Thanksgiving

Da girls and I drove up to Charleston to spend Thanksgiving with Patti, Jeff, Molly, and Matt. Thanksgiving was a lovely day to drive with hardly any other cars on the road. Hope it is as nice driving home on Monday.  Patti made a delisharoony feast for us. Friday we went to town to shop at small businesses then up to the cemetery to visit the family, then rode bikes in Kanawha City for chili dogs, then home for leftovers.

Saturday, we watched the WVU football game at a sports bar and later attended a lovely dinner at Edgewood CC for Molły and Matt. There were lots of old friends there not only of mine but of my mother's. There were several distant cousins as well. Unfortunately, we took no pictures.

Here's a pic of Dad's grave stone provided by the military.

Of course, the Gov't did not add the requested line that his ashes were scattered at sea. But at least there is a marker keeping Pie's company in the Mountain View Cemetery.

Every time I go to Charleston I start tearing up when I drive near the Kanawha River. I think of all the folks I will not get to see rather than focusing and the ones I am fortunate to see. I wish I were able to go back in time to hug folks in the past. To see me as a little girl living in my world. I wish I would have an hour at different times. One would be Christmas shopping on Capital St. circa 1965; one would be getting ready for Xmas around 1958 with the Kanawha School festive sing then coming home to our house on Quarrier St. to get the tree decorated while Mom is making shortnin' bead cookies; and one would be attending Aunt Canky's King and I performance in 1961. I also would have liked to attend one of those Light Opera Guild cast parties held at our house with pianos in the parlor and den, organ in the dining room, and accordion in the kitchen and everybody singing. Often my great Uncle John would come over and bring his big cards with the words and he'd play the piano and we would all sing all the old songs and new show tunes.  

There are times in NYC, Yonkers, and College Park I'd like to revisit as well: going to the Xmas Eve service in Manhattan and coming out to a heavy snowfall (I think that was the first time I sang In the bleak mid winter); hearing Christine Sperry make her entrance as Mabel in Pirates of Penzance; and meeting Paul McCartney ad John Lennon. I would like to hold little ML and rock her in the chair to awaken her for breakfast and getting ready to go to daycare; and to hear one of Moody's great sermons at St Andrew's and feel the electricity his spoken word. But since I cannot go back in time, I must take advantage to hug the folks I see now and to let them no how wonderful they are.

Before coming to WV this week, Rob and Linda visited me for two nights. We did some reminiscing and ate lots of good food, I worked with them at NCHS.

Rhodes School

It was 48 years ago that our family left WV for NYC.  I was in high school and my brothers were at Brown University. Dad got a job at Pearson Keating Consulting as a head hunter.  Mother got a transfer to Travellers Insurance Co. on 42nd street.  We rented a lovely apartment at 89th and First Ave in Manhattan.  I interviewed at several upper East-side schools but decided to attend Rhodes School on W 54th street. Or perhaps my parents decided on it. Why? Because the building was a Stanford White -designed residence. The school left that building a decade or so after I graduated then it closed. I happened to google the address (11 W 54 Street) and found it was on the market for $59 million. 

"The neo-Georgian limestone and brick residence was designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White known as the pre-eminent architects of their day responsible for the finest New York landmarks, including the University Club a few doors down and the New York Public Library. The residence was built in 1896 for James J. Goodwin, a cousin and business partner of JP Morgan. Most recently the property housed the headquarters of the US Trust Company. The building was designed as a double house with a three-bay residence at No. 11 and a two-bay residence at No. 9 with the entrance to No. 11 centered creating one symmetrical whole facade. The palatial property included eleven master bedroom suites, eleven additional staff bedrooms and twelve fireplaces."

Granted, the rooms did not look quite this good when I was there but the basics were there like the paneling, the fireplaces, the staircases, etc.  The great rooms on the parlor floor housed the administration offices. But all the other rooms were classrooms.  I spent a lot of time staring at the woodwork and the windows.  The school itself was quite enjoyable. The teachers were much better than the ones I had in Charleston. It was a fairly liberal philosophy with many international students.  They were the only school who would allow me to be a year ahead in math and a year behind in Latin. The other schools wanted me to go back a year to which I would not agree.  I ended up graduating after my junior year by taking senior English and American History during the summer. I had a sufficient number of credits due to my time in WV. Commencement exercises were held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. 

 

 

 

I took two city buses to go to school and to return in the afternoons. I really enjoyed looking out the bus windows onto Central Park on the way down and all the store windows on the way home.  I would get off the 86th street crosstown bus at First Ave and walk up the 3 blocks on the way home. I'd usually stop at the German Bakery for some fresh crumb cake to nosh on til Mother got home.  I would then look out our windows on the 18th floor at all the city lights coming on. It got dark early in November in NY.

 

I made a few friends: Gail Klerman from Valley Stream, Nancy Andriani from West Village, and Mary Livadas from 88th and York.  Mary and I sometimes rode the bus together. Gail died of an aneurism her freshman year at college.  I don't know where the others are today.  I likewise do not know where my teachers are now.  My math teacher was a hunk and dapper dresser; my English teacher looked like Julie Christie and had us reading Malcolm X in place of Silas Marner; and my Latin teacher was most avuncular.  Most of the yearbook notes written to me related to my going to be a star of stage and screen.  Every Wednesday I would buy a copy of Variety to keep up with the biz.  Well that didn't happen, but I had my moments in the PALS plays at ML's school!

 

Mary L. and me changing classes in the main reception area