Old Dorchester Friends
Roslindale High School Class of 1965
Compugraphic Corporation Field Engineer
Applicon Schlumberger Techincal Support
I spend a fair amount of time every now and then seeing if I can locate
people from my past. I figured maybe someone out there is looking for
me too so I created this page to make that task a little easier. Feel
free to fill out this form and send it a long if you'd like to make
contact and talk about the "good old days"....
Eldridge Smith Kindergarten
Don't remember anything about this school. I was only 5 years old in 1952
after all.... The school was torn down shortly
after I went there and replaced by Patrick O'Hearn Elemetary.
Saint Marks Catholic School, Dorchester, Massachusetts
The less said about the Nuns, the better. Sister Mary Hilarian used to bash
the hell out of everyone on a regular basis, for even the tinyest
infractions. I don't know why anyone who hated children as much as she
did would ever find herself as a teacher. I was there for grade 1 and 2.
The school was built in 1953, I believe. I attended the first year it
opened... the first couple of Months I spent first grade in the church
because the school hadn't been completed yet.
Lived at 12a Nixon Street at the time.
Nixon street was cobblestone at the time and I believe the sidewalks were
brick. There was a gas street light in front of the house and I remember
the man coming by every day with his little ladder to turn the gas up
in the evening and down in the morning. Horse drawn ice deliveries for
the ice box, kerosene deliveries for hot water and the horse drawn rag
man. Everyone had their milk delivered which was done using those little
trucks. We had White Brothers... that creamy milk (not homogenized).
Hoods, home of the Hoodsie was also popular. Sometimes we could get a chip
of ice off the ice or milk man to suck on. Clementine Park (a narrow,
unpaved street) was a good play to waylay these guys for a piece of ice.
Neighbor kids were Johnny and Jimmy Mallon, Ralph Keenan, Georgie Niles,
Timmy Puck. The Costellos lived next door. On the other side was a lady
who took in children. Janice (Bibber, I think) was one of the girls who
lived there. Same deal across the street. David Montana was one of the
kids who lived there although he was younger than us. I lived very close to
the Shawmut MTA station. It cost a nickle to ride all day. I remember
how the station's doors would all fly open every time a train approached.
And that unique, intoxicating subway smell... very few people had cars
back then and I remember waiting outside the station for what seemed like
hours for one of my Aunts to arrive to visit or take me some place. Joe's
Spa was a block away and that's where we used to get all of our penny candy.
Two mint julips for one cent!!!
In the Winter, they would flood Wainright Park which was great for ice
skating. In the Summer, they would sometimes have free Hoodises!
Lucy Stone Elementary school
I was there for grade 3. Remember very little about the place except
that the playground was right across from the Oldsmobile Dealership.
I remember watching the new 1957 Rocket 88's come in during the Fall of 1956... coolest car
ever made! Lived at 37 Alpha Road at this time.
Only people I remember are John Agajanian, Steve Casey (Son of Wrestler
Crusher Casey). James Casey, Steve's Brother, who I remember vaguely,
recently took the time to send me a note. He mentioned neighborhood kids
Joey Julian, Charlie Fitzgerald, the Callahan brothers, The Courtneys
and The Brooks. Mentioned playing pinball at Joes Spa (tilted easier
than any pinball machine in the world)..... playing halfball, pimpleball,
stickball next to shawmut station. About once a year, we would pry up
a manhole cover and salvage all of the rubber balls down there.
Anything that wouldn't hold air was cut in half and used to play halfball.
Some of the balls were smooth and this pink color. Others were white and not
smooth with complex designs on them and thus were called pimpleballs.
Throwing and being able to hit these "balls" was no simple matter.
I'll bet Ted Williams played stickball when he was a kid.
Mary Hemingway Elementary school (Grades 4-6 when I was there)
Lived at 55 Lonsdale Street at the time. Neighbor kids Richie and Kevin
Dwyer, Linda and Joyce Hennessey, Linda Vitt. Had a few friends at school
but none very close and can't remember any names. If you were there in the
late 1950's, please sign my guestbook.
Grade 5, Miss martin. Boy, did she have it in for me. Meaner than the Nuns
at St. Marks.
Grade 6, Mr. Truman. Don't remember much about him but he was OK I
guess.
Ogars Drug store was on the corner at Dot Ave. They actually had a soda
fountain and sold hand packed Hendries ice cream. Ligetts Rexall was
a couple of blocks away. And then there was Schwams... run by a couple
of.... always worried that someone was going to skip out without paying,
they watched you like a hawk. The Dot Theater was only a dime on Saturdays
but the Adams had much better movies for a quarter. I'm sure I saw every
Sci-fi and Swamp Creature movie ever made there. I vaguely remember
the old wooden street cars going up and down Dot Ave. They were
replaced by trackless trolleys (electric buses) when I was still
very young. The MTA trains were these heavy steel things with the
rivits showing... and very uncomfortable seats. They did have a few cars
with leather bus seats and those were always a treat. The trains
started at Ashmont and ended at Harvard. There was also a Forest Hills
to Sullivan Square train and one that went out to the airport that
I rarely rode one. It ran out to Revere somewhere, I think.
A big day during the summer was to take to boat out to Nantasket, in Hull.
Woodrow Wilson Junior High School (Grades 7-9 when I was there)
Don't remember many Teachers or Students there but if you were there in the
early 1960's, please sign my guest book
Miss Kathleen Moran was Home Room and Latin. She was very nice. "Step
right out my dear....", "Take a triple E..."
I was in the Science Club there and got my FCC license which started my
interest in broadcast radio. Life was a lot more simple then. Still
living on 55 Lonsdale Street.
Friends from my Lonsdale Street days were Jill Barden, Kevin and Richie
Dwyer, Linda and Joyce Hennessey, Linda Vitt. Somewhere in along the 50's we lived
briefly at 33 Leslie Street and also further up on Dix street. Forget the
number but it was on the odd numbered side of the street maybe 6
houses down from Dorchester Avenue. The place of Dix Street had a coal
furnace in the basement so that was some time ago.
Roslindate High School, Class of 1965 Long time ago.....
Lived at 72 Dix
Street in Dorchester for most of that period. Friends were Billy Elms,
Leo DaForno, Linda and
Mary Tressle, Carol MacNeil, Josie Healy and all the Healy girls (babes one
and all), Dolly Manning, Richie Pasquale, Kathy Manning, Chuckie (sorry, too
many years..no last name). Maureen Harkins who married Bill Elms. Teachers:
Mr. Murphy, Mr Femulare. I was sweet on Bernadette Something, the only Black
girl in the school...she didn't know I existed. Laurie and Peter Richenburg,
Bobby Zappe. Kevin Waldren, Mimi Something Long time ago. Memory fades.. I
was in home room when President Kennedy was shot. Didn't believe such a
thing could
happen. The World was certainly a different place after that.
Dances at Boston College High. Great seafood at Kellys Landing out
by Castle Island in Southie. Used to skate at the MDC rink there.
And of course always watched the St. Patricks Day parade up in Dorchester
Heights by Southie High. My Father grew up in South Boston
and lived in the
house that was on the Perkins Institute grounds. My Grandfather
was caretaker there for many years.
I lost my yearbook in the divorce (along with
pretty
much everything else) otherwise I would have posted a few pictures here
and wouldn't be so spaced out about names.
I met my very first "real" girlfriend on 1/20/65. Her name was Ann
Calabro and she lived on Ashmont Street at the corner of Florida Street.
Her Father hated me.... looking back at it all, probably with good reason.
She's married now, happily, I assume. I wrote to her a few years ago
but even after 40+ years of absence I guess she still doesn't want to
hear from me. Such has been my life... Her best friend was Mary
Brown who lived around the corner on Florida Street.
Millie Jenkins had the best collection of old time Rock 'n Roll
on the entire Planet.
The old Fields Corner, Dix Street Dorchester gang:
Dolly and Richie Pasquale are still married apparently (as of 2007) and
living in Abington, Massachusetts
Maureen Harkins and Bill Elms are still married apparently (as of 2007)
and living in North Weymouth, Massachusetts.
Emileo (Leo) DaForno has been married to Paula (who I've never met)
forever. They live in Randolph, Massachusetts I think
Mary Tortora, the girl I *SHOULD* have married apparently never did
marry (as of 2007) and is living in Roslindale, Massachusetts ...
a very, very sweet girl.