The Missing Suit

During The Great Depression, I was missing one of my suits. My Uncle Al gave me one or two of his old suits. I would make $2 weekly payments on a new suit for $14. I was very proud of my suits.

One night my Brother Jesse climbed over the porch roof, slipped through the window, walked to my closet and took my best suit. He returned it the next day, turned inside out.

I couldn't get too mad at Jesse as he was young and didn't have a suit. Besides, I was still going to have turn the suit inside out and press it.

Now Jess is 86 and I will be 90 soon. He visits me every Thursday morning, and brings a special roast beef sandwich for us to eat, while we talk about the many happy days we have had.

When We Were a Family of Four - 1953

Kitty is wearing a blouse from our vacation in Cuba.

Our Great Honeymoon - May 30, to June 6, 1941

Some of our dear friends had removed most of the gasoline from our 1941 green Plymouth Club Coupe. I was able to get my gas tank filled up after our reception. I knew it would be almost empty because of what people had done at other weddings.

Then Kitty, my beautiful Bride and me drove to New York City for one night. The next day, we drove 60 miles to Lake George for the week.

We rented a very nice tourist cabin, but we had a loud group in a cabin next to us. Kitty was scared and I wasn’t too happy. It wasn’t a nice place to rest. People could possibly rob you. You think twice. We decided to leave the next day. The manager was very nice. He was just starting the season. He said “I feel awful bad, but I’ll give you a refund of $7-8 change for the night.” He didn’t charge us for the rest of the week either.

We returned to New York City where we attended the Monte Prose Dance Carnival at Madison Square Garden with 3 very good name bands, Harry James, Charlie Barnett, Larry Clinton. I believe those were the names.

Here is a picture of a souvenir heart I purchased for a dollar. They had a machine where they stitched our names. A dollar was a lot of money, but I wanted to have something to remember the whole dance carnival. To hear 3 name bands was very special. We were lucky to hear one name band in our home town of DC. There were probably a few thousand people in the Garden. There was plenty of room for everyone to dance.

We stayed at the Times Square Hotel for $3.00 a night. This was near the end of the Great Depression.

We enjoyed dancing at the 2 hotels where we stayed at. The Times Square Hotel plus The New Yorker had free dancing in those years.

I remember that I had to go to the District building to get a marriage license for $2.00.

I had borrowed $200 for the great honeymoon. Then on small payments I was able to repay it. Mom had helped very much as Kitty had 2 paychecks for our glorious Honeymoon.

Another Favorite Spot

This is another special place, the deck of my son Jack and his wife Ellen's home. Many happy times have been spent here. This occasion was Father's Day.

Up and Down the Potomac River

When I was very young, my family lived in a small house. My mother, who suffered from asthma and heart trouble, slept in one room. My father, four brothers and I slept in the other bedroom in one bed. Because it was so crowded, we all slept the same way - on our left or right side. Our great dad would say "Now let us go up the river", which meant we turned to the other side. "Now let us go down the river" meant we turned to the opposite side. Many happy nights during the great Depression, we heard these sounds til we fell off to sleep. My brothers were short and could easily sleep cross-wise on the bed.

Jesse and Francis as Jesuit Brothers

The Whole Gang - August, 1990