1926 — my first day in Mrs. Straubs Kindergarten at Lawton School.  Little did I know that seventy six years later I’d be recounting those days in Wissinoming.  Even further from my consciousness was that the little five year old girl sitting next to me would be my wife for the past fifty eight years. 

I, Jim Greenwood, from 6120 Cottage Street, and Alice (maiden name Gibson) from 4409 Benner Street, still have fond memories of living in that town and attending Lawton School.  Principle Harvey Freed —teachers Theile, Ms. Weber, Cora Williams (gorgeous red hair and a matching temperament), Ms. Davis, Mr. Malajain (sp.?) and Ms. Louckle (sp.?).  School yard maypoles and monkey bars — chalked hop scotch patterns — swings and other equally dangerous challenges.  In those days if you fell as a result of foolish bravery you hid your injury to avoid embarrassment.  We didn’t know about law suits then. We walked to the "Bathie" on State Road for one hour of swimming —boys one day and girls the next. 

We had to sweep the street to play stick ball — the hucksters horses left their calling cards and the sparrows objected to us disturbing their lunch.   There were actually lamplighters for the gas lights on certain streets. They carried a short ladder and a pail of water. The large glass chimneys were washed on a regular basis. 

Summer evenings were filled with the shouts of "Red Rover Red Rover for Blue to come over" — "king of the hill" — marble games in the gutters — "hide and seek" and other substitutes for today's computer games.  

The depression days — organ grinders with their monkeys seeking coins — shouts of the umbrella man, the knife sharpener truck, "red ripe bananas", "rags, bottles, papers," all part of the scene in the 30’s.   When Benner Street was paved curb to curb we had our first skate board park — but the skates were mounted on a two by three with an orange crate attached to the front.   Milk and bread were delivered by horse drawn carts and the cream on top of the milk bottles froze and pushed up the cardboard seal in the winter.

The ice house nearby was filled with ice cut from the Delaware and the Ferry's moored where the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge was built — my Dad took me to watch the pile drivers placing supports. The Water Works next to the "Bathie" was a boy's dream of huge fly wheels and shafts which pumped the water to some place unknown. 

The Fourth of July was huge! We kids decorated our bikes with red-white and blue crepe paper and rode to the Wissinoming Park. We were given a paper hat, flag, and a ticket for one ice cream block at the pavilion. We would liberate the box of dry ice and take it to the pond to watch it bubble in the water.  After the family picnics there were burlap bag races, one legged races, and other contests. The adult men played baseball to the cheers of their families. 

After dark we went to the hill and watched breathlessly as the fireworks display began — capped off with a thunderous finale.  I’m not sure we gave much thought to the meaning of Independence Day but it certainly was part of the precious memories of our cohesive town. 

In World War Two, Alice and I both entered the service—she as a Woman Marine and I as an Air Corp Cadet.  After I graduated and got my Wings as a B-24 pilot we married and our four children and nine grand children hopefully will have fond memories of their early days in other towns. My service picture still hangs in the hall at Lawton — which I discovered when Alice and I visited the school late last year.

Thanks for the memories and to those of you still keeping Wissinoming a special place for kids.