I cannot recall memories of Johnny and Norma without going into the recent past. In February of 2006, Rick and I were in Florida with his brother. I called Little Ann and Mike to arrange to meet for lunch.
While driving to our lunch spot, I was trying to think of how long it had been since I had seen Mike. I pictured him as a much younger man with reddish hair....It had been 20 years plus since we had seen each other. We got out of our car, and a man was walking toward me and said "Hello, Dede"........my heart skipped a beat.......he reminded me so much of Uncle Johnny. If he had greeted me with "Hiya Kid" (the typical Johnny greeting), I probably woul have fainted. More on this later.
Johnny and Norma............the house on Charlotte Street.....I remember Christmas....Norma made doll clothes for Patty's dolls...........and Norma made the best fudge!! What was it called?? Here I go with the food thing again. As Richie mentioned in his blog, Johnny would go into his 'when I was the durango kid...' routine.
Patty and Mike were such quiet kids compared to the rest of us hooligans......
Norma....so assured, red nails, hair kinda swept back in a 1940's style. I remember picnics in that big back yard......Norma made popsicles that were yummy (food thing again). I remember that she liked to play cards.
Their collie..........what a beautiful dog. Why do I think his name was Mike, but then changed to Bummy when Mike was born??
I remember Gooie.........didn't she live on East 5th Street? Again, I also thought she was a relative of mine.
Fast forward to 2006.......when Rick, Mike, Ann and I met for lunch, I couldn't help but wonder what we would talk about........boy was I wrong!! The hours melted away as we all caught up on our lives, and reminsced about our past.
The idea for a cousins reunion started after Jack Mozart died. When we had lunch that day in Florida, we really decided to go forward and do it. It was a wonderful afternoon that we all hated to see end.....but it started a beautiful connection with all of the cousins.
While driving to our lunch spot, I was trying to think of how long it had been since I had seen Mike. I pictured him as a much younger man with reddish hair....It had been 20 years plus since we had seen each other. We got out of our car, and a man was walking toward me and said "Hello, Dede"........my heart skipped a beat.......he reminded me so much of Uncle Johnny. If he had greeted me with "Hiya Kid" (the typical Johnny greeting), I probably woul have fainted. More on this later.
Johnny and Norma............the house on Charlotte Street.....I remember Christmas....Norma made doll clothes for Patty's dolls...........and Norma made the best fudge!! What was it called?? Here I go with the food thing again. As Richie mentioned in his blog, Johnny would go into his 'when I was the durango kid...' routine.
Patty and Mike were such quiet kids compared to the rest of us hooligans......
Norma....so assured, red nails, hair kinda swept back in a 1940's style. I remember picnics in that big back yard......Norma made popsicles that were yummy (food thing again). I remember that she liked to play cards.
Their collie..........what a beautiful dog. Why do I think his name was Mike, but then changed to Bummy when Mike was born??
I remember Gooie.........didn't she live on East 5th Street? Again, I also thought she was a relative of mine.
Fast forward to 2006.......when Rick, Mike, Ann and I met for lunch, I couldn't help but wonder what we would talk about........boy was I wrong!! The hours melted away as we all caught up on our lives, and reminsced about our past.
The idea for a cousins reunion started after Jack Mozart died. When we had lunch that day in Florida, we really decided to go forward and do it. It was a wonderful afternoon that we all hated to see end.....but it started a beautiful connection with all of the cousins.
4 comments:
Added this picture from 1968.
Johnny had a 1954 two-tone powder blue and white Chevy - the same as my dads, but with an automatic transmission. After failing my driver's exam a couple of times with my dad's car (nervousness with the clutch), we asked if Johnny would take me to my driver's test. This time I passed! Afterwards we stopped at Calavino's on 4th & Parade to celebrate (I had a pop).
Uncle Johnny was my godfather. Aunt Virginia was my godmother.
I remember when my brothers & I would walk to and from the movies at the Gem Theatre. The Gem Theatre was on West 4th St., just before Cherry St. Johnny & Norma lived down the street from the theatre. On the way home Uncle Johnny, almost always, was stitting on the front steps of his home. I still don't know how he knew we were at the movies & what time we would be passing by. If he wasn't out in front we would always knock to say hello to him & Norma. He was always interested in what movie we saw. Of course we all belived that he was the Durango Kid & he would tell us that next week-end he would take us to see his horse.
I remember Norma's Christmas cookies. She always brought a tin filled with her cookies to Anna on Christmas Eve.
hi,my name is calavino and i have a place in atlanta called calavino's.i was wondering if you could tell me about the calavino's from 1968 that you mention in your blog.
thanks,calavino
I went to the library this morning to look in the old phone books to check the spelling of the tavern.
It was Calvano's.
In the 1942 phone book it was at 331 Parade - that's the NE corner.
In the 1959 phone book Calvano's was at 332 Parade - that's the NW corner.
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