Houses on Our Street

   That would be River Road.

         When we moved there, in 1945, the last house on the street belonged to Louise Clark. Her home  had previously been a bar, or maybe a saloon, as was a term used then for a spot to get a drink or a few. I don't recall if she drove a car; many women then did not drive. I know that she, as others did, walked by our house quite often. At one point in time, she owned a quite large Llewellin Setter, which was an active dog and it would tug her down the street. I think she might have been related in some way to the Andrew's.

 The house next to hers was at first O'Connor's. Parents Charles and Helen both worked at the Mill, from which they  walked to and from several times each workday. Their sons were Sonny and Butch. Sonny was older, very serious, later married Ruth Speanburg, but Butch was younger and would come down at times to play ball and such games. Later, Agnes and Gibby Tyrrell lived there, for a time with her mother, whose dog once  bit me and knocked me off the bike I was riding.

 Third house down was the Wanko house. The youngest child still at home was Vera, a sweet and cheerful young woman / teenaged, who would run errands for her mother and would take her neighbor's kids for walks to the store and post office. I don't remember her mother ever leaving her house, though my mother would visit her on her porch during my mother's summer evening walks. Vera offered to teach Dorothy and me how to knit, and gave us lessons in her house. One day, newly engaged to Johnny Brenenstuhl, she brought us to her bedroom and showed us her wedding preparations. She had a new dresser set, and 3 new dresses in her closet. It was all new to Dorothy and me.  Later on, relatives from the South came to live with them for a while, Patty and Steve Wanko.  Patty liked to come to our house for games and to hear spooky stories from Scout Camp narrated in our garage. Steve stayed in the house as he was only 6 years old. He later married Patty Geren, became a Secret Service Agent and was on active and visible duty during the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.

  Next door to them was the Andrew house, the only home still owned by the same family. Louise Sanzone Andrew  and Joby were parents of only Sandy and Johnny then. Dick was born later and the last born was Teresa, born when Sandy and we were in high school. Sandy would spend most summer vacations at her grandparents' home in Newcomb, and would have stories when she returned at end of summers.

Jesse and Orvin Van Dusen were neighbors to Andrew's. Their children were grown. I remember one of their daughters, Elizabeth,  had spent time in a sanitarium for T.B. Jesse was a very friendly and social woman; some would say a gossip, but, hey, that's all there was back then. She was active in all the local women's organizations, and she also offered to help tend the elderly or ailing folks in the village, so she knew the goings-on. She walked all over the village; I don't think Orvin had a car until several years later. Their grandchildren, Carol and Joey Wixted, children of Harriet Van Dusen and husband, would visit and of course would be at our house. I remember going to that house to watch tv a few times, as we didn't yet own a tv.

I think the house next to Van Dusen's was vacant when we moved to the village. I do remember Helene Cukrovany living there with her husband. She was pregnant, most likely with Stanley. And she was terrified of cats. Vickery's later moved in; all us kids on the street watched the move, hoping as we did then, that it would be a family with kids.  Jackie, Eddie, Roger and John, Bobby. Donna was already married to her husband Earl, and lived out of state, until the time they returned and he took over running the store formerly Hull's, which was where the post office later moved.

The Frisino house was next, now gone and replaced, much to Eleanor's dismay. Patsy and Eleanor had 6 children, older boys Harry, Frank and Leo, then Albert (Jeep), Dolly and George. When Dolly was at nursing school she brought a fellow student and friend home to introduce her to one brother, but Ann ended up marrying Frank.

 Pop Tyrrell lived third house up, I think at first by himself at that time. I remember the Warren family later  lived  there for a while. The youngest, Brian, would join the group at our place. That house at that time had by far the most activity on the street.