Tie's That Bind. Tponetom
The Ties That Bind, Tponetom
[[One For BobI)
Another Sunday Morning. Not much to do, so I read the News /Free Press, Obituaries.
Ahh, don’t snicker. What else is there to do when the temperature hits 109 degrees a couple of days ago. It is now 104.
Stewart ‘Larry’ Dargan’ passed away recently. During the last two years George Dakmak, George Styles, Tommy Paonessa, his wife, Elsie, and Dr. Anthony Thomas ToTo” [[like in tow tow) Salvaggio had passed on.
The Dakmak family lived on the corner of Belvidere and E. Warren. Just one block away from our house on McClellan and Warren.
The Styles family lived on McClellan 2 blocks north of our house.
Paonessa’s lived 3 house north of ours.
Salvaggio’s lived across the street from us, 6 houses north.
Then there were the Dargans. They lived on Murray St. directly across the street from the four family flat. Murray is a single block that connects McClellan to Cooper.
The front porch serving the Flat was our Dug-Out, waiting to get into a game and also getting out of a game. It was our Hospital where we could sit and stop the bleeding with a rag or rubbing the strained muscles with our dirty hands and also drinking from the outside faucet with only your mouth. [[ A lot of snot and drool hanging on that faucet.
It was our Chapel, when sitting there praying for a multitude of fanciful wishes, and a few of them did come true.
As night began closing in, we gathered together, to plan the next day.
Larry Dargan was 6 years older than me. He had an older brother, Victor, and a younger one, Terry, who was my age.
My first personal connection with Larry was when he tutored me for the Seminary. [[Yes, you read it right.) Larry was in his second year at the Seminary and I was in the 8th grade. Father Geller would always get ’young prospects’ for the Priest Hood. He scared the hell out of us by slapping us around if we didn’t co-operate.
He must have scared Larry also, because Larry dropped out of the seminary and became an insurance salesman. True story.
So about ten years later, 1952, Larry dropped out of the heavens and landed at my Gas Station, and sold me a $ 5000.00 life policy. Ten years after that , I bought $10,000.00 more. It turned out to be a simple, but profitable experience.
The forever sadness? That’s easy. Brother Vic was seriously injured in the war. He was coming home on a medical ship. It was torpedoed. It was said that all hands were lost. My eyes always glisten when I remember that.
Vic’s family had the only 'Gold Star' hanging in the front room window in our closely limit neighborhood.
Those Tie’s never slacken,
[[I wonder if Terry is still around?)
