My Portfolio

I was 6 years old when my sister, Joyce, was born. Dad used to sit on a chair in the kitchen to hold her until his arms would give out. He'd say to Mom: "you'd better take her now". So Mom would go over and take Joyce from him.   Joyce...

I went to Third grade at Port Jefferson Station - Terryville, NY.  My teachers name was Mrs. Rice. I didn't do very well in Spelling and Number work.  Mom sent me to a neighbor who was a teacher for tutoring.  He worked with me on these two subjects.  I ended up...

Mom and Dad were trying to make a go of it again.  They purchased a three bedroom track home in Brentwood, NY.  Dad was laying tile at the time and every time he finished a job he would bring home any left over tile that he had.  My Mom wondered what...

According to my report cards I started Kindergarten in Lakeland, Florida.  The Happy Days Kindergarten at 926 South Tennessee Avenue.  I also went to Kindergarten at East Islip Union School in East Islip, N.Y..   What I remember most about Kindergarten was nap time.  I hated it.  Girls had to wear...

Once in a while my Dad would take us for a visit to Chick's house.  They had a concrete back patio that had a 2" lip all the way around the outside edges. In the winter Chick would fill it with water and the kids could ice skate on it. We...

We seemed to move between New York and Florida more than once.  On one of these return trips to New York, Ralph Kraemer, the only father I ever knew, picked us up from the airport.  He had rented a house for us to live in.  What I remember most about this...

My Mom hated cooking.  One night she was draining the water off the spaghetti. The lid slipped and the spaghetti went down the drain.  Another time she was cooking pancakes.  The pancake stuck to the pan.  Mom opened the door to the trailer and threw it out, pan and all.  Mom...

We were still living in Florida when Dennis and I went down to the Ditch to go fishing.  Dennis was in Kindergarten and we would go after he got home from school.  He only went to school for half a day so it must have been Kindergarten. We were not supposed...

I didn't think so at the time but my life was truly blessed as a child.  My brother and I ran away, I was 12 and he was 14.  We lived in Port Jefferson, NY above a little grocery store.  On my way to school each morning I would tear a...

We lived in Florida in another trailer park when I was about 7 or 8 years old.  After school we played King of the Mountain, Cops and Robbers, Hide and Seek.  We stayed out until it started to get dark. One of the teenage girls in the park referred to her parents as Sir...

When Dennis was in Kindergarten we lived in a trailer park in Florida.  I played with a little girl that had "Shirley Temple" curls.  Oh how I wanted curly hair.  Everyday her Mom would comb out each curl one at a time.  I used to think how fun that must be. ...

My first day of school was a little traumatic.  We were living with the family that had a dog with different color eyes.  They were an older couple. The lady peeled potatoes every afternoon.  She would open a brown paper bag and spread it out on the table.  Then she would...

My earliest childhood memory is being in a hospital.  My mother had gone away on a trip with one of her boyfriends.  I was with a sitter and ended up with a severe case of meloncoly, otherwise known as depression in children.  I ended up in the hospital for two and a half months....

I was born on March 28, 1950 at 9:30 A.M.. at the City Hospital in Manhattan, New York. Better known as "Welfare Island". My mother, Alta Virginia, aka Bunny, lived at 311 West 94th Street in New York City. Her maiden name was Beach. Mom was 24 years old at the...