your mother was a Methodist? oh yes speaking of Methodist another Methodist comes to mind who was a prohibitionist oh yeah my father hated him they didn't like each other I tell Gert that I don't think she understands what do you think was there well both of them were a little bit with all his Methodism Frank was a little my father was too to tell you the truth they conniving they had some dealings and one said the other wasn't crooked to tell you the truth I don't know who it was they used to accuse each other being crooked? well Frank Van Ocken was always you know he blow out you know and he was big in the church you know and go prayer meeting amen and all that but he brought Gert up and he was good to Gert you know but my father didn't like him I don't know what ever happened I think it was something and I shouldn't maybe tell this it was over the griffin sisters that lived down there he tried to buy the house or something and my father thought he was taking advantage of them I don't know you can't believe what you hear but my father did not like Frank Van Ocken well the New Scotland Historical Society when the town was dry and they could no three Frank Van Ocken was the head of the Lord of Orderly and they hired a detective from Albany to come out and spy on Peter's hotel down there so I'm going to do a little paper I'll bet he did that's why my father didn't like sneaky you talked about the griffin sisters what was that? they had a little store they sold thread and odds and ends I don't know all they had in the Schaefer store there was two little sisters unmarried sisters they had the place that later became the pharmacy and then a fellow by the name of Hafi ran it and he had a he was a little more liberal and I guess he had ice cream and stuff like that then the drug store I can't remember remember Hafi he was a real sport I guess and then the drug store I can't remember the then Sutton's ran it too a Jewish family Sutton's they think they just carried it wasn't a drug store I went to school with the one son it was Jerome and he turned out to be I think a doctor and Bertha other daughter she was of course Jewish people for education you know they were they were well educated I can't Harry Sutton and Mrs. Sutton I can't remember her name they were nice people you know they ran a little store but Griffin so it was Griffin then Hafi Griffin was a Griffin that was the first Griffin I think it was Miss Griffin you went into that store? oh yeah when I was a little I guess I did I can just remember I was little they were little old ladies that had thread I don't know all they sold maybe material where people sold I just don't know all they sold I don't think they sold anything to eat in there I can't remember they had the store there when your father had the store next door? yes and then they sold I don't know whatever happened to them maybe they died or something what was across the street which was? there was a gas station there Frank Smith had that but I don't know what was there before seems to me there was an open field at one time I can remember the old where they made barrels Cooper shop I can vaguely remember that and I remember one day in the winter the snowstorm the roof caped him not funny how you can remember that and that was it I don't know whatever happened whether they made barrels I guess on the Cooper shop make barrels that was Giffin, that was John Giffin I think was it? so pardon me I get sneezing I sneezed forever pardon me so I can sneeze I can sneeze about 14 times sometimes but I can remember and I remember one time playing with when I was my father ran the store playing with Douglas Russo we were on a teeter thing and the siren rang I can remember I was up and boy he ran and I came down and they had the old cart thing that they pulled this thing that rolled around and I don't remember where the fire was but I can remember that I wonder how he got killed he ran to see where the fire was you know but I can remember that old whole cart and I can remember then the first fire engine too of course we had we haven't had any bad fires here thank the Lord we had some bad ones in this town the mills in the block down there the burnt with those children burnt bad batcher kids yeah that was bad how many guys recently who's the related to the man whose kids they were I think I think that man is still George Batchers I think he might be still alive the father well there's a lot of Batchers but the father of those kids is he still alive I knew Charlie Batchers name was Charlie God he must be old I think that oh he had a lot of kids yeah well maybe one of the brothers of the kids who died this guy's name is Batchers yes he had two sons by his first wife all very handsome boys she was a lovely mom then he married another one of these kids and I'm telling you there was a lot of them and I don't know that's one of that bunch that died I got in there you tell me once about the Bloomingdale did you know them at all what do you remember about the Bloomingdale kids oh gee I went to school with them to Frederick and Frank was older than I and of course they Bloomingdale they had money and they always sent Frank to Albany Academy because Frank worked for the telephone company and I don't know where Freddie is I've been in touch with them yeah where's Freddie Fred is in Canada Harry I think you see he was a quiet kid never said much smart school for you know you know Frank lived on circuits he's still out that's where he ended up yeah that's right yeah Frank just sent me pictures the grandfather's Fred's car oh yeah he was a sport let me tell you I can remember when I was a kid the people tell him I had that amount of money you know ended up with as a matter of fact Frank said he went to Albany Academy for three years and then graduated here did he graduate from Delmar Delmar yes he did go to Academy for three years and he ended up I think for money he gave out I'm not sure the father was this and the mother they had it but they ended up not two I don't know why but I can you know now somebody told me I don't know who told me that the father was a bootlicker he was yeah what do you know you didn't think about that I heard he was from my father you know he was my father knew what was going on around and I think he was a bootlicker run from Canada my father he used to tell me things you know and he said well they had a lot of money and he says one time that Fred Blumendell let a cigar with a $50 bill or something you know in those days easy come easy go whether it's true or not I don't know but the old man this one built the business and the son I guess he had big cars you know yeah they had money they were Blumendell houses down here yeah what about John Cummings was he still alive James Cummings brother I don't think so he was younger than Jim Cummings they had a camp at Helderburg Lake we used to go up there Jane and I they take us up there no he's got to be dead but was he alive when you were younger oh yeah sure well he was younger than his brother Jim and all together nicer looking man younger yeah but I can't really remember anything about him other than they had a camp at Helderburg Lake and we used to go up there to see him Jane's mother take us he said Frank Smith at the gas station that's Smitty's father right yeah I'm Smitty's father but I don't know what was there before I think it was just an open field or something I don't know and then McCann had it too McCann and then see that was during the war when McCann ran it and then Frank was there too because frankly they lived upstairs so Smitty grew up there yeah Smitty and his brother and a sister he had a brother and a sister yeah well then who owned Smitty's now by that time Kramer's owned it there was a Kramer that owned the grill and before that who was the one that hmm can't remember the name Albright Albright owned it up there no this was a Kermit the one son's name was Kermit and the daughter sister's name was Ruth and another thing comes to my memory they had a little car and for some reason rather right out in front of the house they got in an accident and she went through the windshield or in the tree or something she got all bloodied up and my mother re-enowned with sheets and everything and she was really disfigured and stayed disfigured I suppose they didn't have the plastic surgery I don't think another car hit him I think he just went out of a hit the pole or something I don't know certainly wasn't speeding I don't think he had much speeding in those days what do you remember about the wide cabin of the street here you know the oh yeah, Burbig and they used to sell things there I think and then up ahead did everybody tell you about up ahead the old he was worked on the railroad and he was a Polish guy I think and he was a character drinking you know he lived there for a while but then there was somebody who had a grill what was the name there was somebody who had a grill on that I know I can't remember the because I remember so I can't think of her name Dini Dini I think was the one she sold blessy they had they had repealed prohibition see I was little then I was away for a long time I was in training and then the war and I can remember certain things you know you recall the telephone exchange Mrs. Ward ran it the switchboard yeah it's a nice little house there no I don't think so I might have but I don't know yeah and I remember the one the library was Mrs. Brusher had the library where I think it was down in the block originally when Griezmann started the library that's before me but then I can remember in that where those apartments were down by the people house just don't there's a library in there that I used to go to Mrs. Adelaide Brusher and I think Mildred Guffin worked in there I'm not sure yeah so that was the library and then the library was in the school I guess the post office at that time was where what do you recall the post office was way down in the block and I don't know whether that's gone there or not and then of course Charlie Fields bought the building moved it up there and so then the new post office we always had to go get our mail and then we had it delivered here you know let me ask you a question because we just sort of wrap it up now we're probably running out of tape too what was your sense I talk to some people Nelson Thomas for example is one who still rails against Salem Hills oh I know yeah what was the sense of the village generally when Salem Hills came oh they didn't want it Charles Charlie was the town leader he was very much opposed to it he says you're going to see the day when you regret that Salem Hills but I was glad I didn't have an ill feeling toward it and I walk up there and the houses look so pretty sure I miss all this country stuff but you've got to progress but I had no ill feeling at all toward it was it supervisor? no he was town leader old politician and he said that you'll see that of course it made a lot of changes because our school had to grow but it isn't a people that move there it's not particularly a trans some of them you know are transferred in jobs but and it's it's their homes are nice and I have nothing against them oh yeah my son lived up there Reed lived there oh had a home sure when he was first married she lived there yep right on the main seat what's the one that goes in here Covington he went right straight around Covington is over at the left I think they're right what's this one that goes in here that's what he lived on Stonyton Hill right on that yeah oh but I know they complained you know a lot and they complained about their sewage bit and all like that but I thought it was great that the village took over the sewage I thought that was the only thing they could do to take it over I think they are expanding too much a little because you worry about the water supply and this back here I'm not wasn't I figured they build those houses were supposed to be so expensive maybe nobody buy them that Rod Reed was going to build there I guess they put a kibosh on that but I think you can over expand I don't know what they're going to do you see all this building something's going to I don't maybe I'm being old but your natural resources they're going to water something it's you only got so much to go around that's right and I don't for one I don't like that kind of a house where they're all together like that I don't I would be very unhappy I don't even like it here used to be all maple trees you know I don't like I don't it's a traffic is terrible since Salem Hills I do object their house is dirty and it's a zoom zoom and screech we have a lot of accidents out in front here at one week there were three believe it or not I just you know what I do I immediately call the sheriff then I go out I just tell them right where it is and then I go out that's my first you know so but I remember all the squeals terrible two three squeals a week more than that one last question when you recall youngest how did they take care of snow they had snow plows but they didn't have a means they didn't have the big payloaders what that they could cart it away or anything but you must have to remember they didn't have the cars in those days either the traffic and you didn't have accidents if you got stuck in the snow you shoveled out a gas I don't know but you didn't have a highway department like you have now you didn't really need it but they did have a village I guess they had village plows I don't know I can't remember really did we leave anyone out or anything out did we leave anyone out or anything out I don't think so I don't know you got me talking I hope you don't tell everything I said somebody will go after me we'll keep it on and that will take so I can't think of anything else that you want to hear really oh my gosh well that's I like to talk about things I think about things and people that I know you know but as I feel bad because I knew used to know everybody lived in every house I don't know single person I do know some of the names you know but like the old Jemnowski house I used to family lived there I used to play with those kids too and there was so many I don't know anybody like Virginia picture one I remember where she lives where in Van Lindelind that's where her father's mother lived you know and of course I know Anne she taught me in school she was a cracker and but as school was different you know the parents didn't want to take part or interfere like they do I they're not interfering I'm not saying that but there was so many parents that were they weren't college educated and they weren't they gave it to the teachers to teach the kids how might how I want to express it they minded their own business and let the teachers do their job you know and they rarely interfered and then they started the PTA and I think it's it does good but it's some of it I don't agree with some of it it had it's benefiting all just like the unions but they outweighed some of it you know but they don't interfere they were the kids you know of course as I say there's more to learn today there's more children and there's more to be involved with so that's it but I see so many kids today that can't are not supposed to be ready for kindergarten that aren't supposed to be ready for first grade why and that's why we're paying that's what I'm again they got too many teachers that are testing for this testing for that that's why our school taxes I don't think you need that many teachers or substitutes or helpers I said my PTA I don't they probably will kill me because I have a daughter-in-law it's a teacher up there and my other son is a teacher in fact he's a principal one of the schools but I still think they've got too much the kids teach them I don't know who did I go to she's a third grade teacher Joanne Schultz oh she's a disciplinarian the kids are scared of her I guess and but I as I say that's all different it's more complex they do have to have more teachers and more things but I think they could do with less I don't any read being a principal oh he's got it down there he's got quite a bunch of kids down there problems I have a brother who's a principal I don't envy him I had another brother who used to be a principal he said well I don't know oh he said it's you know they got a lot of people up in the mountains there that are but he started out in coposcale you know and he liked it up there that's where my father came from coposcale scary valley I love that coposcale in Heinzville sure well he lived in Albany too but there I think that's the scary valley is the greatest that's where they raise hell, hops and democrats did you ever hear that expression sure scary valley of democrats in scary and coposcale the town of scary they raised hell, hops and democrats the hop yard used to be there you know my grandmother worked in them my father's mother she was a champion hop picker the hops look like they grow on vines I think and you pick them they get in the baskets you know they make the brew with them I like that I think it's beautiful up there you know so maybe you better cut that out about the school but that's my opinion see that stuff that's my opinion here I think we're going to knock off no we won't kids can't go to school it's pretty bad when you flunk out of kindergarten kids flunk out of kindergarten I think they're smart and then they tell them they're not ready to go they're not smart enough to go yeah I know that someone who was telling me the other day they have to take a test now to get into kindergarten what like a screening test it wasn't right but when we went to school we worked with handicapped kids who down syndrome and everything it wasn't right because they couldn't teach those kids but that's what I say I wonder how I learned to read now they say people can't read kids can't read they can't write I mean I mean there's a thing when you can't read you say no you learned your lesson so