Letter #
August 2, 2007
This site is incredible, I, like so many others of you, stummbled upon this by accident a few years ago. I had come in here in years past and thought how good it is to read all the stories all of you have. The names and places I read bring back such memories. I hadn't been in here for a few years, so I am so happily surprised that it is still active after the years.
I lived at 202 No. 19th Street from when we moved from the Roseville Section of Newark in 1951 until we moved to Verona in Dec. 1965 and I hated the thought of moving! How could anyone ever want to leave Ampere?!!!
I can still remember the days spent at Columbian, we would be there from early in the day, going home for lunch, going back and, as hungry as we were, not wanting to leave for dinner. We would go back at night and watch the adults play basketball, those games were so really competitive, a few of the men who played in the summer league actually played in the NBA. I remember for a few years during winter they would flood the tennis courts and make a mini skating rink. I am not sure how long that lasted, but it was so good while it did. I live in South Jersey now, living in Pennsville, working for Public Service and I just wish my kids could have a playground as good as Columbian. When Our Lady of All Souls Curch closed, I took my kids for the last Mass. After the ceremony (and I have to mention, Beth Camissa, you really did so much for our church, it was good seeing you there, but I wish it was on a better day), I took my kids over to Columbian, just for them to see what it was like, and to maybe share in one of the joys of my youth.
Just reading all your thoughts and memories bring me back, the sights, sounds and laughter.
VITO!!!! All you wrote comes back to me, although I have never really forgotten what we all lived through back then. It was a great life and a great place in which to grow up.
Yes, the A&P with the coffee aromas, they knew what they were doing, having everyone smell the fresh ground coffee and making us all hungry so we would buy more. The Five and Dime, the barber shop were we all got our hair cuts, and with the opera playing on the radio.
Emery's bike shop on Fourth, and I think, 15th, I guess we all got our tires repaired there.
And Ward's, I can remember my Mom sending me down there to that little store they had for the day old bread; we could get a loaf of bread for five cents! I can remember knowing it was going to rain, because we could smell the aromas from Wards on the breeze.
And Ampere Lanes, what had to be the smallest bowling alley in New Jersey, only ten lanes, but it was all ours. I remember my Mom telling me I could go bowling, but she never wanted me playing any pool there. To this day, I still have never mastered pool and all because I wasn't allowed to waste sunny days inside playing pool.
One of the saddest days was when M&Ms moved out; even though none of us had ever gotten any free candy, it was still as if we had forever lost our chance for some.
On Sunday mornings after Mass we would stop at the bakery on the corner of 4th and 19th for pastries for our breakfast; whenever I get an Entemanns crumb cake I think if only they could make it like that bakery.
Remembering spending rainy days hanging out at the Ampere Station, some days walking the tracks all the way to Montclair.
Hey Glenn Johnson, if you still come in here and get a chance to read this, tell your brother Grant that I said Hi!
On a sad note, Just by chance I attended a Mass at St. Peter's in New Brunswick this past Father's Day. The had Sister of Charity give a talk for fund raising; this Nun, Sister Anna Fay was assigned to Holy Name so she knew all about OLAS. After Mass I spoke with her for awhile, and in the course of our talk she told me Sister John had passed away several years ago. Many of you may have already known, but i wanted to pass that on just in case.
I will never forget OLAS, I will never forget any of the Nuns, Priests and lay teachers we had. What a special school we had, what special people went through that school. You are all very special, and you will always be very special to me.
Thank You for your time, I know I wrote a lot, but the memories are one of joy, love and respect.
I hope to keep in touch.
Lee
Lee Kirby, class of 1963 email: lee.kirby@pseg.com
I imagine what keeps us all so connected is the shared memories and love for EO that we hold so close to our hearts. It is through sharing of memories like Sally and Lee's which helps us keep those memories alive. We understand one another. We know what it meant to live in a community where everyone knew one another. Where mothers watched out for each other's kids. Mothers sewing on buttons for any of our friends, Moms taking us kids down the shore or up to the lake. The magical times at Columbian Park. Hiding as darkness approached so they would close the gates and we would have the place to ourselves. Not wanting to go home but to stay and watch basketball or baseball games. Play rolly polly. I'll try to help you remember how to play that Sally so you can pass that along to the grandchildren.
I thank God for the memories and for all of you who will always be my friends. As an update, I am no longer in Savannah Georgia. I took a promotion which meant relocating to Indianapolis Indiana. My husband Dave and I are living in a cute place called the Village of West Clay in Carmel Indiana. They are trying to duplicate the "old town" feeling and many of the homes are like those we lived in, visited and walked pass on our journeys around EO. Memories, Melba
Mary Melba Robinson, Class of: 1961 e-mail: mary.rossetti@sbcglobal.net
Greetings! I hope that anyone doesn't mind me posting here since I didn't attend the school. I did, however, later on attend church here. I lived on the border line of East Orange on Ellington Street East Orange and North 16th Street in Bloomfield. While I didn't share the memories of attending your school, I can relate to the Ampere area. Especially the A&P, Billigans Drug Store and the Candy store just near the train tracks. I don't remember the name though. I also remember Wards or later on Tip Top Bakery. My other fond memories was the Ampere Parkway RR station. I would sit and wait for those trains to pass by. It was a real treat if a freight train passed by. Right across from the tracks was Worthington Pump and some other manufacturer of electrical motors. Can't remember their name but that's how the Ampere section got it's name I believe. I have a picture of the station and several of the buildings nearby. It's in a Erie Lackawanna book. I can also remember for a short time that there was a Library across the street from the RR station too. Then there was the fire in that factory across the street from that Library. Not sure what they manufactured. Anyone know? I can also remember a TV Repair store across the street and wishing for that radio that had the built-in light so I could see the stations at night. It also featured the ability to hear conversations between the airplanes and the control towers. It also had the special weather broadcast. Talk about how times have changed. Well, glad to see that others have such fond memories of a place I still like to day dream about every so often. I still visit there at least once a week or so since my parents still live there. I wish they would move as the place has obviously changed for the worse.
Ken Mel e-mail: njvike@yahoo.com
Of course, you're welcome to post here, Ken! Yes, EO has changed for the worse since our time there, but I happened to have some time to kill in the E.O. area last week. It was a beautiful late summer afternoon, and that can always favorably color your impressions; but E.O. seemed on the mend and much improved from a couple of years ago.
I passed by Jimmy Buff's on Washington Street (not sure if it's in Orange or West Orange) and it's unchanged, but I felt like a beer with lunch, so I went to Star Tavern. It was quiet, but a half dozen or more old locals or former locals like me were at the bar for lunch. Star still has thin crust pizza to match anybody's anywhere.
Came into EO on Park Avenue and it really doesn't look like a war zone anymore. Turned up Glenwood Avenue to see the schools, old and new, in that zone -- and some of the young kids from one of the charter schools were wearing uniforms!
At Springdale Avenue, Upsala is completely gone. Power equipment is going hot and heavy building a new housing development there. It looks like a pretty nice one, although when you tear down a place that provided jobs and put housing in its place you probably perpetuate the dole -- if there's no place to work, there's no jobs to be had. Plus quiet little dead-end Fernwood Road looks like it will now be the main entrance to this development (a shame for that quiet neighborhood). But maybe any revitalization is better than none.
Came down Springdale Avenue and the old store zone between Maple & Grove doesn't look great yet, but it is a little better. As I rode around near OLAS and Columbian and the various neighborhoods, I can say it's better! No broken windows, no abandoned houses; not utterly litter-free but generally clean, much cleaner than a few years ago. Ampere Parkway had, believe it or not, a few planted flower pots along the median. And when I got to "Wards", to my total shock, it's "Baker's Village" -- freshly painted, new awnings, typical suburbia. Of course, go one more block to turn around, and you're in Newark, which is worse than ever -- garbage and litter literally ankle deep in the streets.
I don't know what's going on politically in EO but somehow there really does seem to be a new spirit among at least a portion of the residents, at least in the better areas. It was encouraging! Maybe your parents holding on to that house won't be a mistake, Ken.
Ted Mooney, class of 1959 money@finishing.com
Hi Ted.....Looked for you in that Frank and Bill's Bar at Seaside this year but you weren't there...I, too was recently up in our old neighborhood, sort of...I went to a wake for my friend Terry Hart on Broad street in Bloomfield.....They don't have the exit for E.O anymore near Bloomfield so I missed it...I did Venture thru Bloomfied Center and up Broad Street....Boy, That Neighborhood has Changed so much too!!!...The Center Movie theatre was playing movies from India!!!!!!........No Woolworths or Grants , no turning onto Bloomfield ave, so you have to go up to by where Willie's Diner was...Still a diner, not Willie's though.........Patty
Patty Walsh Robinson, Class of: 1973 e-mail: federicolady@hotmail.com
I was looking at a grad photo of 1967. I transferred to Columbian in 6th grade and so am not pictured but I recognize all my fellow students in that photo. I lived just down the street on 4th Ave...great memories! It would be fun to hear from anyone in that photo just to say hi. Thanks, Dave Schwartz
David Schwartz, Class of: left in 6th gd in 65-66 for Columbian school in EO e-mail: gdavidusa@hotmail.com
We lived at 185 North 17th Street. The house has since burned down. I can recount that, from 1954 until 1961, when we moved away from the Ampere section, there were 53 children living on the same block between Fourth and Park Avenues. Cars parked on both sides of the street then, and the children skated or biked down the middle, pulling over whenever a car came through, warning all the rest of us "Car coming! Car coming!" My Aunt Ginny Quigley, who lived downstairs from us, still has a home movie of us playing on that street. My Mom and Dad were Bette and Bob Daire, and I had four sisters: Maureen, Yvonne, Judi and Karen, and one brother, Robbie, who died at age 4 in 1961, shortly before we moved away. Remember Vera's restaurant? Kurdmann's?
Virginia "Ginger" Daire, Class of: 1960 e-mail: gingeralicedaire@yahoo.com
I love to read the memories of EO.It is particularly good to get an update which indicates life in EO is picking up a bit. I speak of EO to anyone who will listen. I am now living outside Indianapolis Indiana and so there is a whole new group to entertain with my stories. I have wonderful memories of a life and times that can't be duplicated in today's world. I wouldn't change a thing. I was just telling my husband last night how store owners helped shape our lives. I could stop at Vera's and get a glass of water (if I'd sing a song in lieu of payment)which enabled me to stay outside roller skating longer. Jean at the dress shop in Ampere re-doing my braids for me. My mother didn't want me going around the neighborhood like a rag-a-muffin, which was hard to accomplish stealing boys bikes so I could take off and feel freedom. No bike for me from Mom, since I couldn't be trusted to be careful enough. If she only knew how many kids in the neighborhood came to my rescue and provided me with the thrill of bike riding. So many wonderful friends like the Kathie Mooney, Melanie Walker my very first girlfriend, Dymphna Hunt, Sally Malia, Elaine Quinn, Theresa Finn, The Johnson's. Nuns likeSister Patricia, even the scars I bear today of Sister Rita...all have molded the person I am today with memories I wouldn't trade for the world. God bless each and everyone of you. I pray you all remain in good health for many years to come. Thank you Ted for keeping this site alive and free. We don't care how long it takes for you to get these messages posted, we appreciate your time. Love Mary Melba
Mary Robinson-Rossetti, Class of: 1961 e-mail: jerseygrl@gotown.net
Yes we have memories of OLAS and East Orange. I will be going this weekend for a 60th Birthday of a freind from OLAS and a few of the class of 62 will be in attendance. We all kept in contact over the years. I guess I will have to send in PICS. My Daughter got into C\W music recently and is listening to Hank Williams (better then what used to BLAST out of car radio) I told her about Eddie Rabbit a 1956 Grad, and a nieghbor on North 19th St (Bless his Soul) We all had a very good beginning, there was something special in OLAS, and East Orange. Thanks All
jim giblin, Class of: 1962 e-mail: j_gipper47@yahoo.com
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