Raising a Family

Yes, having five children from eight years old to a baby was a lot to do, but Ann's being such a good baby helped out plenty. Of course, it didn't mean that we didn't have problems. We did, with the children falling, getting scratched, nose bleeds, children's diseases such as mumps, measles and whooping cough. When one got it they all got it. Sometimes I felt I was a nurse. I wished I knew more about such things.

1935 A full house (Left to Right - Ann, Phil, Carmela, Tony, John):

At times my husband and I would disagree about different things. Then we would end up fighting with each other, but there was always a happy medium. Most of the time I gave in. No marriage is a marriage if you don't have some misunderstanding. As a whole we had a good marriage. We both loved our children and did the best we could for them.

The children all loved their little sister Ann. We used to tell Phyl that we had baby Ann so she would have a little sister to play with. Then she would call Ann her baby. They are now 48 and 45, and they are still very close to each other.

When I was 29 years old John was in the third grade, Tony in the first grade, Carmela in kindergarten and there were two at home. They went to school in a little red schoolhouse for the kindergarten and first and second grade. They had to take a bus to go to school. I always worried about them taking a bus, since they were so young. There was no bathroom in the small schoolhouse. The children had to go to the large school to go to the bathroom. My son Tony never made it in time. His pants were always wet.

When Tony was in the first grade and Carmela in the kindergarten, a new schoolhouse was built. The school was built on Ridgedale Avenue within walking distance from where we lived. It was a beautiful school, more like a private school. The school was built way in, off the road, so the children wouldn't hear noises when they studied. It was all built of brick.

One wing of the school had a kindergarten and first grade all in one very large room. The electric lights were like large blocks of A, B, C, and so on. The floor was very pretty tile and here and there were blocks of tile with large numbers, one with one, two, three, in them and another with four, five, six. This was all over the floor. There was also a little fish pond placed right in the ground and a large doll house the children could play in. I tell you, it was something hard to describe. Of course, the children loved it. Tony and Carmela were in this beautiful room in school every day. I was happy for them. There was a catch. When they came home Carmela would tell us everything that Tony did in school.

One day Tony came home and told us that he had gotten in trouble with the teacher on account of his sister Carmela. Carmela had talked out of turn. The teacher wanted to punish her, so at recess she put Carmela in the clothes closet and put her on the top shelf. After everyone went out to recess Tony and a friend of his went in the clothes closet and they took Carmela down from the shelf and they went out to play, never realizing the teacher would see Carmela.

While the children were outside, the teacher spotted Carmela. She went over and asked her how she got down from the shelf. Carmela said, “My brother, Tony, and his friend took me down.” The teacher took all three back to the classroom and gave them a punishment.

The next year Tony was promoted to the second grade. That left Carmela in the first grade. Tony was very happy that his sister couldn't tell us anything about what happened to him anymore.

Carmela loved to talk and dance around very much. She was a smart little girl; she received A's and B's on her report card most of the time.

Mary's father Frank	Tony's mother Philomena