Introduction

Over the years, whenever our family was gathered around our favorite meeting place—the dining table!—I would tell stories about my childhood and teen years, growing up on the East Side of Youngstown, Ohio. My children never knew my parents and were always eager to hear more tales about them and our neighborhood.

In time, my son used his very persuavive manner to cajole me into writing the stories down to be posted one-at-a-time in a dedicated section of his blog. They are recollections of fond memories that, by now collecting them here, I hope will not be lost forever when I am gone. I hope that some of the pleasure and the sense of the past that I get from telling them is contained in these brief retellings.

Growing up on the East Side of Youngstown, Ohio, mid 1940s