Anna.......

Our beloved Anna.........

A good time in the Big Apple...

Memories of Gramma and Grampa...

My earliest memories of Gramma and Grampa are in Anna's house. I remember Grampa with his shock of white hair.......so tall and so stern looking. In my memories, he always had on a white shirt and a black cardigan sweater. This picture was taken, I believe, in our house on 5th Street. He would reach into his sweater pocket and give me a Planters Peanut bar. All these years later, I think of him every time I see a Planters Peanut candy bar.
I remember Gramma, but only as being sick and in bed. I thought I had a memory of 509, but I think that memory was perhaps from when the Filipkowskis lived there.
I remember our house (one of the cottages) at 411 E. 5th St....It was similar in layout as Lucille's and Anna's.
As a little kid, we had the first tv in the family and on the block...........that was interesting....little did any of us kids realize that in future years everyone would have multiple tv's in their homes.
As kids, we were always welcome in any of the aunts and uncles homes....you just walked in like you lived there.....we were always safe......
The Christmas memories that Richie posted are fond in my mind too.
Our dear beloved Anna..........our own Auntie Mame!! At Christmas time, she would take Lucy and I out to eat...either the Parade St. Tavern or earlier years to the Cathay house. We then got to help her pick out Christmas gifts at Trasks for all the nieces and nephews. When you got old enough, you got the money instead of a gift....$10!! What a princely sum to spend any way you wanted. Lucy and I also spent several Christmas eves at Annas peeling shrimp and making deviled eggs.
I have jumped from the late 40's to the 50's....I intend to post again and fill in more of those wonderful days of my childhood and youth.

Grandma & Grandpa

My mother always spoke of her parents as Mama and Papa.

One thing that stands out in my memory of grandpa Crotty was when he gave me a quarter, and asked me to run down to the store and buy him a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes.


A thing that I remember about grandma was when she swept the sidewalk - she would swing the broom back and forth, and walk slowly along. I must have thought this was a good method, as I have always remembered it.

The Cousins

Here we are - from the oldest to the youngest.

Nancy Barber Jackson - Mar 25, 1937
Mary Ann Callahan - Nov 27, 1940
Richard Barron - Jun 16, 1942
Patrick Callahan - Jul 29, 1942
Thomas Barron - Feb 3, 1944
Harry Callahan - Sep 27, 1944
Doris Jackson - Sep 20, 1946
David Callahan - Nov 15, 1948
David Barron - Mar 2, 1949
Lucy Rastatter - May 31, 1949
Michael Rastatter - Oct 13, 1950
William Callahan - Mar 30, 1951
Patricia Crotty - Jul 2, 1951
Michael Crotty - May 21, 1953
Anne Sullivan - Sep 11, 1956

Christmas Day

Every Christmas the descendants of Richard and Julia Crotty would visit each other's homes. They would start in the early afternoon, and the first stop would be at the Jackson's on Eagle Point Blvd. After a while they would all go to David and Mary's on East 5th. By the early evening everyone went to the Barron's on 5th and Parade, and later in the evening they usually went to Johnny and Norma's on Charlotte St., and then ended up at the Callahan's on West 3rd.

At each stop there was food and drink. The kids drank Rola pop, and I can remember the beer as being Topper, Buckeye or Genesee.

When we were at Johnny's he'd tell us kids the story about when he was "The Durango Kid".

Norma is partially hidden in this picture taken on Eagle Point Blvd.