PEDDLING PAPERS

PEDDLING PAPERS

               Most of us probably had a paper route growing up. It was like a rite of passage and for many of us the first job we ever had. I guess my first route came around the age of 12 or 13. The paper was the Rockville Leader and the offices were in the area where Ladd & Hall Furniture is located today. I don't remember the route or how much money was involved, but I had to collect the money from my customers every week, then go to the office and pay for my papers. I always seemed to come up short as some people weren't home or avoided paying for weeks on end. I think my profits tallied a buck or two a week, but it taught me the basics of keeping records.

                I don't recall the reason, but I switched from the Leader to the Journal and finally upped my game to the Hartford Courant. There were two Hartford papers at the time, the Courant, which came out in the morning and the Hartford Times in the afternoon.

                 I was living on East Main Street then and had a pretty big route. Close to 70 customers on weekdays and more than 80 on Sundays. Those Sunday papers weighed a ton.

                 My route started at my house at 117 E. Main and continued on both sides of the street up to Snipsic Street where I had a bunch more customers all the way up to the Fisk house. My favorite customer EVER, who lived on Snipsic Street was Mrs. Draper. She lived about halfway up the street and  always greeted me with a smile and sometimes a cup of hot chocolate on cold winter mornings. I started my route every morning at 5:00 a.m. and was supposed to be finished before 7:00 a.m.. 

                 When Snipsic Street was finished it was back down and to the left up past the Minterburn Mill (currently the Loft apartments) and on up Tolland Avenue. I had most of the houses on Tolland Avenue all the way out to the cutoff Road by the Gravel Bank. My furthest customer was a small gas station, milk, bread and candy store that was also always open in the very early morning and a place to warm the toes. I would say my goodbyes there and walk down to the florist shop at the corner of Kingsbury Ave. and then more deliveries ending at the IAFC Club to finish the route. The nice people at the Florist always left the office door open for me to warm up.

                    My Dad didn't own his first car yet, so the route was my responsibility. No matter how cold, hot or wet and windy the weather, I had the route to do. There were no sick days. I think I made maybe $10 - $12. a week. The one Christmas I had it, I got almost $40.00 in tips and thought I was rich.

                    All of my customers but one, were very nice to me. Mr. Maher expected his paper every day by 6:00 a.m. and sometimes I couldn't make the deadline. He let me know he was angry and when I continued to be late, he wrote a complaint letter to the Courant. Francis Pitkat was my manager and almost fired me but gave me another chance. I ended up changing my route to make sure Mr. Maher had his paper on time. The following spring, I turned 14 and was able to get my working papers for the Tobacco farms.

                  In the meantime, I guess I learned some responsibility in dealing with people and in handling money. I was able to buy a second hand bike from George Seifert for $15.00 and also purchased a nice wagon for hauling those heavy Sunday editions.
                   Weather was my biggest worry. My coldest day, it was 28 below zero on the thermometer outside the Florist shop door. I recall being so happy to find the door open and warm up inside. One night while making my collections a cold front arrived in the middle of a heavy rainstorm and everything turned to ice. I fell four times by the time I finished the route and I was an agile 13-year-old.
                   Over the next couple of years, I worked summers in the tobacco fields and then in Ed Dymond's grocery store on School Street before we moved out of town. Those paper routes gave me spending money for soda, candy and the pinball machine at Cheap John's, so the working world was pretty good after all.

                                                

                  

ROCKVILLE HIGH SPORTS - EARLY 50'S

RHS SPORTS-EARLY 50'S

           I wasn't much of an athlete, but was determined to play football. Upon his entry at Rockville High, coach Ted Ventura had re-introduced football. When I reported for try-outs at the American Legion Field in August of 1950, I was apprehensive but enthusiastic. Eventually, I made the J-V team, joining a great bunch of guys, eager to play. Names I remember include; Bob Hirth, Mickey Ruggles, Rudy Hany, Joe and Andy Curtis, Bob Brennan, Bob Orlowski, Frank Badsteubner, Ronnie Badsteubner, Franny LaForge, Hank McDermott, Bob Gorski, Bob Pagani and Johnny Olender.

           Once school started, it was practice every day. Our practice field was the Rec field in the center of Town. We would suit up in the locker room and exit the school at a run as soon as classes ended for the day. Then it was practice until the dinner hour. We played our games at Henry Park. I don't remember winning many games, but there were some memorable moments.

            At one game (I think against Canton) Bobby Orlowski took the ball for an end-to-end touchdown, running 110 yards. Mickey Ruggles was one of the smallest guys on the team but a real scrapper. In one game, he charged through an opposing lineman, leaving him almost unconscious on the ground. Franny LaForge was the biggest guy on the team. I remember Coach Ventura transferring him off the line into the fullback position as he could bull his way for the extra yards, dragging opposing linemen along with him. Joe and Andy Curtis were brothers and both fine athletes. Joe was probably a bit faster than Andy.  Even better than Joe's athletic abilities was his wonderful singing voice. Hank McDermott was a skinny guy and could run like the wind. Coach was always worried he would get hurt in practice and would yell at the rest of us when we made a hard tackle on Hank. Give him the ball in an open field and he was gone. Hank also played a mean piano, specializing in boogie-woogie.

            My own fleeting moment came when we were playing a J-V game at Mansfield. I played right guard and on the bus on the way over, asked the coach what to do if there was a bad kick-off and the ball came my way. He laughed saying, "Pick it up and run like hell." About halfway through the second quarter, the Mansfield guys kicked off and guess what. It was a bad kick, careened along the ground and bounced into my hands. I grabbed the ball, took a couple of steps and was buried under the entire opposing line. So much for running like hell - but it was good for a laugh on the bus ride home.

            Winter passed, then spring and summer vacation. It was back to the tobacco fields for me and Bob Hanson and Press Strait. We started working peace work that year and made a little more money, but their was something extra. Teachers didn't make much money in those days so when we showed up at the tobacco fields, we learned that our straw boss for the summer was our football coach-Ted Ventura.

           Bob, Press and I worked as a team alternating with two guys picking and one dragging the baskets of leaves. We were pretty fast, made maybe a little bit faster with the "urging" of Coach Ted. He was merciless in trying to get me in shape for fall football. Unfortunately about the second week of practice when school started, I  blew out my left knee (replaced some 60-plus years later) and my football career was over at Rockville High.  It was also my introduction into the grocery business. I went to work for Ed Dymond in his grocery store on School Street. Coach Ventura was a nice man, both on and off the field. He also taught a couple of subjects and coached basketball during that season.

          A couple of other noteworthy memories regarding RHS. My Dad, Luke Alley was a graduate of RHS and star basketball player and President of his senior class.

           Basketball was always the most popular sport at Rockville High. I doubt I ever missed a game. My cousin Bob McCarthy also played for Rockville, well enough to play on into college at Hillyer. A couple of his team-mates I remember were the Brennan brothers and Francis Pritchard. Stu Beal was a trumpet player and every score at every game, Stu would ramble off a triumphant tune on his trumpet. One of the biggest fans for sure. Another big fan was Mrs. Harlow, who taught biology during the daytime hours. Nobody cheered longer or louder at every game. Basketball games on Friday nights usually preceded a school sock hop and all the kids would dance away the night, either in sorrow or celebration.

           Halfway through my sophomore year, my Dad took a job in Westport, CT and I moved to that town where I lived most of my adult life, raising my family and pursuing a career in law enforcement. Following my retirement, my bride and I moved north again and now reside in Manchester, CT.

CRYSTAL LAKE-VACATION PARADISE

CRYSTAL LAKE - VACATION PARADISE

              Dad worked at the United States Envelope Co. in Rockville for many years. As a seasoned employee in the office, he received two weeks a year vacation and from the earliest I remember, those two-week vacations were spent at Crystal Lake.

             Those early vacations weren't easy. We  didn't own a car, so early every year, Dad would reserve two weeks at one of the cottages for rent around the lake. I remember one just a stone's throw from Sandy beach that wasn't on the water and then later a cottage along the north shore with a private dock. My Aunt Mabel had a car, so on the first day, we would pile groceries, clothes and all the goodies in her Chevy (she always owned a Chevy), and she would drop us at the cottage for a two-week stay.

            Crystal lake was a busy place in those days. Sandy Beach was owned and operated by the George Bokis family. It consisted of a beachfront, picnic tables, boat rentals, bath houses for changing, a game room, a food concession with great hot dogs, burgers and grinders, and a roller-skating rink. An additional building at the opposite end housed Red's Tavern, a very popular spot for adults with a good restaurant menu. The parking lot was tarred and on sunny days, a tough place to walk bare-footed. On most good-weather days it was full and on weekends, the lot, Sandy beach road and adjoining roads were packed bumper-to-bumper with cars of beach-goers.

            Admission for swimmers was a dime. Mildred Bokis would then staple a colored ribbon to your bathing suit and you would be good for the day. Ribbon colors changed daily so there was no cheating. I think rental rowboats cost $2.00 a day. Hot dogs were a dime and burgers 15 cents. I don't remember how much skating was, but for a small fee, you could rent a pair of roller skates and circle the rink for hours. The Bokis family were great people and knew all of us kids by name. If you forgot your dime or dropped it, they would staple the ribbon and let you pay the next time you came swimming.

           In addition to the Sandy Beach and crystal clear water, the swimming area had a couple of floats and a "wheel"as added attractions.

My daughter Lori on the Wheel about 40 years back. 

       

 I think we usually rented a cottage from the Johnson family. In addition to owning some cottages, they ran a small food concession just down the road and across the street from Sandy Beach and Mrs. Johnson made the greatest fried dough with tomato sauce.

            Another very popular food concession stand was Jimmy's, a couple of blocks up the road and across the street from Sandy Beach. They made the greatest grinders to be found anywhere in the area. The little stand is still there but abandoned.
           

Jimmys Hot Dog Stand is still standing.

 At the far end of the lake, there was another large beach concession, I first knew as Rau's. The building is still there. It's been renovated a couple of times and changed names more than once, but it was the spot where my Mom and Dad used to go on dates before they married. Uncle Jake was dating Aunt Isabel Bjorkman and Dad was dating her sister Viola Bjorkman. Dad and Jake were good buddies and Mom and Isabel would take a bus or trolley out to Rau's on weekends for dancing dates.- As I was growing up, the place became Jack's. It had a great diving float with an elevated diving board and after the war a big surplus rubber raft where we played "King of the Mountain", tossing each other into the water.
           My favorite activity on the Lake was fishing. It was always a good trout lake, but also supplied us with plenty of yellow perch, pickerel and bass. The Cove to the right of Sandy Beach was the spot to fish for these species. The hot spot for bullheads was a deep hole about 100 yards off the Brigham cottage. One summer I found a smelt spot and loaded up on delicious fresh water smelt for dinner.
            Over the years, Crystal Lake has continued to be a favorite go-to spot, but in those early days it was indeed a vacation paradise.