Family Life

Growing Up In Mid 20th Century America: Chapter Two - Family Life

Our backyard was a kind of wonderland with beautiful stone fireplace and room for a tent, sliding board, teeter totter, and clothes line for hanging the laundry. There were plenty of kids in the neighborhood so always something going on. Just a block away we had Mr. Johnson’s Red and White store where mom would send us to pick up a loaf of bread or the occasional bottle of soda for an impromptu picnic at Crescent Park along the Allegheny River. We would often go there for lunch with a few friends. Next door to the grocery store was Khure’s Meat Market where mom would often purchase cuts of meat for dinner. Across the street was a beer distributor but of course we didn’t go near that because our parents were not inclined to drink alcoholic beverages. We were often visited by mom’s sisters who lived in surrounding towns.

Aunt Hazel is pictured standing on our front porch on one such visit. Hazel was one year younger than mom and they were the best of friends for life. In the 1940s Hazel worked in the office for one of the oil companies in Oil City and lived at home in Reno with Andy and Katie, her parents. She did not yet own a car so she would travel to our house by train or bus on Friday night, stay over and return to Oil City on Saturday night or Sunday. I remember both Hazel and Mom sitting at a table and drinking numerous cups of coffee during a lazy Saturday morning. Their youngest sister, Aunt Sally Ebbert would sometimes visit us for several days as well. Sally was still in high school at this time as was their youngest brother Dean Ebbert. Sometimes Grandfather Ebbert would bring the girls to our house in his car, a medium blue 1948 Dodge sedan.

At my 5th birthday party I remember the phone ringing and the news was that Grandma and Grandpa Ebbert had driven to Lake Erie to look at property and their car rolled over an embankment. Grandma was thrown out but was not seriously injured. The car was totaled so Grandpa bought a 1949 Mercury 4 dr sedan that had a V-8 and automatic transmission. Two years later Uncle Dean put a Hollywood muffler (loud, throaty exhaust) on the Mercury and managed to roll it over! The Mercury was totaled so Grandpa Andy bought a new 1951 Mercury 4 dr sedan and drove it for many years. Uncle Dean dropped out of high school about that time and enlisted in the Air Force. Around that same time Aunt Hazel purchased her first car, a 1948 Desoto from brother Leroy Ebbert. It was a lovely white car with navy blue interior.

I should mention that Uncle Leroy, the eldest of all my mom's siblings worked for Usabella Mines in Alaska and came back to Pennsylvania for a visit some summers. On these trips he would purchase a car and then sell it before returning to Alaska. Such was the case with Aunt Hazel's 48 Desoto. The best part of the story is that when she opened the trunk it was full of Uncle Leroy's dirty shirts! As a bachelor he didn't do laundry, just bought new clothes when the others needed laundered!

Photo at left shows one of our gorgeous peach trees. We had two such trees and every year mom would can peaches from these trees.

One of my favorite pastimes was painting an old ladder using leftover paints from the garage. Never an artist, I have continued to enjoy painting “things.”
Susie and a friend are shown here on the teetertotter with Denny looking on. Being that my sister was nearly 4 years older, I recall that I was often not welcome to be playing with her and her friends. I was considered something of a nuisance but that was alright because I had my own friends! And my friends and I were included in certain activities mandated by mom such as the lunchtime picnics by the river.