TEENAGE MEMORIES

Well, we lived at 61 Maywood St. from 1941 until 1947. My ages at that time were from 11

to 17 .

A lot went on during those six years... a war started, then thankfully, ended. I grew from a little girl to a teenager, nearly an adult . My brother, Paul, was still a kid when we moved from Roxbury to the South End. He was 14 at the time.

But there are still some things I haven't mentioned that happened during those years on Maywood St.

When Fay and I were in high-school typing, which also taught us the Gregg Method of Shorthand, she and I decided one day to play hooky. It was wintertime, and we got our coats and boots from our lockers, and snuck out when the opportunity presented itself.

We thought we were so clever, running part-way down the street to one of the houses that had a small front porch, out of the weather. We put on our coats and boots there, and went on our way. Can't remember where we went, though...maybe to her house, because her folks wouldn't be at home. Mamma would have been at our house, so we didn't dare show our faces there !

Anyway, the next day, in typing class, the teacher took us aside, and informed us that she had seen us leave, and, of course, as we didn't go back to class, she knew what we had done. We were mortified at having been discovered, but that lady was really cool about it ! She told us that she wasn't going to report us, but to never do it again. Can you believe that ?!!

We were so shocked and so thankful, that we never did do it again.

We were at the age when we were crazy about boys . Girls in those days called cute boys

'dreamboats', and we would get that sappy look in our eyes whenever we thought of any of the cute boys we knew.

Next-door to our house, was another 6-family unit, a twin to our building, same yellow color, too, and on the top floor opposite us lived the Racine family. they had a son, Buster, who I thought was one of the dreamboats, and I would sit there at our bay window for long periods of time, hoping to get a glimpse of him . I used to dream about what it would be like to kiss him, and wondered if he thought about me in that way. Turns out, he didn't, and I was

crushed .

There was a boy who was just a friend, who did like me that way, Billy Showstead, but I

didn't want him for a boyfriend. We hung out, but that was as far as it went. Poor Billy, I hurt his feelings when I told him that.

I had other crushes, too, but most of those were one-sided.

I did have this one boyfriend, can't remember how and where we met, but his name was

Frankie Saracino. He was Italian, and he liked me. Took me on the streetcar and El train to Revere Beach once or twice, where we walked around, and had ice cream, and just enjoyed being together. Maybe he swam while I sat on the beach, but don't think so.

We planned to get married, at 16, no less, and he told me his father was going to pay for our

wedding . I was so excited, but, of course, Mamma and Daddy wouldn't allow that ( if I had

told them ) . We were both still in school, for goodness' sake !

At that age, probably before I knew Frankie, another boy was in my life, Sonny King. He was

the son of my parents' friends, Lily and Tom King. I didn't care for these friends, like I did

Auntie Eva and Nana Lambert. They were stiff, more sophisticated people, unbending, and they didn't pay any attention to us kids .

Well, when I turned 16, Mamma bought from Mr. Schuster, a white, 'fur' coat for my birthday,

and I had a date with Sonny . Before time for him to come and pick me up in his Model 'T' Ford, Phyllis put on my makeup, and helped me with my hairdo, a page-boy, which was the style during the 1940's . someone, probably her, had applied pale pink nail-polish to my fingernails.

This was my first time for make-up. Guess Mamma figured it was time to let me grow up .

We drove into Boston to wherever we were supposed to go...I can't remember now, but whatever this place was, it was closed. So, here I was, all dressed up, feeling so grown up in my 'fur' coat, felling really pretty, and what did Sonny do ? He just turned around and took

me home, and left ! What a disappointment ! Of course I cried, felt horrible, but then again, he probably had no social skills from his strange parents. He was a bit odd, too, poor guy !

Don't know if I ever saw him again, at least not as a 'boyfriend', but maybe he did come with his parents when they visited. I know there were times when he took some of us kids for a ride in his car, short rides.

Another Sonny, whom I had known from Dewey St. Sonny Spring, started coming around. I hadn't seen him since we were little kids, but he was about to go into the Navy, and he was cute...dark hair with a lock tumbling down his forehead. I had a sort-of crush on him, too, at that time, maybe even since we were little kids together, when he used to give me rides on his homemade scooter . We'd been real friends when we were little. We used to hang a sheet in the basement, and do shadow pictures with our hands. There were some other little kids there too, and we all took turns trying to form animals with our hands. We weren't too good at

it at the ages we were. But, it was fun, and we had snacks to eat while we played.

Anyway, Sonny and I said we'd wait for each other when he went into the Navy, but, of course, we didn't. I met Frankie, and he was the only one I cared about for a while.

Phyllis and Betty had met a couple of sailors, in 1944, and brought them home to meet the

family. Kenny, who at first told us to call him 'Hoppy', was pretty cute, only 17, a few months younger than Phyllis, and he liked her, and Marvin liked Betty. Don't recall his age, but he was young.

Before we knew what was happening, both of the sailors proposed to my sisters, maybe just a

few days, because they were both on shore leave, and due to leave soon for the war . We, and they, didn't know where they were going, because the Navy didn't tell them , or their superior

officers. Our country was at war, and the Captains were given sealed orders, to be opened only after they were underway. They had no knowledge of their destination until they

unsealed their orders.

No-one was told anything, and there were posters all over the country with the words,

'Loose Lips Sink Ships' . So the less the soldiers and sailors knew, the less chance of them accidentally telling anyone, where word could get to the enemy somehow. If they knew where

our military forces were going to go, they could attack them en route, and we might have

lost the war. So, everything was secret.

Lots of boys in uniform got married before shipping out, to have someone to think about while they were in some strange, foreign land, scared, but knowing that they'd have someone waiting for them to come home. They had their families, too, of course, but to have a girl waiting for them was special.

So, on September 30, 1944, Phyllis became Mrs. Kenneth W. Wolfe, at 18 years of age.

Two months later, on November 30, 1944, Betty married Marvin DuPont.

I must be mistaken about Marvin going to war at the same time as Kenny. He must have gone a couple of months later. Maybe he was stationed Stateside for that time, or gone for a little

while, then home, THEN went to where the action was. Whatever, my sisters were now married.

Sometime later, during one of Kenny's leaves, Phyllis got pregnant. she did alright, in spite

of having a bad kidney condition. the docs told her she shouldn't be having the baby, but

she did fine. The poor baby had the cord wrapped around her neck, though, and they had to

work quickly to save her. She survived, and today, Ena is 63 years old.

Anyway, shortly before we moved from Maywood St. Or just after we moved to the South End, Ena was born.

Just after we moved away from Maywood St. my boyfriend, Frankie showed up, knocking

furiously and calling for me to open the door and come out.

This was told to Mamma some time later by Dot Puleo, who looked to see what all the yelling was about, and she told Frankie that we had moved away. He was really angry that I hadn't told him. I think we had broken up earlier, although I don't recall what really happened.

I was so glad he didn't know where we'd moved, or he'd have come looking for me. I shudder

to think of what my life would have been like if he was drinking so heavily at 16 or 17, and

we had married .

Oleomargarine was introduced sometime during the war, and at first, it came in a package

much like how lard was packaged. It even looked like lard, white like that. with it was an orange, kind of reddish- colored round tablet. Mamma had to put it in her famous crockery bowl, and mush it all up with a big spoon, then add the tablet and work that all into the white stuff, and when she had it done, it was yellow, the color of butter.

That's what we had to use as a substitute for butter. All the butter went to the boys in uniform, like the beef had . It didn't taste very good, not at all like butter, but we tried not to complain, because we knew the boys at war had to have the best food, so they could be healthy and strong, to fight our enemies.

Some time later, the margarine tablet was replaced by a capsule, and the white stuff was in a sturdy plastic bag, similar to the plastic used to bag rice and beans. Then Mamma had to break the capsule and work that bag like mad to distribute the yellow color evenly. It didn't taste any better, but guess the manufacturers thought it would be easier to mix that way.

Soon after I turned 17, while we were still at 61 Maywood St. I asked Mamma to let me drop

out of school, and go to work, because Daddy still got sick with pneumonia every winter, and wasn't working, whenever Mamma could trick him into staying home. For some reason I can't recall now, I wanted to quit school, and used Daddy's illness to get Mamma to let me. She didn't put up much of an argument, because there wasn't much money, and so much less when Daddy couldn't work . I tried to get a job at a local shoe repair shop, typing, but was a dismal failure, and didn't get the job. Think I just gave up then, much too easily.

Phyllis and Kenny had been working at a division of B.F. Goodrich, the rubber company, and

Kenny talked to his boss, who talked to someone else, and I was hired in a different department from Phyllis and Kenny. to work putting on the rubber piece that wrapped around the heels of sneakers. I made somewhere around $ 40.00 a week. Gave half to Mamma, and kept the rest for lunches and to buy some underwear. I wasn't frivolous with my money.

Of course, you realize that Kenny was out of the Navy by then, right ? When I dropped out of school, it was at the end of January, 1947, and the war had been over for some time.

Phyllis had gotten pregnant, and worked until shortly after I started working there.

So, there I was, working at Hood Rubber Company, in Watertown, Massachusetts, and was there when I met and married a man who turned out to be my childrens' father.

Some time after we were married, I wanted to make a custard pie, like Mamma's. Well, it didn't turn out exactly like Mamma's. It tasted the same, but the crust was upside DOWN !!

It took me some years to figure out why mine always turned out that way, but, in the meantime, I was teased, especially by my sister, Anne, and her husband, Ray, whom she married nearly 2 years after Phyllis and Betty got married. She married Raymond Hadfield

on August 4, 1946 .

I married my husband on June 1, 1948.

So that's what happened during the last years on Maywood St. Many memories, some sad, but mostly happy times there. I'll never forget 61 Maywood St. I've dreamed of it many times, even after Phyllis and Kenny, after going back to that address to visit some years later, told me that it no longer existed, that our house was gone, and the one next to it, also.

That brings tears to my eyes, even now. So much happened there in that yellow house.

I miss it.

Until I can dredge up some more memories, or decide to write something else, take care

of yourselves, have fun living life, and write down some of your own memories to share with your kids and grandkids. I'm sure they'll love hearing ,or seeing, what your early lives were like.

Count your blessings daily, and show your love for your families in as many ways as you can, so they will never doubt your love .

I love you.

D