Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Dear Bernice and Max: Charlie and Welly will always leave me with many memories of my childhood. Growing up in the neighborhood will always be a part of my heritage. The beginning was taking cardboard boxes from their trash piles outside the hardware store to make forts or any other construction of our imagination. Then there were the episodes of not coming home after kindergarden and Mom was frantic. She called all over and until I came home after dark with grease up to my elbows and all over my face and neck, she called Charlie and Welly to scold them and to never let her catch them using child labor to sort their nuts and bolts. It didn't matter that I held in my grubby palm the 50 cents they paid me and I was so proud of earning that money all by myself. The pre-teen years, Welly taught me to swim at the YMCA and I will always remember the Coney Islands we would stop to have in Flint on the way home. The teenage years brought conflict between my baseball left field and Charlie's old bus line that was the home run line. They threatened to collect 50 dollars for the broken window in one of those old buses. Mom just laughed. Then their was the college years when I went back to buy a 32 caliber octagon barrel Winchester with a Williams sidemount and a Weaver scope (they sold it to me for just $100 on payments). What a rifle and if only I hadn't sold it for a diamond ring to get married. Priced one out in Omaha, NE and it was selling for $3,500.00. They were the best of cousins and always had time to spend with all of us kids. Welly especially liked it when ever I was in Michigan to visit with him and he took a liking to my Polish wife, Krystyna. The last time I saw him we visited upstairs and he commented on how well my wife was speaking English without any accent. We roared with laughter as Marlena explained it was not Krystyna but Marlena visiting him with Steve. I loved them both and felt they were the link to our historical past and will always cherish the memories. God bless you both and hope to see you sometime.
