Visitors Nostalgia & Memories

(Archive #100: November 1, 2012 to November 30, 2012)


Date: 11/30/2012, 10:06 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Some bus lines, maybe all, had the designations, for example, 5-1, or 5-2, or 5-3. Never did understand what that meant ?


Date: 11/30/2012, 7:41 pm, EST
Name: Orv
Web:
Location: Sussex County
Old Neighborhood(s): Montgomery St.
Schools Att'd: St. Peters; Wm Penn H.S.
Employers: Dupont Co.; AGFA Corp.
Message: As I recall the #8 bus went to Newport/Silview.

Date: 11/30/2012, 4:07 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Don't remember that one Gary, did he get a medal?

Date: 11/30/2012, 2:21 pm, EST
Name: gary savage
Web:
Location: claymont de
Old Neighborhood(s): happy valley
Schools Att'd: brandywine
Employers:
Message: Jubb, this was before you and dont wont to mention any names but do you or anyone else remember when a guy from 900 block shallcross had his way with a girl and the next day the father did him in..

Date: 11/30/2012, 12:40 pm, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: "Nov. 30, 1921 The Wilmington Fire Department was organized with 50 paid fire fighters."

And by the late '40s there were Fire Departments all over Wilmington.


Date: 11/30/2012, 11:07 am, EST
Name: philip cherrin
Web:
Location: wilm
Old Neighborhood(s): 2nd & Connell
Schools Att'd: mciw, PS
Employers: Pepsico, IBM
Message: Driving home last night after a long flight from Frankfurt, Germany, we were greeted by homes adorned with Christmas lights that had not yet been illuminated when we left for our vacation. Of course the biggest spectacle was the lights on the home near the Hilltop Apartments off of Silverside Road, an annual event for many years. What were your favorite Christmas lights of the area?

Date: 11/30/2012, 10:51 am, EST
Name: Philip Cherrin
Web:
Location: Wilm
Old Neighborhood(s): 2nd & Connell
Schools Att'd: mciw, PS
Employers: Pepsico, IBM
Message: Meanwhile torrents of rainwater cascaded from the roofs of the houses, eventually forming a wave that rolled down 9th St., overwhelming the few storm drains that it encountered at street corners along the way. By the time the wave reached Monroe St. it was a force unlike anything seen in living memory by any of the residents in that neighborhood. Through some strange hydraulic phenomenon, the over flowing storm drains created a back pressure in the drainage system at 9th and Monroe and the old oversize drain in the courtyard at the Statnekoo house became a small, gurgling fountain which erupted beneath the table upon which a powerful, iridescent fish thrashed amidst the slippery, wet fingerpaint. Sarah Statnekoo's shriek brought the Wilmington police; or at least one policeman, in the person of John Smith......

Date: 11/30/2012, 8:54 am, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: The No. 4 went straight out Market and the No. 5 turned down 9th and didn't come back up Market until it hit Vandever Avenue and Market.

Date: 11/29/2012, 11:00 pm, EST
Name: Shirley Hudson Jester
Web:
Location: Newark DE
Old Neighborhood(s): Price's Run
Schools Att'd: Geo Gray, Warner, PS duP '51
Employers:
Message: The number 5 bus went to Newport/Silview, and if i remember correctly (Ha!) it became #5 Vandever Avenue coming back. Maryland Avenue to Front to Market, then turned down 9th to Church Street, over the 12th Street Bridge, up Vandever Avenue to Market Street Street to either 23rd or 25th, east to Spruce St, to Vandever Avenue, then back the way it came. My uncle, Ben Richardson, drove the #5 many times, and we had rides from one end to the other. I could be wrong, I was wrong once before! Shirley Hudson Jester

Date: 11/29/2012, 10:45 pm, EST
Name: DAVE CAUFFMAN
Web:
Location: HOCKESSIN
Old Neighborhood(s): 25TH & MADISON ST
Schools Att'd: BROWN
Employers: EH&R DUPONT
Message: DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE WAY THE NUMBER 5 TROLLEY CAME UP TO MARKET ST I KNOW IT TURNED DOWN 9 TH STREET WHEN IT LEFT MARKET.
( DID IT COME UP 8TH ?)

Date: 11/28/2012, 11:02 pm, EST
Name: Camge@verizon.net
Web:
Location: Nyc ny
Old Neighborhood(s): Wilmington, Silverside Rd.
Schools Att'd: mount Pleasant
Employers:
Message: Does anyone remember Mrs. mullins who taught Elocution but was an amazing artist who worked in silver? She lived ina big old house on silverside rd. just north of Windybush. I think she also worked at a Catholic girls school in wilmington. I guesss I owe my life to her.... No Delaware accent!

Date: 11/28/2012, 2:49 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Yes I do remember that, they never did get anyone for that. I was only on about two years when that happened, don't remember the guy's name that was killed but do remember the incident. Back then it was
big new in ___ when something like that happened, sorry to say it wouldn't be such a big deal today.

Date: 11/28/2012, 2:17 pm, EST
Name: gary savage
Web:
Location: claymont de
Old Neighborhood(s): happy valley
Schools Att'd: brandywine
Employers:
Message: Jubb, do you remember a unsolved murder at Gilpin liquors in 1961 I believe. The man that was murdered was named Nolley I believe. They thought a guy from the Valley did it but it turned out he was at the workhouse at the time.

Date: 11/27/2012, 9:22 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), N. Broom, S. Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Greenhill Ave. was a nice area in Wilmington. I dated a girl in the first 2 months of 1969, just before going into the Army, who lived in the Apartments at 7th and Greenhill. Can't remember the name of those apartments now.

Date: 11/27/2012, 7:03 pm, EST
Name: Maureen Kelley Dunning
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers:
Message: :O I remember the 7 11 incident on Greenhill Ave. in the early 70's I lived on 5th and Greenhill.

Date: 11/26/2012, 3:05 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S. Broom, N. Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: There were 3 successful break-ins, which resulted in break-outs at the Bridge House Juvenile Det., Ctr., 25, 9th Ave. The one I referred to in my last post, was committed by the same kid who was blown away at a 7-11. I was in the Army at the time, 1969-71, but was told it was a 7-11 on the Governor Printz Blvd. Maybe the co-worker who relayed the story to me was mistaken about the location ? To spare any family, the kid's initials were J. B. Not sure about the date of the 2nd break-in/break-out, but the last was in 1982. Ron Janicki was the Superintendent of the facility for the one in 1969-71. I missed all 3 (Army and off-duty).

Date: 11/26/2012, 11:05 am, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Jerry T. The teenager you speak of that got blown away,was that at 6th and Greenhill Ave.
in ___? The reason I ask is because I ran
a stakeout squad that shot and killed a young
man at the 7-Eleven at 6th & Greenhill. I don't
think he was a teen, but close to it. Also I
vaguely remember someone breaking in to the
holding facility in Browntown and releasing some
kids, I believe at the time Ron Janicki was in
charge of the place. Am I right or has my
memory fogged up?

Date: 11/26/2012, 10:29 am, EST
Name: Steve Armstrong
Web:
Location: Bowie Maryland
Old Neighborhood(s): French Street -East Side Wilmington
Schools Att'd: St Joseph's- Sacred Heart- St.Peter's Cathedral - Salesianum
Employers:
Message: Does anyone remember the Lawson House Hotel - 50's - 60's ?
It was across the street from the Wilm. Train Station.
The owner was Irma Lawson.
Lot's of black musicians who had gigs in Philly stayed there because Philly hotels would't allow them there. Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton and a host of others resided there.

Date: 11/25/2012, 11:45 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archnere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Just finished polishing off the last of the kielbasa and sauerkraut, a couple minutes ago.

Wow ! That was some encounter with the sawed off, Ray ! Went through my share of encounters in the Detention Centers and Ferris; several bad riots and fires. Never had a gun pointed at me during my career though, but 2 late night staffers at the old Bridge House on 9th Ave. did, during a break-in by a teenager who managed to get several of his friends out. He had a double barrel as well. Some time later, he attempted a hold up at a 7-11 with the same gun. The D.S.P. had a stake out behind the milk/eggs section, and blew him away, when he pointed the gun at them. Found out that the gun wasn't loaded, and he didn't have a shell on him. I had a State Trooper, once tell me, that he wouldn't want my job, being subject to the ' molly coddling ' and relaxed rules for the juvenile inmates, having to use only the Passive Restarint Techniques for the violent aggressors.


Date: 11/25/2012, 10:06 pm, EST
Name: Shirley Hudson Jester
Web:
Location: Newark DE
Old Neighborhood(s): Price's Run
Schools Att'd: Geo Gray, Warner, PS duP '51
Employers:
Message: We're trying to finish all the leftovers by the end of the weekend!

Date: 11/25/2012, 8:42 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Where the hell is everyone, the last post here was
yesterday morning at 8:54 A.M. Did everyone have too much Turkey?

Date: 11/24/2012, 8:54 am, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: We bought a tent at the 4th Street Goldbergs in the 60s. The first time we put it up we had as much green on us as was on the tent ! :@

Date: 11/23/2012, 11:29 pm, EST
Name: RAY Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Jerry T. There were many, but the one that I
will never forget was while walking the 1st
District. I was making a hit in the area of 5th &
Lombard Sts. at about 3:00 Am. Noticed an old
Guy(really old) walking toward me. I didn't pay
much attention to him because he was so old
looking and not walking too good. I started
paying attention when he pulled a double
barreled shotgun from behinde his back and
pointed it right in my face, then he burst out
laughing and lowered the gun and I took it away
from him. Found out that it wasn't fireable but
it took a couple washings of my underwear to get the stain out. He and a couple of his friends
all drunk had just sawed the barrel off just for
the hell of it, I can still see those two shiny
barrels staring at me. But it was a good lerning
tool for me, I never took anything for granted
after that.

Date: 11/23/2012, 10:41 pm, EST
Name: DAVE CAUFFMAN
Web:
Location: HOCKESSIN
Old Neighborhood(s): 25TH & MADISON ST
Schools Att'd: BROWN
Employers: EH&R DUPONT
Message: I REMEMBER GOLDBERG'S ON 4 TH ST I BOUGHT CAMPING GEAR THERE IN THE EARLY 50 BEFOR I WENT IN TO THE AIR FORCE. BY THE TIME I GOT BACK THEY HAD MOVED OUT TO THE KIRKWOOD HWY .

Date: 11/23/2012, 8:49 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S. Broom, N. Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Ray : I think you're right, again. Thanks .

Ray: What was your ' hairiest ' encounter, when you were walking the beat alone in Wilm. ? I'm sure all others would be interested as well.


Date: 11/23/2012, 8:15 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ DE.
Old Neighborhood(s): HEDGEVILLE
Schools Att'd: sT. pAUL'S & whs
Employers:
Message: Jerry T. I believe that was simply called
"PLANTERS".

Date: 11/23/2012, 7:44 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Does anyone remember the name of the peanut store on 4th and Market Sts. ? You almost had to go in and buy some, after smelling the aroma. I also remember someone dressed up as Mr. Peanut, walking and advertising in front of the store.

Date: 11/23/2012, 7:05 pm, EST
Name: Robert McKelvey
Web:
Location: Cape May, N.J.
Old Neighborhood(s): Happy Valley
Schools Att'd: #24, Warner, WHS
Employers: USAF
Message: Connie, I remember buying used surplus combat boots for camping and hiking . The store I recall was on the west side of Market Street about 1946. Later wasn't there a Army surplus or Army Navy store near the train station?

Date: 11/23/2012, 2:33 pm, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: Anyone remember buying Army surplus at Goldberg's on 4th Street near Market? My father wore a khaki wool Army overcoat and Army khaki wool slacks on his trip to work every day. He had to stand in freezing cold (it was cold during winters back in the 40s) and wait for 2 trolleys one way, then he had to walk about half a mile more to get to his job. But we were blessed - we had a place to live (unheated) and enough food to keep us alive, and I had BOTH of my genetic parents.

Date: 11/23/2012, 11:49 am, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: P.S. HOPE ALL YE OLD POSTERS HAD A GREAT
THANK GIVING.

Date: 11/23/2012, 11:46 am, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Had a great thanks Giving at my Daughters house yesterday. It would have been better if all my children and their Children were there but
one Son went to his Wife's parents for dinner &
that's the way it goes these days we have to
share. We want to be selfish but the other
Parents probably feel the same way. Had three
of my four there and I was thankful for that.

Date: 11/21/2012, 10:56 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Jerry T. What was in the area you speak of in
Westend Park(as we called it) was a wading
pool with a high pipe in the middle which was
a shower for little kids.

Date: 11/21/2012, 7:17 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: I'm not sure if they had a pool in the park at 2nd and Clayton, but Delamore Park(also called West End Park), now Kosciuszko Park is bordered by S. Franklin, Maple, and S. Broom Sts. Just next to the square, stone building was a sunken, grassy area(not deep, maybe a foot or so) bordered by concrete walls on the inside, which someone said was once a swimming pool. When I was growing up, we used the area for horse shoe playing. The square, stone building had a men's room, a ladies' room, an office for recreation staff, and the Park Guard's office. Maybe if a pool was there, the square, stone building might have been a changing area/rest rooms. Lots of fun at that park, too- morning until night, when the Park Guard, John Golden at the time,told us to leave, and go home.

Date: 11/21/2012, 6:08 pm, EST
Name: Bill
Web:
Location: Delaware
Old Neighborhood(s): 4th & Harrison
Schools Att'd: several
Employers:
Message: While Price's Run pool opened about 8 June 1930, the opening of the new Canby Pool was delayed as grading and a fence still needed to be installed. Edward Mack, superintendant of parks, said in the STAR's 15 June 1930 issue that only a few more days were required to complete the work. Canby replaced a pool in Delamore Park (2d & Clayton?).

Date: 11/21/2012, 5:05 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: John Paul, 1947 isn't right, I know because I went there before that. Don't know the correct answer though, sorry.

Date: 11/21/2012, 4:11 pm, EST
Name: Bill
Web:
Location: Delaware
Old Neighborhood(s): 4th & Harrison
Schools Att'd: a number
Employers:
Message: Canby pool opened shortly after 15 June 1930.

Date: 11/21/2012, 3:10 pm, EST
Name: John Paul
Web:
Location: League City Texas
Old Neighborhood(s): East Side
Schools Att'd: Bancroft,Pyle,Palmer, Brown Vocational
Employers: Avisun/Amoco 38 years
Message: I think Canby pool opened in 1947. I also spent a lot of thim there.

Date: 11/20/2012, 9:19 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St.Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: I also spent many happy days during the summers, swimming at Canby Pool. Does anyone remember or know when it first opened ? When I was 14-16 years old, however, I spent more time observing the girls, being enthralled by the latest swimsuit fashions. How many, I wonder, came to Canby Pool from the farther way neighborhoods, such as Happy Valley, or were there closer , neighborhood pools ? I agree with you Ray, concerning selling it to a private club, or donating it to the Boys/Girls Clubs, rather than having it deteriorate like the rest of the city. Ray ,you have many answers/solutions to the City's problems, but they are going unheeded, and falling on deaf ears.

Date: 11/19/2012, 11:00 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: A little bit of nostalgia and then a question: How
many like myself remember the good old days
spent swimming at Canby pool? and how many if
any have wondred why the City is letting it just
crumble away. It was the place for we kids of
Hedgeville to spend, sometimes the entire day there.
It has now sat idle for several years. Why can't the
City sell it to a private Club or donate it to the Girl's
and Boy's Clubs of the City, instead of letting it go
to waste like the rest of the City.

Date: 11/19/2012, 9:07 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S. Broom, N. Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmer, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Attention Veterans - remember the old 'Stars and Stripes' newspaper ? It's still around, and with the latest article about Delaware :

http://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes-central...


Date: 11/19/2012, 10:21 am, EST
Name: Shirley Hudson Jester
Web:
Location: Newark DE
Old Neighborhood(s): Price's Run
Schools Att'd: Geo Gray, Warner, PS duP '51
Employers:
Message: Frank, don't know any of those people. Only lived in Newark area for about 11 or 12 years. I was definitely around during those years. Always looked forward to the PS duP and Wilmington High School game every Thanksgiving Day. Game in the morning, then home for big meal, already prepared by Mom, of course. Wonderful memories of those years. Perhaps my name is familiar because you knew my brothers, Jack, Bob, Kenny & Richard. they were always involved in sports. Jack and Bob went to PS duP, and the two younger ones went to Mt Pleasant. HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE! Shirley Hudson Jester

Date: 11/19/2012, 9:26 am, EST
Name: Philip Cherrin
Web:
Location: Wilm
Old Neighborhood(s): 2nd St.
Schools Att'd: MCIW, PS duP
Employers: Pepsico
Message: It will probably never be known why, on that particular day, Danny's grandmother did not kill the fish in her usual way, by hitting it over the head with a hammer; perhaps the hammer was not available. Instead, she threw a dish towel over the fish and together with Auntie Anne, hoisted the carp onto the sill of the large casement window that opened onto the courtyard. Then, one of the women brought the window crashing down--like a guillotine--on the fish. It was an awkward maneuver; the women jostled each other; the window's descent was interrupted and with a mighty squirm the fish was ejected--by the force of a glancing blow--into the raging storm where it landed in the midst of Danny's now-soaked paintings. Free from the confines of the tub and the grasp of the women who had intended to turn it into fish cakes, the carp thrashed amidst the paper and paint; within seconds its smooth skin was covered and imbued with a shimmering rainbow of colors.

Date: 11/19/2012, 2:28 am, EST
Name: Frank Stewart
Web:
Location: Yacolt, Wa.
Old Neighborhood(s): Franklin St
Schools Att'd: Newark, Elkton, Marshall U.
Employers: willing slave of my bride, Willa
Message: Shirley Hudson,,,,Jester,,,,(name is VERY familiar), did you know an Andy, Marty and Turkey Murphy at Newark,,,they lived in George Reed village,, Marcia Warwick,,, Nancy Trivitts and a bunch of others. We used to hitch hike up to Wilmington and eat Sloppy Joe's hotdog stand,,, best dogs on the planet.,,,twas the late 40's and early 50's. We enjoyed beating the tar out of Sallies the Red devils, Claymont and Conrad, Brown Voc., PS Dupont, AI DuPont,, just to name a few. Bob LaFazia will tell us all about that ,,, no lie!!! Frank

Date: 11/18/2012, 11:04 pm, EST
Name: Shirley Hudson Jester
Web:
Location: Newark DE
Old Neighborhood(s): Prices Run
Schools Att'd: Geo Gray, Warner, PS duP '51
Employers:
Message: The REAL Santa Claus was in Rosenbaum's near Ninth & Market Streets. Also, if you asked him for Nancy Drew mystery books, you always received one or two! (If you were nice and not naughty) Shirley Hudson Jester

Date: 11/18/2012, 10:55 pm, EST
Name: gary savage
Web:
Location: claymont de
Old Neighborhood(s): happy valley
Schools Att'd: brandywineg
Employers:
Message: As you know I was on vacation from this website. When I 1st came here I did not understand the rules. Everything is fair now. Also my apologies to anyone I offened in the past...gar

Date: 11/18/2012, 9:17 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Does anyone recall how many stores on Market St., in the 30's, 40's and 50's, had the one, true Santa Claus , besides the Salvation Army ones on the street ? Did we get confused ?

Date: 11/18/2012, 9:05 am, EST
Name: Philip Cherrin
Web:
Location: Wilm
Old Neighborhood(s): 2 Street
Schools Att'd: mciw, PS
Employers: Pepsico
Message: Here's what I remember about the carp's escape from the Statnekoo household: While Danny's grandfather repaired the huge wooden gate which, with the help of a few of the men from the neighborhood, had been removed from it's hinges, the six year-old boy filled sheet-after-sheet of paper with wet, slippery fingerpaint, until the now-horizontal gate was covered with his 'paintings'. Suddenly the downpour began: torrential sheets of water fell out of the sky and within moments the little courtyard of the house was awash with turbulent, swirling water. Scooping the boy up under one arm, Danny's grandfather carried his grandson and his tools into the house to escape the deluge, leaving the boy's fingerpaints and 'paintings' behind. Within moments the oversize gate was awash with soaking wet paper and gobs of slippery, gooey paint; it was indeed a mess! Meanwhile the women in the kitchen were preparing to kill the fish. For reasons which will never be ......

Date: 11/17/2012, 9:04 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S. Broom, N. Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Cauffman : why don't you be civil, and let the Webmaster make the decision and comment on what is appropriate ! Your post, # 291, is not Nostalgic in content, and then again, neither is this one, but felt obligated to make it.

Date: 11/17/2012, 8:10 pm, EST
Name: Pat (Stillwell) LeVan
Web:
Location: Port St. Lucie, FL
Old Neighborhood(s): 23rd and Tatnall
Schools Att'd: St. Patrick's, Ursuline
Employers: duPont
Message: I REALLY would love to hear the end of that fish story!

Date: 11/17/2012, 4:59 pm, EST
Name: Philip Cherrin
Web:
Location: Wilm
Old Neighborhood(s): 2nd St.
Schools Att'd: mciw, ps
Employers: Pepsico
Message: @Dave. This is no more of a story than Haystacks Calhoun supposedly jumping into the pool at Canby. Furthermore, Danny's recollections incorporate a tremendous amount of Old Wilmington family history and nostalgia and most certainly qualify to be posted on this site. But, thanks for your opinion!

Date: 11/17/2012, 4:43 pm, EST
Name: DAVE CAUFFMAN
Web:
Location: HOCKESSIN
Old Neighborhood(s): 25& MADISON ST
Schools Att'd: BROWN
Employers: EH&R DUPONT
Message: THIS IS NOT A STORY TELLING BLOG YOU CAN DO THAT ON FACEBOOK IF YOU WANT TO.

Date: 11/17/2012, 4:20 pm, EST
Name: Philip Cherrin
Web:
Location: Wilm
Old Neighborhood(s): 2nd & Connell
Schools Att'd: MCIW, PSduP
Employers: Pepsico, IBM
Message: Since Danny Stat has been barred by the administrator from posting any more of his childhood memories to this web site, I emailed Danny to ask him if he would allow me to complete his story about the escape of the "Jewish" fish from the metal tub in the middle of his grandmother's kitchen, where the live carp had been confined while awaiting its final demise and transformation into the fish-cake delicacy known as "gefilte fish." Even though I was not an eye-witness to the actual event, Danny gave me permission to complete the story from memory, having heard the story, which has been told and retold in the Sacred Heart neighborhood, ever since the semi-miraculous event occurred, which happened, I believe, in 1949.

Date: 11/17/2012, 6:41 am, EST
Name: Philip Cherrin
Web:
Location: Wilmington DE, yet again
Old Neighborhood(s): 2nd & Connell, 39th & Washington
Schools Att'd: Mary C. I. Williams, P. S. duPont
Employers: Pepsico, IBM and others
Message: Does anyone remember those torrential rainfalls that we experienced as children in Wilmington? The heavens seemed to open up and the city was drenched by what seemed like "sheets" of water which fell from the sky and then ran off the roofs of all the buildings, flooding the streets and sidewalks with torrents of rushing water that quickly filled the gutters up to the top of the curb. Then down into the storm drain at the corner of the block it would plunge, into the underground labyrinth of drains that took the deluge of water out of the city and put it back into the Christiana or Brandywine River. When we were children (1940's), those rainstorms seemed like a truly momentous force.

Date: 11/16/2012, 10:34 pm, EST
Name: Shirley Hudson Jester
Web:
Location: Newark DE
Old Neighborhood(s): Price's Run
Schools Att'd: Geo Gray, Warner, PS duP '51
Employers:
Message: My husband and I went to Kozy Korner this morning for breakfast. Coincidence? It was very good. The man who owns it said his father owned the original at Delaware Avenue & Washington Street. Now he and his son own this one. I told him I spent many hours in the original when in high school and after. They also had a sub shop on Wasington Street near the Delaware Hospital, one of the sons. I went there when I worked nearby in the early 70's. Kozy Korner on Union Street is only open for breakfast and lunch, but it's good food! Shirley Hudson Jester

Date: 11/16/2012, 8:26 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Maureen: Glad that you were able to verify the rumor of Haystack's jump off the 10 ' High Dive at Canby Pool. Wish I would have been there to see it. Don't know how much he weighed at the time, and how he made it up the ladder, but his one time billing weight of 601 lbs. came from Wikipedia.

Re : Wilm. H.S. - my Mother graduated from the old school on Dela. Ave., circa 1931. I remember some of her her fond memories, and lunches at the' Kozy Korner'. Heard that the 'Kozy Corner ' is now at 906 Union St. Does anyone have a 1931 W.H.S. Yearbook, or know where I could find one ? I was never able to find hers.


Date: 11/16/2012, 3:05 pm, EST
Name: Maureen Kelley Dunning
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired teacher
Message: I saw Hay Stack jump off the 10 ft. dive at Canby Park Pool in the early 60's and the rumors are true, but I don't know if the weight was accured ??

Date: 11/16/2012, 12:52 pm, EST
Name: Joan H
Web:
Location: N. Wilmington
Old Neighborhood(s): 4th & Rodney
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: For all the WHS grads out there, just finished reading "Dear Old High" by Wiley O. Blevins, Jr., published in 2000. Actually won the book at my '55 reunion in Sep.
Very informative and nostalgic look at the history of the old and new high schools.

Date: 11/15/2012, 9:00 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.
Message: My Dad grew up at 600 Church St. on Wilmington's East Side. He told me a story when I was a young kid, about the time when he was swimming in the Christiana River nearby, when he was young, and found a container with 2 pistols in the muddy banks. That would have been, circa the early 1920's. I wish I would have inqiured more about this find, or what he did with them. Could have been a set of 'duelling pisols' from times long ago.

Date: 11/14/2012, 8:07 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: I heard that Haystacks Calhoun once lived near Canby Park. Also heard that he jumped off the 'High Dive' in the 10 foot section of Canby pool, and displaced a lot of water( he was billed at one point at 601 pounds).

Date: 11/14/2012, 11:01 am, EST
Name: Bruce
Web:
Location: Sugar Land, TX
Old Neighborhood(s): N Franklin St
Schools Att'd: Sacred Heart
Employers: Wilm Finishing
Message: Gorgeous George stopped my close to my house on Franklin St and asked directions to the Armory. I remember he was driving a big red Cadillac convertible.

Date: 11/13/2012, 1:38 pm, EST
Name: ceil
Web:
Location: De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Wilm.
Schools Att'd: mary C.I, Bayard, Wilm. High
Employers:
Message: would it be gorgeous George?

Date: 11/13/2012, 1:19 pm, EST
Name: gary savage
Web:
Location: claymont de.
Old Neighborhood(s): happy valley
Schools Att'd: brandywine
Employers:
Message: When I was very young I remember a wrestler with golden hair I believe that rented a room on the 900 block of Gilpin Ave. Happy Valley. Does he sound familiar to anyone.

Date: 11/13/2012, 9:48 am, EST
Name: JOE PASQUALE
Web:
Location: LITTLE ITALY
Old Neighborhood(s): LITTLE ITALY
Schools Att'd: LORE-BAYARD AND BROWN VOCATIONAL
Employers: SELF
Message: RICHARD GLAND AKA ''BULL DOG BROWLER'' WAS CALLED HUMPHREY FROM THE COMIC BOOK PERSON IN JOE PALOOKA..THE BIG GUY WHO RODE AROUND ON A BIKE WITH A JOHNNY ON THE SPOT IN BACK

Date: 11/13/2012, 8:06 am, EST
Name: DAVE CAUFFMAN
Web:
Location: HOCKESSIN
Old Neighborhood(s): 25TH & MADISON ST
Schools Att'd: BROWN
Employers: EH&R DUPONT
Message: DID HAY STACK CALHOUN HAVE A SISTER THAT WAS A WRESTLER ALSO ?

Date: 11/13/2012, 1:18 am, EST
Name: Frank Stewart
Web: http://dutchsavage.com
Location: Yacolt, Wa.
Old Neighborhood(s): Franklin DSt
Schools Att'd: a bunch
Employers: work for the lord
Message: Ray ,,, Some of these gentlemen on here know about some of the early 80's guys in Pro Wrestling. None of them know that I was part owner of the upper West Coast Wrestling promotional Syndicate. Guys I helped establish in the business out here Jimmy Snuka, Stan Stasiak, Lonnie Mayne, Roddie Piper, Bulldog Bob Brown, Sgt. Slaughter, The Iron Shiek, Curt Henning, John Tolos,,,,just to name a few and I myself worked against hundreds of guys throughout the nation and Canada, Japan,Korea, Hawaii etc,,, my pro name was Dutch Savage. Brower came in , in the very late 70's ,,our heyday was from 58-81,,,before New York, got on nationwide TV as WWE.... but that's another story,,, blessings Pastor Frank

Date: 11/12/2012, 9:48 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Connie, Thanks for the info. I didn't remember his real name until I saw your post. Don't know where he got the nick name of Humphrey, But Richard Gland was his real name. He and I were in the same Radio shop
in Wilmington High. Once while I was on the WPD I was sent to a home on a disturbance call and
found it was Richard trying to take some guy appart
for offending his Sister, I was so lucky he remembered
me(and Thankful)we got things worked out with out
much trouble. That was when I found out about his
wrestling career. Again, he was a gentleman.

Date: 11/12/2012, 6:25 pm, EST
Name: Robert McKelvey
Web:
Location: Cape May, N.J.
Old Neighborhood(s): Happy Valley
Schools Att'd: #24, Warner, WHS
Employers: USAF
Message: Saw Haystack Calhoun at the Farmers' Market years ago...He was wearing his trade mark coveralls complete with the iron horseshoe hanging from his neck with a heavy chain.

Date: 11/12/2012, 6:02 pm, EST
Name: Bill Fisher
Web: http://home.earthlink.net/~whfisher
Location: Westminster, CA
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Edgemoor Terrace
Schools Att'd: #30 (Shortledge), P.S., Mt Pleasant
Employers:
Message: Yep, Haystack Calhoun it was. I remember him from when I worked for American Airlines at New Castle Co. Airport... I had to sell him TWO seats on the airplane, 'cuz he couldn't fit into one!! He used to fly out of there a good bit.

Date: 11/12/2012, 4:57 pm, EST
Name: ceil
Web:
Location: De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Wilm.
Schools Att'd: mary C.I, Bayard, Wilm. High
Employers:
Message: His name was Haystack Calhoun

Date: 11/12/2012, 4:52 pm, EST
Name: DAVE CAUFFMAN
Web:
Location: HOCKESSIN
Old Neighborhood(s): 25TH & MADISON ST
Schools Att'd: BROWN
Employers: EH&R DUPONT
Message: DID WE NOT HAVE A LOCAL WRESTLER NAMED HAY STACK I CAN'T REMEMBER THE LAST NAME BUT I THINK IT STARTED WITH A C HE WAS A REAL BIG GUY MUST HAVE BEEN 350 POUNDS. DOES ANYONE KNOW HIS LAST NAME ?

Date: 11/12/2012, 9:51 am, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: RAY - check out these sites. They say this person was from Delaware.
Bulldog Brower - SLAM! Sports - Wrestling - SLAM! Wrestling ... REAL NAME: Richard Gland DIED: September 15, 1997 at 64 AKA: Delaware Destroyer From the believe it or not comes Bulldog Brower. Would you believe he dropped out of ...slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/brower.html

Bulldog Brower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Richard Gland (September 17, 1933 –September 15, 1997) was an American professional wrestler who used the ring name Dick "Bulldog" Brower. Gland started his career ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldog_Brower -


Date: 11/11/2012, 2:25 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Since Frank Stewart has made himself available to this site it brings back memories of a guy I knew

from my High School days. His real name was Humphrey, and was wrestler who went by the name
of "Bull dog Brower". Do any of you OLD W.H.S.
grads remember Humphrey, he was really a nice guy.
Started out as a weight lifter, didn't enter the
wrestling game till after High School, as far as I know.
Became quite well known. met him a couple times after he retired but haven't seen or heard anything about him for a long time.


Date: 11/11/2012, 12:36 am, EST
Name: Frank Stewart
Web:
Location: yacolt, WA
Old Neighborhood(s): Franklin St
Schools Att'd: Newark, Elkton, marshall U.
Employers: The Lord
Message: Hello again Ray,, was cut off last time.As I was saying Paul put my name in for Vice , because noone knew me in the city. Has some good busts,,, but,, locked up a city counselman, involved in a crapgame , he made the mistake of pushing me,, twice,, and I sort of put him in his place,, so to say. He complained and I got 20 days extra duty before the brass rail. :-( .
Ah, those were the days. I remember Jerry Mackey,,, he was a good friend, Boots Cahill and a few others.I left in early 60..Look up my site "Dutchsavage.com you'll see what I did for 30+years after that,,, Have a farm out there in the Cascade range of Washington state,, Ralph knows where it is. Blessings Frank

Date: 11/10/2012, 11:03 pm, EST
Name: gary savage
Web:
Location: claymont de.
Old Neighborhood(s): happy valley
Schools Att'd: brandywine
Employers:
Message: Happy Marine Corps birthday to the duck hunting Marine who won the Bronze medal in the Pacific. Its been over 3 months since you passed but you will not be forgotton.

Date: 11/10/2012, 12:55 pm, EST
Name: Maureen
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: Thank you to all Veteran 's! :-)

Date: 11/8/2012, 4:13 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: He was one hell of a golfer in his day also. Do you
remember his nickname? "Flounder". He had a Son
retire from the Department not too long ago. We are getting old Frank. Were you in the Chief's Office when I came on in 1959? I have been racking my
brain trying to place you. What year did you Leave
the Department. I might be getting you confused
with a guy named Donovan who was in the Chiefs
Office. Whatever, the old memory seems to pick
and choose what it wants to recall Ha

Date: 11/8/2012, 2:26 am, EST
Name: Frank Stewart
Web:
Location: Yacolt, WA. area
Old Neighborhood(s): Franklin Street
Schools Att'd: Neewark, Elkton,Marshall U.
Employers: Lazy farmer retired
Message: Hi Ray ,,,yes, I remember those beats ... Sgt. Paul Deliterio,, I think that's how you spell that big old soft hearted Italians name. He was My favorite Sgts. We were pretty good friends back then, he ended up being our Basketball coach,(of which he knew nothing about ,, but voluntered to coach us anyway bless him), for the city and state leagues . We won the state BB league as I remember. Played alot of games at the old YMCA there in Wilm. Then the he put my name in for vice. Th

Date: 11/7/2012, 9:43 pm, EST
Name: Maureen Kelley Dunning
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: Pat, Lol, don't go there! :@

Date: 11/7/2012, 8:29 pm, EST
Name: Pat (Stillwell) LeVan
Web:
Location: Port St. Lucie, FL
Old Neighborhood(s): 23rd and Tatnall Sts.
Schools Att'd: St. Patrick's, Ursuline
Employers: duPont
Message: Whoa. where is everybody? Are we all in shock?

Date: 11/6/2012, 11:41 am, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St.Paul's & WHS
Employers: WPD & DuPont
Message: They cut me off Frank, But to continue just a little,
The 4th District went from 6th St. North to 10th &
from Market to Pine. And the punishment District was
practically the whole of South Wilmington and if you
want to talk about cold, Plus there was only a couple
of places to get into out of the cold, The boxes
that you had to hit(check in)were so far and so few
that it kept you moving just to make a hit. Hope I
have jogged your memory.

Date: 11/6/2012, 11:33 am, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers: WPD & DuPont
Message: Frank, we had 9 walking districts. The worse of which was the 9th. It was punishment district, if
you screwed up you were threatened with that
walking beat. The walking district, which was my
first assignment on the Force was from the Christina
River North to 6th Street and from Market Street to
Pine Street East. The 2nd was from the Christina
River to 6th Street North and from Market Street to
Madison Street West. The 3rd went from 6th to 10th
and Market to Madison.

Date: 11/6/2012, 7:24 am, EST
Name: Forum Admin
Web:
Location: Wilmington
Old Neighborhood(s): Woodlawn Flats
Schools Att'd: Lore
Employers:
Message: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/delawareonl...

Date: 11/6/2012, 3:01 am, EST
Name: Frank Stewart
Web:
Location: Yacolt, WA.
Old Neighborhood(s): Franklin Street
Schools Att'd: Newark, Elkton, Marshall U.
Employers: Retired from professional Wrestling
Message: I remember when on the Police force walking a beat as a rookie in the then Black section of Wilmington. Forgot the beats name but I do remember having to walk it in the winter... What a cold job,,, then went into car 14 and some other cars patrols. Also walk the market street beat and did traffic by the old Du Pont bldg. Maybe Jubb can tell me the sections we walked... Getting old my memory is bad... Blessings FS

Date: 11/6/2012, 12:41 am, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S. Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Ray,
Maybe I was mistaken about Helen's. I'm not sure. Things are getting foggy in older age, young man ! Hope I don't forget to go fishin tomorrow morn. I'm sure 3 of my grandkids, who are down, will remind me.

Date: 11/5/2012, 11:41 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers: WPD & DuPont
Message: Jerry T. I remember a small Bar on the corner of Chestnut and Porter Streets, however I remember
Helen's being at Chestnut and VanBuren Streets, and
it was owned, as I told you before, by Bill & Helen
Glynn and was called Helen's. I can't remember what
the one at Porter Street was called but I highly
doubt that it was also called Helen's, unless it was
during a different time.

Date: 11/5/2012, 11:09 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: 10 posts in a day. I think that's a record ! ! Maybe our Webmaster can verify ?

Date: 11/5/2012, 10:51 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C., Canada
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Sacred Heart
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: School Store at Harlan was my 1st!
Message: Within moments, my grandfather had pulled an old chair over to the make-shift table and brought out my paper and fingerpaint. As my Zedah worked with his tools, I covered our "work table" with my paintings, enjoying the feel of the slippery, wet paint on my hands, smearing sheet-after-sheet, until the gate was awash in a gooey, tapestry of color; while the powerful "Jewish" fish floated pensively in its tub, a few feet away, on the other side of the wall that separated the kitchen from the courtyard.

Date: 11/5/2012, 10:50 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C., Canada
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Sacred Heart
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: School Store at Harlan was my 1st!
Message: Just as I was about to close my computer and pack it for my trip tomorrow I received an email from my younger (by 6 months) cousin who LIVED for a time at my grandparent's house at 9th and Monroe. Ron told me that he had witnessed my grandmother prepare her gefilte fish and told me how she killed the live fish before cooking it. He told me that she usually just clunked it on the head with a hammer; that was NOT what I witnessed on that day that I've been writing about here. ;-)

Date: 11/5/2012, 8:21 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C., Canada
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Sacred Heart
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: School Store at Harlan was my 1st!
Message: I suspect that all teenage girls have trepidation about their wedding night, Maureen; the story about the girl being killed on the night of her wedding touches a deep nerve in many women who consider that the doorway which ostensibly leads to wedded bliss also closes forever something precious and innocent that exists in its purist form in our childhood.

Date: 11/5/2012, 6:05 pm, EST
Name: Maureen
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: I went to Sacred Heart school in 1960 to 1964. My favorite memories are going to The Chocolate Shop on the corner of 9 th & Madison St. after Mass for cherry coke and Wise potato chips. There was a bakery on tbe corner next to the S.H. convent and they had yummy long powder sugar donuts filled with van. cream. I would love to know what the name of the bakery. I think Serpi's bakery was 2 blocks down on Madison?

Date: 11/5/2012, 5:02 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C., Canada
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Sacred Heart
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: Working at the school store at Harlan was my first job.
Message: Thanks for your good wishes, Maureen; since I am in Canada, I voted with an absentee ballot a couple of weeks ago. I'm glad that all of us are precluded from talking about POLITICS on this web site; at least we are able to share some of the stories here that we heard or lived from the precious time of our childhoods in Old Wilmington.

Date: 11/5/2012, 4:53 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Sacred Heart
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: School Store at Harlan was my 1st!
Message: My 95 year-old father, Lewis Stat, who graduated from Wilmington High School in 1935 (Feb. graduation class), told me that I've been spelling Mr. Iutica's name incorrectly; he believes that Mr. Iutica spelled his name "Iudica." Unless someone here can enlighten me, in future postings I will use the corrected spelling. No doubt, I've misspelled some of the other names posted to this column, as well!

Date: 11/5/2012, 4:45 pm, EST
Name: Maureen
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers:
Message: Hey Dan, Hope you get to vote on Tuesday before leaving for Italy, have a good time!

Date: 11/5/2012, 4:38 pm, EST
Name: Maureen
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: The story about the ghost bride on her wedding night was killed in a car accident on the Thompson bridge and her ghost would be seen walking across it. In the 60's we would drive to the bridge on a foggy night and wait to see her. We really believed the story and scared the heck out of us, :O :D

Date: 11/5/2012, 3:01 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Sacred Heart
Schools Att'd: David W. Harlan, et. al.
Employers: Working at the school store at Harlan was my first job.
Message: Neighbors:

Looking out the kitchen window, I saw Mr. Iutica and the Smith brothers along with my Zeyda lift one gate off its post and position the huge slab of wood on top of some saw horses that my grandfather had brought up from the basement. By the time he had removed the first hinge from the gate, I was in the courtyard.

"Can I help?" I asked, "PLEASE!"
"This will make a great work table for us both," he replied.
"Sit across from me; I'll get your fingerpaint and you can 'work' here, too."


Date: 11/5/2012, 2:39 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Sacred Heart
Schools Att'd: David W. Harlan
Employers: School Store at Harlan was my 1st!
Message: I'll post one more update--before I leave for Italy--about what Mr. Iutica, my Zeyda and the Smith brothers were doing in the little courtyard at my grandparent's house at 9th and Monroe, on the day when the "Jewish" fish was swimming in a metal tub filled with water in the middle of my Bubba's kitchen floor.

Date: 11/5/2012, 2:22 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward, Sacred Heart
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: School Store at Harlan was my 1st!
Message: I'm leaving for Italy tomorrow morning. While I'm in Tuscany I'll plumb my memory bank for recollections of some of our Italian neighbors, like Mr. Iutica, who lived in my grandparent's Sacred Heart neighborhood. There were other neighbors, too, who seemed to have names with an Italian origin: "Ventresca,' "Olivere" and "Patavoni," (although that family lived over on Madison Street) which I'll keep an eye out for while I'm there.

Date: 11/5/2012, 1:48 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: David W. Harlan
Employers: Working at the school store at Harlan was my first job.
Message: After what seemed an eternity, Kindergarden at Harlan allowed me to finally get on to the playground. What I enjoyed most at Harlan was listening to stories being read aloud and FINGERPAINTING. I can still feel the wet, slippery paint on the palms of my hands as I spread great gobs of the cold, wet paint onto the paper. This brings back a vivid memory of that day of the "Jewish" fish and the little courtyard of my grandparent's house on the corner of 9th and Monroe.

Date: 11/5/2012, 1:28 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: David W. Harlan
Employers: A "gamut"
Message: I never heard that ghost story, either, Connie. Thompson's Bridge wasn't on my itinerary, although when I was a teenager I did have some spots were I could 'park' my car with a likely "prospect." Some of my earliest memories are sitting on the curb at 37th and Monroe in 1946, '7, or '8 and watching the playground equipment being installed at Harlan School. I remember longing to join the children on the playground, which I was able to do in '48 when I began kindergarden there.

Date: 11/5/2012, 9:38 am, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: I remember the Diamond Ice and Coal at Vandever Ave. and Jessup. My parents' first apartment was across the street and they took me there when I was a tot. The newly weds that lived there let us in and my parents told them they had to move after 2 years because I came along and they needed a 2 BR.

I never hear the ghost story about Thompson's Bridge.


Date: 11/5/2012, 6:23 am, EST
Name: Robert McKelvey
Web:
Location: Cape May, N.J.
Old Neighborhood(s): Happy Valley
Schools Att'd: #24, Warner, WHS
Employers: USAF
Message: Gary, I remember, a gentleman who lived near the northwest corner of Jackson and Lovering. We young teenagers owe him a debt of gratitude, he owned a stake body truck and hauled us to the Happy Valley football games and back. Never a charge! Can not be of help with his name or nick name.

Date: 11/4/2012, 9:56 pm, EST
Name: gary savage
Web:
Location: claymont de.b
Old Neighborhood(s): happy valley
Schools Att'd: brandywine
Employers:
Message: Nicknames, Pickles, Peepers, Joe Brave, Nibbs,Stash, Skeeter,Chick, Doe, Sabo, Dolly, Tiny, Anyone remember the nickname of the red haired guy who lived on the corner of Jackson and Lovering. He later got job at the Wilm. Zoo.

Date: 11/4/2012, 9:46 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: First employer: "The Harlan Frolic"
Message: I can't remember what the courtyard at my grandparent's house was made of, Jerry. It was either brick or cement; this is surprising given that I often played there. The oversize drain--left over from the Diamond Ice plant that had once been located there--is truly a vivid memory, though. I couldn't even take a soft ball into that courtyard for fear of losing it down the drain!

Date: 11/4/2012, 8:53 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson0, S. Broom, N. Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U.of D.
Employers: U.. S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: At a very young age, I also remember most sidewalks being brick. Sometime before I was 8 or 9 years old, my grandfather (Dziadzia in Polish), had the sidewalk of his house on Elm St., and the front of his store(Szat's/Shotz)/ John F. Szatkowski's Dry Goods and Notions, on the corner of Elm and Jackson, re-done in cement. Afterwards, he paid to have our house next door, at 302 S. Jackson, re-done. Now, brick sidewalks are becoming popular, again !

Date: 11/4/2012, 6:55 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: Global Order and Design, etc. etc.
Message: I remember that at that time (1949), most of the sidewalks in that neighborhood were made of brick. The courtyard at my grandparent's house was the only thing that remained from the old Diamond Ice plant; in the center of that courtyard was an oversize drain left over from the ice house. As a boy, I had learned from experience to be careful not to drop anything in that drain, or it would be gone forever.

Date: 11/4/2012, 6:54 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U.of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: I remember Helen's Cafe at Chestnut and Porter Sts., as well as Helen. Don't remember her last name, though. A very comical lady, who could let you know her opinions in a variety of expressions (!&*%$##). Does anyone remember her last name, and what was at that location before Helen's Cafe ?

Date: 11/4/2012, 4:58 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: Richmond Radiator, B.F. Rich & Co. Tidewater Oil....
Message: The courtyard was separated from Monroe street by a high wooden fence and two wooden gates that I had never seen open to the street. At an earlier time in the neighborhood's history, that courtyard had been the site of a satellite location for Diamond Ice and Coal where a small ice plant was operated which furnished ice for the old-time refrigerators that were in use at the time. The huge wooden gates of the courtyard's fence had provided an entry for Diamond Ice delivery trucks to gain access to the ice.

Date: 11/4/2012, 4:36 pm, EST
Name: Bill
Web:
Location: Delaware
Old Neighborhood(s): 4th & Harrison
Schools Att'd: a number of them
Employers:
Message: Helen's Cafe 1025 Chestnut as of 1962, OL 5-4143

Date: 11/4/2012, 4:30 pm, EST
Name: Maureen Kelley Dunning
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: Dan, Wonderful memories of Sacred Heart school and church!

Date: 11/4/2012, 3:10 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: City of Wilm. Tidewater Oil, etc. etc.
Message: During the time I spent at my grandparent's house, which was on the southeast corner of 9th and Monroe, I really didn't know what church anyone attended. I didn't know what church Mr. Iutica or the Smith Brother attended. These were the men from the neighborhood who were standing in the courtyard of my grandfather's house on the day when the "Jewish" fish was still in it's tub of water in the middle of my Bubba's kitchen. On nice days, though, I often played in that courtyard.

Date: 11/4/2012, 2:24 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: City of Wilmington, Tidewater Oil Co., etc. etc.
Message: Maybe it was because we were just a block down from Sacred Heart and even though it was not the church that the Statnekoo family attended, anything with the word "Sacred" in it was something that we needed to pay attention to.

Date: 11/4/2012, 2:19 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: City of Wilm. Tidewater Oil, etc. etc.
Message: I remember hearing those stories that went along with "parking," too, Connie. What I clearly remember about the legendary Wilmingtonian, Clement Bacon's story is the last line when the king asks his parrot, who has escaped--and is perched on the top of a tree in the king's garden--why he would want to leave all the comforts of his life in the palace, where his every need was provided for? And the parrot replied: "Because...it is the Sacred Duty... of every soul...to be free."

Date: 11/4/2012, 9:01 am, EST
Name: Maureen
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: Connie, Yep! Remember the Thompson bridge story about the bride ghost?

Date: 11/4/2012, 8:09 am, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: Speaking of 'old stories' - remember the one the guys used to tell about the crazy man with a hook for a hand that stalked kids who were 'parking'? Years later found out it was to keep up girls from trying to get out of the car if they became too amorous.

Date: 11/3/2012, 11:24 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: City of Wilmington, Tidewater Oil Co., etc. etc.
Message: Since it was told to me by our neighbor, Clement Bacon, I always believed that the story about the ESCAPE of the KING'S PARROT was a local, Wilmington, Delaware story; many years later I heard a slightly different version of that same story, though; I suppose that there's really nothing under the sun that's truly unique. Still, I consider it to be a Wilmington story. As such, maybe we can get it posted to this nostalgia page for others to enjoy; what do you think, Jerry?

Date: 11/3/2012, 11:19 pm, EST
Name: gary savage
Web:
Location: claymont de.
Old Neighborhood(s): happy valley
Schools Att'd: brandywine
Employers:
Message: Wilmington has always had things that made your wonder.

Date: 11/3/2012, 11:07 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: City of Wilm. Tidewater Oil, etc. etc.
Message: Thanks, Jerry; I always enjoy learning a new word, even if it's a word which I'll probably never have occasion to use. If you would spell it for me phonetically, I would enjoy learning how to pronounce that word. I remember hearing that the talking parrot at the Wilmington zoo was not that talkative and could not speak in complete sentences, unlike the talking parrot in the famous story about the ESCAPE OF THE KING'S PARROT which was told to me by our neighbor, the legendary Clement Bacon, who lived across the street from my grandparent's house at 9th and Monroe. I hope you're enjoying your sausage and chrzan.

Date: 11/3/2012, 10:46 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N. Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Talking about horseradish : Johnny's Market on Maryland Ave. used to carry a good, local made brand, 'Gene's'. Think Gene's last name was Kwiatkowski, but not sure. It came in both the red and the white.The only difference was that the red, had ground beets in it. Good on Polish ham, kielbasa, and just about anything, in my case. In fact, I'm having a sausage sandwich with the white on it right now. I also use it as an ingredient in my homemade cocktail sauce. In Polish, it's chrzan ( pronounced like kshahn).

Date: 11/3/2012, 9:25 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: City of Wilmington, Tidewater Oil Co., etc. etc.
Message: Does anyone remember the talking parrot at the Wilmington zoo or the man who sold fresh-ground horseradish (which he made on the spot with an old-fashioned hand-held grinder) who stood at the corner of 5th and King (in front of Ogden-Howard store)? This was the horseradish that used to burn my nose and eyes when I'd eat it with my Bubba's gefilte fish which she used to make from a live carp that she'd choose from a tank on the back of an old truck that used to ply her neighborhood at 9th and Monroe.

Date: 11/3/2012, 8:40 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers: WPD & DuPont
Message: Jerry T. That was most likely Billy Glynn, He was a real lover boy. Never married and was quite a singer. He worked(or sang) for quite a feew years at a Club
or Resturant in lewes Delaware called Lou Ianeir's(not
sure of spelling). Later he got a prominent Doctor's
Daughter in a Family way and fled to Florida and
opened his own Night Club and sang there for a long
time. When his health failed(Lord knows he didn't do
anything to take care of it) he moved back to
Delaware with his Brother Tommy, down State. I went
to his funeral 4 years ago, he and I went to St.
Paul's together, we were pretty good friends. About
looking younger then Barbs, he always looked younger
than the rest of us and he wasn't the only one with
an eye for her.

Date: 11/3/2012, 7:44 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U.of D.
Employers: City of Wilm. Tidewater Oil, etc. etc.
Message: More Nostalgia; some of the neighbors #1
I couldn't find my grandfather in the house. He was outside with a few men from the neighborhood, standing in the little courtyard that fronted on Monroe St. Occasionally, some of the men who lived on our block would gather at 9th and Monroe, in front of the now-closed corner store, but on this occasion the men were not standing on the corner. Mr. Iutica, the barber from Italy who was the proprietor of Ross's Barber Shop which, at that time, was located on the northeast corner of 8th and Monroe, was standing with his son, Tony, in the small courtyard of the house along with my Zayda and the Smith Brothers, John and Eugene. The Iutica family lived 3 houses down from my grandparent's house on 9th St. while the Smith's lived 3 houses down from our house on Monroe. John Smith would later achieve the rank of Chief of Police in Wilmington while Mr. Iutica would move his shop uptown to Shipley St. where he would become notably successful with the white collar crowd.

Date: 11/3/2012, 12:01 pm, EST
Name: Maureen
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: Pat, I loved Dan's story also, it had lots of nostalgia of our wonderful city!

Date: 11/3/2012, 11:54 am, EST
Name: Maureen
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers:
Message: Dan, Great story! I get the nostalgia part of Wilmington, thank you!

Date: 11/3/2012, 11:38 am, EST
Name: Maureen
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: Ragan's had the best ham sandwiches!

Date: 11/3/2012, 9:53 am, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: "Nov. 2, 1986 The last of its kind in New Castle County, Naaman's Drive-In theater in Claymont closed."
Never went to that one but enjoyed the ones at site of the old ball park, the Ellis, and one in Elkton.

Date: 11/3/2012, 12:16 am, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N. Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: Thanks, Ray. I thought I remembered you posting something about that corner before, and the ' Glynn' family name rings another bell. Once, as a small kid, visiting my Aunt Jane Turoczy, 2 houses down, at 306 S. Jackson, a guy by the name of Glynn came by for about a 5 minute visit, with my cousin Barbara. I don't know if he came by to try to 'woo' her, or just a casual drop by visit. He appeared to be a little younger than Barb, but I'm not sure. I specifically remember his big smile and his pearly whites.

Date: 11/2/2012, 11:34 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Web:
Location: ___ De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers:
Message: Gerry T. Before the Ragan's had the bar it was owned by the Glynn's. Then Helen and Bill Glynn devorced and she married a fireman named Smith and
together they ran the bar until they sold it to ragan.
Also Bill Glynn then went into buisness with randy White's father, that's right White of the Dallas
cowboy's. They had a meet market on the corner of 8th and King streets caleed Grahams market. Don't
know where the name Graham came from, maybe the
previous owners of the market went by that name &
Bill Randy's father kept the name.

Date: 11/2/2012, 11:25 pm, EST
Name: Jerry T.
Web:
Location: at the shore, de.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville(S.Jackson), S.Broom, N.Broom, Klair Ests.
Schools Att'd: St. Hedwig's, Archmere, U. of D.
Employers: U.S. Army, State of Dela.(retired)
Message: I read that Buckley's Tavern is now open, again. Personally, I miss Ragan's Tavern on S. Van Buren and Chestnut Sts., in Hedgeville. Cas and Zenny Ragan had a good thing going there. Lots of good camaraderie, and real good Polish ham with cheese sandwiches on Polish rye bread. Does anyone remember what was at that location, prior to Ragan's Tavern ? My memory fails me.

Date: 11/2/2012, 8:09 pm, EST
Name: Pat LeVan
Web:
Location: Port St. Lucie, FL
Old Neighborhood(s): 23rd and Tatnall
Schools Att'd: St. Patrick's, Ursuline
Employers: duPont
Message: Why, this is certainly Nostalgia, is it not? Just following the trail of the carp takes us through the city as we knew it. I don't get the objection. Enlighten me.

Date: 11/2/2012, 7:23 pm, EST
Name: Pat (Stillwell) LeVan
Web:
Location: Port St. Lucie, FL
Old Neighborhood(s): 23rd and Tatnall Sts.
Schools Att'd: St. Patrick's, Ursuline
Employers: duPont
Message: Good Lord, Ray, it most certainly is Nostalgia! Don't you love it?

Date: 11/2/2012, 4:01 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U of D
Employers: City of Wilm. Tidewater Oil, etc. etc.
Message: Nostalgia:

At that time (1949), God was very much alive and well and definitely present in the Statnekoo neighborhood which was located on the corner of 9th and Monroe St. in Wilmington. Danny Stat could not imagine that God was not also present in the other neighborhoods, as well. At Christmas and Easter there were definite outward signs of his presence in the city. The pure, clear tinkle of bells that everyone could hear permeated the crisp wintry air on Market Street and the sound of those bells was an announcement to all of us that Santa Clause would soon make his appearance in Wilmington. There were special colors that we only saw in the early Spring: lavenders and pinks, and pale blues and yellows: a rainbow of pastels that our teachers would mix up for us in an alchemical concoction of vinegar and water in which we dyed the fragile egg shells at Harlan School (which was my school at the time). After they dried, we would carefully nestle the colored eggs in their "nests" of green, paper grass which lined the bottom of our little straw baskets. I can imagine that in other elementary schools around the city children in the younger grades were also busy, dipping their egg shells by means of a thin wire holder into one or another of the little paper cups which contained the colored water. Along with the other children, I was delighted by the vision of the pure white of my egg shell turn into one or another of the pastel colors; for me, this was the announcement that another special time of year had arrived. At Christmas the lamp posts on Market Street were illuminated and festooned with holiday decorations and the glass windows of the stores on the street were painted in water colors with bold landscapes that obscured the merchandise displayed in the windows but which turned the sidewalk promenade into the marvel of an outdoor art gallery. Since I was only a small boy at the time, I could only glimpse the painted windows through the bustle of the crowds; it was like being in a forest of overcoats and shopping bags a virtual tide of human beings who were actually the living, moving fiber, the essential 'marrow', of our city. In some odd way, the painted store windows were like the colored chalk drawings that from time-to-time would mysteriously appear on the blackboard in our class rooms. Those colored pictures, whether on windows or on the blackboard, were an announcement to us children which spoke to us of delight and the specialness of that moment in our lives.


Date: 11/2/2012, 11:39 am, EST
Name: RAY jUBB
Web:
Location: ___ dE.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd: St. Paul's & WHS
Employers: WPD & DuPont
Message: I THOUGHT THIS SITE WAS "NASTALGIA"?

Date: 11/2/2012, 12:19 am, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S, U of D
Employers: City of Wilm. Tidewater Oil, etc. etc.
Message: Part 1 of 2:

It didn't take long for Danny to become bored. After a few minutes of watching the nearly motionless fish in the wash tub, the boy meandered out into the house. The boy's grandmother along with his Auntie Anne (for whom "Anne's Sweet Shop" had been named) were fussing about in the work area of the kitchen, which was actually a narrow, working kitchen that adjoined the combined kitchen/dining room where the wash tub which contained the fish had been situated. Auntie Anne, the eldest of the Statnekoo siblings, had been born in 1909, and so she was thirty-nine or forty years-old at the time when the events in this story occurred. Everyone in the family loved and admired Anna Statnekoo who had graduated from Wilmington High in 1927 and then Goldey Beacom Business School. After graduating, Anna had succeeded in getting a job as secretary for Wilmington's Superior Court Judge, Caleb R. Layton who, in 1957, would be nominated by the then President, Dwight D. Eisenhower ("I like 'Ike'") to become judge of the Federal District Court in Delaware. On this day, however, my Auntie Anne was not working for Judge Layton; she was helping my Bubba prepare food in the kitchen of the rambling household at the corner of 9th and Monroe; most likely, food for some holiday gathering of which, I, as a 6 year-old boy, was totally unaware. And, so, after a few minutes of watching what I had concluded to be a "dangerous" fish--too dangerous to even touch with my finger--I left the fish in its tub and meandered out of the kitchen and into the house in search of my grandfather, Jacob Statnekoo, who along with the other grandchildren in the family, I called "zayde," which in English is pronounced "zay-da."


Date: 11/2/2012, 12:19 am, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S, U of D
Employers: City of Wilm. Tidewater Oil, etc. etc.
Message: Part 2

My zayde was a taciturn man, that is, he was a man of very few words who had arrived in Philadelphia in November of 1906, a veteran and war hero of the Russo-Japanese war, the so-called "first great war of the 20th Century." When Jacob had arrived at the dock in Philadelphia (where his name--through typographic confusion--became "Statnekoo"), he had with him--in the pocket of his trousers--a silver cross, known throughout Russia as, "The St. George's Medal," which he had won in February of 1905 for exceptional bravery at the battle of Mukden in eastern Manchuria. During that battle, my grandfather broke through an encirclement of Japanese troops, dodged a barrage of bullets from their machine guns, and although wounded, rode his horse (he was the bugler for his company of soldiers) to the Russian commanders to beg for reinforcements for his beleaguered comrades in arms. The reinforcements never arrived, the regiment of soldiers was annihilated (along with another 90,000 Russian soldiers in that battle) and my grandfather, wounded and honored, returned to his village on the outskirts of Kiev. Less than two years later, Jacob arrived in Philadelphia from whence he made his way to Wilmington: he had a silver medal cross in the pocket of his trousers, a god-given gift of craftsmanship in his hands and a glint in his eye for Sarah Zutz, a slender girl from Russia who had been a recent arrival to Wilmington, too. And now, 43 years later, it was 1949, and Jacob's six year-old grandson was looking for him while his wife and daughter were making preparations for turning a "Jewish" fish, that was powerfully alive and swimming in a metal wash tub in his kitchen, into a delicacy that his family would eat at their holiday meal. But before that could happen, however, before that transformation could take place, an intense drama would ensue in the kitchen of that house on the corner of 9th and Monroe St., a drama that is the heart and subject of this story.


Date: 11/1/2012, 8:01 pm, EST
Name: Pat (Stillwell) LeVan
Web:
Location: Port St. Lucie, FL
Old Neighborhood(s): 23rd and Tatnall
Schools Att'd: St. Patrick's, Ursuline
Employers: duPont
Message: Danny, I love your story! I hope there's more.

Date: 11/1/2012, 6:26 pm, EST
Name: Daniel Statnekov
Web:
Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th ward
Schools Att'd: Harlan, P.S., U of D
Employers: City of Wilm. Tidewater Oil, etc. etc.
Message: A fish story from happier days in old Wilmington; part 3; for Maureen Dunning:

.....Fascinated, Danny Stat watched the fish, which, with the barest movement of its fins, kept itself upright in the shallow water in the metal tub. It was a muscular fish, a very muscular fish; its body as thick as the young boy's thigh. The carp's rigid, serrated dorsal fin in the middle of its back seemed sharp enough to cut through a finger, if perchance Danny might be tempted to reach out and touch the smooth, greenish skin of the fish which shimmered just beneath the surface of the water. There was little doubt in the boy's mind that this was a very powerful fish and that it was dangerous. Although it is impossible to know what the "Jewish" fish was thinking as it languished in that tub, anyone who lived in that Wilmington neighborhood could imagine that if that fish knew its way back to its home in the Brandywine River, if it could escape the confines of the wash tub of the Statnekoo kitchen and then escape that house on the corner of 9th and Monroe St., it might be possible for the fish to thrash or slither its way north on Monroe St., past the Sacred Heart School, cross 10th Street and through instinct and good luck, it might even find the passage through the corridor which separated the two buildings at Wilmington High School. With enough effort, and more luck, the powerful carp might even be able to make its way across the wide boulevard at Delaware Avenue and then, after flopping over the curb and getting through the black metal fence that surrounds the cemetery across the street from the high school on Delaware Avenue, the free and wild carp might make its way on the smooth, dew-moistened grass of the cemetery, slithering down hill: down, down, down, past the granite headstones of the long-buried dead, until it reached, and then crossed, South Park Drive and then, with a final 'plop', into the cool, refreshing water of the mill race which parallels the Brandywine River (given that name by the colonial settlers of the area because the color of the river reminded them of the color of Brandy Wine). From the head waters of the mill race, the "Jewish" fish could make its way into the ripples and muddy depths of the boulder-strewn river; home at last, free from the nightmare of it's confinement, carrying a memory, like a far away dream, of being held prisoner in the metal tub that sat in the midst of my Buba's kitchen floor.


Date: 11/1/2012, 9:24 am, EST
Name: Maureen Kelley Dunning
Web:
Location: Llangollen
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: St. Paul/Sacred Heart
Employers: retired
Message: Dan S, Thank you, keep the story coming. Annie's sweet shop was also called The Chocolate Shop in the 60's, I think????

Date: 11/1/2012, 8:56 am, EST
Name: Connie
Web:
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd: George Gray
Employers:
Message: "Nov. 1, 1992 Plagued with illegal activity in the area, Alfred Clemente closed his once busy Bus Terminal south of Wilmington Manor on Route 13."