.....Going to School.....
....Marge Smith Ward's class from 1949. White Lake School, White Lake, New York. Teacher Mrs Ethel Fricke.
We started school at White Lake Elementary School. The building had four rooms on two levels. First through fourth grades were in the lower part, the other grades were on the second level. There were stairs going down the front. It was a white building. In front were swings, a slide, teeter totter, there were some in the back for the younger students. In winter we went down in the basement to play.
We played such games as red light, mother may I, hop scotch, jump rope was another favorite of ours.
....Mrs Lynn at the back of the old White Lake School. Andy Brucher in back of her. This was the first or first and second grade room.
The teachers were Mrs Florence Lynn, Mrs Ethel Fricke, Miss Elizabeth Knapp, Mr Emory Stalker. Mr Stalker was the principal. At Christmas we had a play at the school in the big room upstairs, where Mr Stalker taught.
One time we had a poster making contest. It seems that Chickie Glass won. We sure made some pretty posters.
In spring we tried to talk our parents into letting us ride our bikes, or walking to school. Did we perhaps, just once, get to do this? It is debatable! In the back of the school we would play baseball.
....Marge Smith Ward's combined class at Duggan Elementary School.
Later we moved into a brand new school, this was located just behind the old school to the left a bit. A white cinderblock building, we thought we were in heaven. The grounds were really nice, we had plenty of room . There were boy and girl bathrooms, separate ones for the teachers, the teachers had a lounge, the principal had an office. There was a show case in front, each room had one, it was a big deal to try to outdo each other decorating. They were really nice. The new school was the Cornelius Duggan Elementary.
Some of the new teachers were Mr Traugaut, Miss Brining, Mrs Mc Dermott. Miss Brining taught kindergarten. There was a real big room built for the younger ones.
At this school we even had a cafeteria. Mrs Lillian Hughson was the manager and cook. She could really cook. Every week two students would get out of class to help out in the kitchen. We would get a free lunch for doing this. I worked with Mrs Hughson's daughter, Maureen.
Other school employees were Charles Fricke, and his son Raymond. They both worked at the school for many, many years.
**note**in a conversation held in 1996 everyone agrees. Mrs Hughson was the very best cook, we all remember this.
Shows were put on at the new school. The whole school would participate. One year I am pretty sure we sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Maureen Hughson and I were the dark purple colors of the rainbow.
For many years after moving into the new school there would be a graduation for the 8th grade students. For ours we made a poster with There is no Royal Road to Learning on it. Were our class colors purple and gold or blue and gold? Many of us went up on the road that goes to Liberty to pick laurel to decorate with. It was grand.
We sang the song Trees. I think that I shall never see, a poem lovely as a tree. A tree that may in summer wear, a nest of robins in her hair. Poems were made by fools like me, but, only God can make a tree.
Many, many years later in college I ran a Wheel of Fortune game, I used There is no Royal Road to Learning for one of the puzzles. I believe I classified it as a quote. Someone informed me that I had it out of context. Little did I know!!
I wore a yellow dress for graduation, my parents bought me an Elgin watch, which was a good watch. For some reason it would not keep time on me. We had gone to Middletown to buy everything. Mom still had the watch in 1996. It still runs.
The class generally had a dinner. Ours was held at the Hideaway on Port Jervis Road. Many of us went to dinner on the night of graduation with Joyce Kinne's mother, Hannah.
CLASS OF 1955..Duggan Elementary..White Lake..New York
Barbara Fricke
Maureen Hughson
Betty Hughson
Ronnie May Joyner
Joyce Kinne
Earl Lilley
Jay Meddaugh
Marge Smith
Barbara Thalman
Loretta Sherman was in our class, but did not graduate from White Lake with us. Her parents had sent her on to Monticello the year before. The Lorino twins, John and Frank were with us for a while too. Barbara Thalman and Ronnie Joyner joined our class around 5th grade. At one time there was a girl named Nancy Chatham in our group.
....Ron Smith's class. There is no date on this picture.
We had a lot of birthday parties. One year we went to one at Barbara Fricke's house. Her mother made a salad that looked like a candle. There was a bed of lettuce with cottage cheese on it. On this sat a piece of pineapple, in the center was a banana with a cherry on top of it. Perhaps a bit of green pepper for the handle. Barbara always had her Christmas tree up for her birthday. We got to see all her beautiful presents.
For Barbara Thalman's 16th birthday we went to the fancy restaurant Rebers, this was over in Barryville. Right near the Pennsylvania line, you cross the bridge into Pennsylvania.
One year we were at Loretta Shermans for a party. She had a big house with lots of rooms. We told spook stories and played hide and seek. We had a good time.
The Hughson girls would have a party together. Their birthdays were a month apart. There was always a house full of people.
At Ronnie Joyners a big field was located in the back, we would go back there to play and have fun. Her birthday was towards summer. All the rest of us had winter birthdays.
Joyce Kinne's mother always cooked something good for us to eat. Near her house was a good hill, we went sleigh riding at her birthday party....
We went to Monticello High School for our 9th year. This sure was a big change from White Lake. There were only 9 of us at White lake. In Monticello there were over 80 in our class. I was use to White Lake and liked it there. In Monticello we elected Barbara Shreibman the first female class president.
The White Lake class visited Monticello High School in the spring of 1955. I wore a chartreuse colored shirt. I remember that to this day. I remember too being in Mr Jacobs history class. At the time I had an A average, not an easy task. He asked a question in classroom, I did not know the answer. In front of the whole class he bellows..MISS SMITH..DO YOU REALIZE WHT KIND OF AN AVERAGE YOU HAVE IN THIS CLASS?.. yes, sir, I do..
Most of the girls took home economics in high school. As a matter of fact, sister Donna Smith was the Home Economics Student of the Year. We cooked, baked, did all sorts of things. We sewed outfits for ourselves. One year my good friend Jean Stackhouse and I decided to make pajamas. Be a little different. Little did we know that this year we were going to put on a fashion show at school. We ended up modeling our pajamas for the whole school. We never lived that one down.
I took mainly business and home economics which was what you took then if you were not going to college, most of us did not go to college. Especially the girls. I had to wait over 40 years to get a college degree. Later I was one of 30 accepted into LPN school. But, things had changed so much, I did not follow through with it.
Barbara Fricke was the valedictorian when we graduated from Monticello High in 1959. She went on to become a teacher like her mother.
In 1984 I went to our class re-union. We went to Willies on Port Jervis Road Friday night, Saturday there was a dinner at The Paddock.
I got to see people I had not seen in years. Earl Lilley, Dale Roosevelt, Barbara Fricke, Betty Hughson, Joyce Kinne, Ronnie Joyner.
I made up a little questionnaire for it. Everyone seemed to enjoy this.
....Duggan Elememtery combined class picture 1953.
Newman's Drug Store was a popular place to go, you could get an ice cream cone there. Hand dipped. Probably Dolly Madison Ice Cream. In summer they opened the little side store where they had all sorts of things they sold. Close by is Vassmer's General Store. We would go there with dad to pick up whatever mom needed.
They had fresh ground hamburger we bought. And great smelling cold cuts they sliced the way you wanted them. In summer there were fresh vegetables and fruits. Donna remembers her and dad going over at night, she got to sit in the front seat of the car, she would get one of those large Charms Lollipops when they went. They must have been a half an inch thick! There was a shelf filled with candy and the little snacks. Devil Dogs were so good and I liked the coffee cakes too. There was a little store on the side with five and dime items. On the other side of Newman's building the Frickes had a boat rental. It was such a nice place to grow up.
On Sundays, after church in the summer, we would go to Kauneonga Lake to buy hard rolls at the little store across from where the gas place was. No one remembers the name. The stores were real busy after church.
In Smallwood we would go to Kelly's Store all the time. For a nickel we could get a lot of candy. There were penny candies, some were even two for a penny. The only ones of these I remember were the Mary Janes. The other candies were a nickel each. There were Boston Baked Beans, Good & Plenty, Raisinets, Goobers, Necco, Sugar Babies and the ones on a stick I remember as Sugar Daddies, my husband says they called them Black Cows. The Necco were in a little tube like wax paper wrapper, all colors and flavors. It was such a hard decision. All the candy looked so good.
The candy constantly changed and was in little boxes on a shelf across the front of the store where the window was. We have been talking about this, I thought the little wrapped candies were not Mary Janes, but something else, yet two people had told me they were Mary Janes. All at once I remember Bit O' Honey, perhaps there were both. At times you would go in, it would smell so good, Mrs Kelly would be making soup.
The Miss Reingold contest was in the fall, it was very popular. There would be a display set up with pictures of all the candidates. We would all vote, of course we always thought the wrong girl won the contest.
Otto Schwanmberger opened a garage in Smallwood. He sold gas and did car repairs. At night when the grocery store was closed we would go in there to get a Fudgsicle, Drumstick or Creamsicle and candy. Mom says when they were kids their dad would give them a quarter, they got a handful of candy for that.
For grocery shopping and everything else you went to Monticello or Liberty. During the busy summer we went to Jeffersonville to grocery shop. There were a few grocery stores there.
In Monticello there was an A&P and a Victory for grocery shopping. The Victory was on Main Street, up past the center of town towards where Doctor Breaky's office was. The A&P was on a side street, with the back parking lot behind Gager's Diner. On Friday nights everyone went grocery shopping. The kids would stay out in the parking lot with the fathers. We had a good time playing.
Sometimes we did go into the store to help. We thought the vegetable man at the A&P had the best job there could possibly be in the whole world. Coffee was freshly ground for you, what a great smell it had. The smell of the candy just added to the joy of going there. When you walked in the front, the vegetables were to the right, the lunch meats were across the back wall, the meat department was down the left side. The candy being on the aisle across from this on the end.
There were check-outs in both the front and back of the store. In summer there use to be a food stand down in front of where the courthouse stands. They really had a good selection.
Many times after grocery shopping we would go to the Nesco Five & Dime. This store was across from the Victory.
In the front was a candy counter, in the middle, they fresh roasted peanuts there, the smell drove you crazy, a lunch counter was on the side. In the back on the right was where all the toys were. They especially had a lot of dolls, or perhaps, that is all I noticed. On one side of Nesco was a men's clothing store Cohens, they kept the windows full of clothes. I still have a sweater I bought there. Somewhere on the other side was a store with a variety of clothing. It was fancier, more like a department store.
Later we were lucky enough to get a Woolworth. We sure appreciated this store. It had a long lunch counter. The food was pretty good. My good friend Jean Stackhouse got a job working in the phonograph and record section there. It was in the front of the store.
Years later Sullivans opened. This was our first store like this. I am not sure if there were two stories at first or not, it seems there was only one, the second story was later added on. The place was always busy. There was a restaurant on the side that was pretty good.
A Great American grocery store opened there. It was pretty big for the area. Across the street was a diner. Once in a while we would go there to eat after shopping.
Jamesway built a store in Monticello years later, at first there was a lunch counter, this was taken out later, but, by that time other stores had opened. A big, new, Victory was opened with a deli in it.
Let us not forget Deutches Grocery Store. This was out on the out-shirts of Monticello, probably the first grocery store in the area to have a deli and a bakery in it, the store was always busy. I could never understand why it closed, but, by the time it closed all of the stores had a bakery and deli in them.
For larger items such as furniture we went to Middletown to shop. In Middletown was a Sears and a Montgomery Ward. We really loved to go down to Middletown. We made a day of it. There was a parking lot outside of Sears and either a bakery or diner there, perhaps both.
In Middletown we would have to walk across the railroad track to some of the stores. Sometimes we actually got to see a train. There was a huge Woolworth built there. Plus all the other stores. Some years later Lloyds came to Middletown. Across the street was a Shop-Rite, Many went down there once a month to shop.
In Monticello now, you have Appolo Mall, I like to go there. In recent years both Sullivans and Jamesway have closed. In 1986 Ames opened in the old Jamesway buildings.
The Outlet, which was built by Sylvia over in White Lake was popular, it is still there. This was only open in the summer. We did not like to see it close in the fall.
Before school started many times we would go over to Jeffersonville with Aunt Beulah to shop. We would buy all new pretty plaid dresses. We had enough to get us through the week.
In later years we would go over into Pennsylvania to a little shopping center there, you went through a town, then it was on the left side of the road. Eynon Drug was another destination, a place we went to for shopping in later years. They had everything.
....Picture of Mrs Ethel Fricke and Marge Smith taken by Gertrude Smith in 1949 at our school picnic at the end of the year. I can still remember, we had lemonade and it seems fresh strawberries. This was the front of the school, facing towards the road.
In the early years we went to Dr Duggan. He lived up in a house in Bethel on a long driveway off of Duggan Road. From what I remember, we went up there any time we were sick, day or night. There was a little porch you went through on the side. Dr Duggan had big bottles of pretty pills sitting all over his office which was at the front of his house.
Later Dr Dombeck came to White Lake, he had an office right near the movie theater. He was there for many, many years.