Happy Birthday Annette

Funny how your brain works, I was think a lot about my Mom Annette yesterday.  This is the Mom who rasied me after my Mother died.  I was thinking it is her birthday week, and maybe I should post something about a person on their birthday on my blog.  But since I thought I had already missed her Birthday I would wait until Sunday to do it, when life wasn't so busy.

So this morning I cranked up the old Genealogy software to check which day was offically her Birthday and it was the 7th, not the 6th.  See I was thinking about her on the correct day. 

Our Family 1951, Whitestone NY

Mom, Happy Belated Birthday, I haven't forgotten you and all you did for me. 

Mom with all four kids 1960, Fort Lauderdale FL

Other posts about Mom are here, here & here.
 

52 Weeks of Personal Genalogy & History High School

High School: Describe your middle and/or high school. Was it a large or small student body? Is the school still in existence today? How has it changed since you went there?

I had the unique experience of going to a brand new school.  The school was so new the day it opened the roofs were still not on the two buildings present on campus.  I just noticed on the website that it is celebrating 50 years.  1961 – 2011.  Quote from the website: “CGHS opened its doors to 176 freshmen and sophomores on a sand-strewn campus with two partially completed buildings.”  I was a freshman, and the first graduating class to attend all four years at Cardinal Gibbons but the second class to graduate.  The area was so underdeveloped that there was a rattlesnake on campus one day.  Luckily no one was bitten and I think animal control was called.  Such are the adventures of attending a new school.  New buildings were added while I attended.   

The school was co-institutional when I attended.  The boys were in one building and the girls in another building.  The girls were taught by the nuns and the boys by priest except some of the priest taught chemistry and physic to both the girls & boys.  We could mingle during lunch and we called the area were me mingled, “Check Point Charlie”. 

My path was college prep but the principle was very concerned that I would never graduate from high school.  She called my parents in for a conference. She is the one who told me I was too stupid to be a nurse.  So at my 10 year reunion I mentioned to her I was a semester away from having my BSN and had been a licensed RN for many years.  She stood there in front of me and said, “I knew you could do it you just had to do it your way.”  Well I who have never hit a person in my life felt my right arm and fist curl back for a swing. I was so furious, not an encouraging word the whole time I was in high school, but now that I had fought and slaved to make it, it was like yeah I knew it all long.   Lucky for both of us I just walked away.   Now I think of it this experience has made me who I am today and so it was worthwhile. 

 

Mary on campus 1965 a Senior

I didn’t like high school; I didn’t like the girl - boys stuff, the competition, and the clicks.  The only years I felt like I was successful were the years they split the class by grades.  So the excelling students were in one group and they who had to study very hard students were in the other group.   I became the top of class in my group, the ones who had to study hard and that felt good not to have to compete with the brainiacs. 

It was also a difficult time at home as during those four years of high school my Mom was fighting cancer and finally lost the battle when I was a senior.   I wanted to go to the public high school but my Mom was a firm believer that a Parochial school education was better. I did get a very good education. 

My high school is still there and now boasts 10 buildings on campus.  I attended Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

http://www.cghsfl.org/ 

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History Elementry School

Describe your grammar/elementary school (or schools). Were they big or small? Are any of these schools still in existence today? If so, how have they changed since you went there? 

I went to three different elementary schools.  I went to PS 79 in Whitestone, Queens New York for Kindergarten and first grade.  I walked to school I don’t remember how long my Mom or Dad walked with me until I learned the way but I do know I did walk myself to school for first grade. 

St. Luke’s was also the church we went to while I was growing up.  This was a little further from home and I was allowed to ride the school bus and I did for a short time but I liked walking better.  I think even back then I like the time to myself.  I usually walked by myself until I was about half way there and then I would pick up my best friend Laura Valle.  When I was in the fifth and sixth grade I had a boyfriend John.  He was a cute boy with freckles.  He would walk me home and carry my book bag.  He even climbed a fence to pick me an apple off of someone’s tree.  

When I went to check out the school website, it is celebrating it’s 100^th Anniversary.

When I was a student there they had the old fashion desks with the ink wells.  I don’t remember a lot about elementary school other than I hated doing homework and I would drag it out.  How silly we are as kids, if I had done it quickly it would have been less painful.  I also remember each year when the report cards came out at the end of the year I would be promoted on probation, meaning if I did well the first part of the new school year I could stay in the new grade. I always managed to do well the first part of the year. 

The girl's uniform was a navy blue jumper, with a white blouse with a peter pan collar, and a blue clip on bow tie with tales.

Maps to schools from my home in Whitestone, NY

The third school I went to was St. Clements in Fort Lauderdale Florida.  I did much better here and was promoted each year.  If I remember right the reason why was that to be promoted you had to have 70 instead of 75 to be promoted. 

All three schools are still in existence.  PS 79 was the largest school I went to, since it is a Public School that makes sense.  As a matter of fact PS = Public School.  It currently has 773 students. St Luke’s was the second largest and now has 387 students and St. Clements is the smallest and currently enrolls 112 students.   I am sure that hasn’t changed much over the years. 

8th Grade Graduation June 4, 1961

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Bedrooms

Describe your childhood bedroom. What furniture did it contain? Were there curtains, wallpaper or paint? Was it messy or clean? Did you share a room with your sip siblings?



I had a total of three childhood bedrooms the first one I remember was in our home and Whitestone, New York. The first bedroom was in the back of the house on the second floor. It was also the room that my mother hung laundry out on the clothesline. There were two twin beds in this room and I shared this room with my brother George. Sometimes I had the that was on the left and sometimes I had the bed that was on the right I don't remember exactly how we decided who slept in what bed.


Some of the memories of this bedroom include having the chickenpox, mumps and a very vile stomach flu, it took me a long time to drink apricot nectar after that stomach flu. Of course the other memory of this room was watching my mother hang the laundry out on a clothesline. The clothesline when a cross our whole double decker backyard and attached to a wall behind our house. She would wheel the laundry out to let it dry and then wheeled it back in when it was dry. There was a pulley at each end of the clothesline. This was a second-story window so she had to carry the laundry up from the basement through the main floor and up to the second floor.




Our House 1949 Whitestone, New York



When I was older like nine or ten, I was given my own bedroom in the front of the house. In this room there was just a double bed. I also have a little desk, dresser and a chair. There was wallpaper on the wall there were there were curtains and on the windows. One time when we had company my mom came to sleep with me in my room. I wasn't accustomed to anybody sleeping in with me and so I kicked her out of bed. She was not very happy with me. I remember her very clearly telling me to stop it.

In the picture above, the window over the front door was my bedroom window.




Mary in 1968 in my Florida bedroom



When we moved to Florida I had my own bedroom again, well of course, I was the only girl! This bedroom is also in the front of the house it was painted pink and had rose curtains in the windows the interesting thing is I don't think I really like pink it's an okay color but it's definitely not my favorite, this is the room I that I slept in until I left home. This room has memories of my own portable radio. Before then the radio was only in your room if you were sick. My own radio was pink with grey nobs. I spent many hours laying on my bed and listening to rock and roll. I had a twin bed in this room. 

I also spent a lot of time reading in my bedroom.  I spent so much time reading my Mom would yell at me, "Go outside and dust those cobwebs off."   She wanted me to be active and balanced. 

This is a later picture of me when I was 20, me in all my glory in orange baby doll pajamas.



My brother Eddie in my room 1968



One of the sad memories of this room was when my Mom was very sick with cancer and she was in a hospital bed in my parent’s room, her twin bed was in my room. I had a nightmare one night and I remember I ran around that extra bed to get to her room. There was a night nurse since my Dad was working and she just told me to go back to bed.



Mary 1968 packing to go to New York



One of the happier memories was backing for a trip to New York when I was 20.  I had left home for a while and at this time I was back at home.  I was to meet a pen pal Ken in New York, he lived in Ohio.  He gave me the American Airline poster I have over my bed, in the other picture.  Unfortunately he forgot my Aunt's phone number and we never meet up with each other. 

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

Hosted by Geneabloggers: http://www.geneabloggers.com/
Created by Amy Coffin http://wetree.blogspot.com/

Sounds: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

Geneabloggers is hosting 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2011) that invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants.

This topic took me a little while to decide what was the most important sound of my childhood.  But once I found it I was on fire to write it.  I even got out of bed to start writing this post.  I added a little video but it made my typing work too slow, so I got frustrated and went to bed.  This morning I am ready to finish up.  



Mantel Clock

This is the item that made my favorite childhood and adult sound.  Even my kids like it.  Unfortunately the motor died for a second time and I haven't gotten it fixed.  But after thinking about this last night I am going to get it fixed one more time. 

Mary George 1952, Clock is on the TV

It was a wedding present to my parents.  It lived on top of the TV when I was a kid in Whitestone, New York. 

Mary 1965 Graduation

In Fort Lauderdale Florida it lived on a half hutch in the living room.  Here it is hidden behind my high school graduation cards.


I don't remember how it came to be mine or what year I received it from  my Dad.  I believe I have had it since I left home at 19. 

This picture shows the inside of that clock with the hammers that make the Westminster chimes.  I wish the label hadn't been riped off.  It chimed every 15 minutes.  This link actually shows the musical notes of the chime.

Manufacturer's Label

 The chimes start about 30 seconds after the start of the video. 

Home: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

Week 4: Home. Describe the house in which you grew up. Was it big or small? What made it unique? Is it still there today?

Hosted by Geneabloggers and developed by Amy at We Tree.

My first one was 15-19 Parsons Blvd, Whitestone, Queens, New York.  My grandfather George Joseph Hartmann and my Dad also George Joseph Hartmann built the house.  I am not sure if that means they had sweat equity in the house or if they had it built. 

This the only picture I have that shows the most of the front of the house.  It had three bed rooms, one and a half baths, a finished basement, and an attic.  I learned how to roller skate in that basement, with key skates.



Check out those dirty knees!

In this picture you can see the side of the house and our mud room and the path to the back yard is this way.  We had a split level front yard and back yard.  How I wish I had more pictures of this house.  I always thought it was a large house but when I went back and saw the outside of it when I was 21 or so, I thought it looked very small. 


My Dad & Me

This picture shows the maple tree we had in front of the house and the view down the street.  I have no idea why my parents didn't take front on pictures of the house.  I know that I do.  We moved out of this house in June of 1959.  I have no idea how much my parents sold it for. 

This is the picture I found of my first house on Google Earth.

Mary, George & Donald 1959






Here we are the summer of 1959 in front of our new home in Fort Lauderdale Florida, guess what we are facing the house, so you can't see it. Now we have a palm tree instead of a maple.

 

 



September 1964


This picture shows more of the front of the house. This is when I was a Senior in High School. This house has three bedrooms and two baths. While I was in high school my Dad had the swapped the location of the kitchen and the dinning room and added on a Florida room.







 
 
 
 

In May of 2009 my hubby and I went back to Florida for a vacation.  We drove by the old Florida house.  So it is still there also.  This address is
5148 NE 4 Ave
Fort Lauderdale, Florida