tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post4139131728324269845..comments2023-10-30T12:22:17.806-04:00Comments on Liberty Takes Effort: Hometown NostalgiaLiberty Takes Efforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post-19243384005539158982019-04-06T16:21:54.847-04:002019-04-06T16:21:54.847-04:00Hills Part 3
Mrs. Hills was not involved in the b...Hills Part 3<br /><br />Mrs. Hills was not involved in the business as I recall, but I know that as a child whenever I encountered her she was always kind and sweet. They lived on Nelson Drive behind our home on Wales Ave. She might give me a cookie or a piece of candy from her kitchen door at the back of the house. She slipped a $1 bill into my trick or treat bag along with the candy one Halloween. I probably ran to Hills 5&10 the next day to buy something with it. As far as I can determine she is in her mid-90s living in Maine still.<br /><br />Robbie Hills was just another boy in the neighborhood. Of course, he was somewhat envied as his family owned the store and we all thought he could have anything in there. Robbie died a year ago at the age of 62 in Saco, Maine.<br /><br />They were people just like all the rest of us trying to make their way, doing the best they could, succeeding and failing along the way. Let’s think the best of them as we would hope others would think of us.<br /><br />As for me, I’ll remember the bell ringing as I entered the store and the joy of wandering about looking at the toys and turtles, knowing economics prevented me having it then, but just the fact it all existed meant it could potentially be within my grasp some day and I could dream.Liberty Takes Efforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post-84250137916279700032019-04-06T16:21:24.571-04:002019-04-06T16:21:24.571-04:00Hills Part 2
After the war he started his small ...Hills Part 2 <br /><br />After the war he started his small business. Like every small business, especially retail, it was difficult to be successful on small margins of profit so strict inventory control and loss were probably very important. You don’t make a lot of money selling 5 cent turtles and bobby pins.<br /><br />He was an active member in his church and a leader in Rotary Clubs wherever he lived surely trying to live the Rotary motto “Service before self.” He closed Hills 5&10 in 1984 and moved to Maine.<br /><br />Mrs. Churchill was the manager of the store. She was no doubt over zealous in her duties to avoid damage or pilferage in the store, but it is unfair to assign any evil intent to her.<br /><br />Unless you have walked in someone’s shoes you cannot know them fully. Maybe Mr. Hills emphasized her focus? Maybe he put too much pressure on her? Maybe she feared for her job? Maybe it was her nature? Maybe she was a great mom and gramma? I don’t know.<br /><br />I do know that one day four or five boys of about 12 or 13 were outside the door when she closed Hills one summer evening having bought Orange Fantas at the laundry mat at the end of the block. Regrettably, I was among them. As she headed to her car, they taunted her for being so suspicious and following them in the store. She ran to her car and locked the door, put her hands over her face, and began weeping. We did not know what to do and walked away. Just young boys being stupid. What did that woman have going on in her life? Who knows.Liberty Takes Efforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post-7875019326344014822019-04-06T16:20:45.459-04:002019-04-06T16:20:45.459-04:00Hills Part 1
Hills 5&10 was a place of dreams...Hills Part 1<br /><br />Hills 5&10 was a place of dreams.<br /><br />I have really enjoyed this Group. Such great memories. But I would like to ask that we try and be as thoughtful and kind in recollecting our past so that we do not unnecessarily or unjustifiably demonize fellow human beings who's circumstance we do not fully know. We are all complex and the whole of the person is more than a specific moment of time. Our memories of childhood experiences, though real, can be distorted and incomplete.<br /><br />A recent discussion of the Hill’s 5&10 store included harsh comments about the store owners, their children, and employees. These were real people facing their own struggles. Though the recollections of a store manager’s behavior may be correct we cannot fully understand that person from the reaches of childhood memories.<br /><br />Al Hills started and owned the Hills 5 & 10. His father was in the retail business and he taught his son the trade. Al died in 2015 at the age of 93 in the Saco Maine Veterans Home. Why the veterans home? All was a World War II bombardier/navigator, probably in a B-17 or B-24. There may have been no more dangerous a job in the world in 1943.<br /><br />Most bomber crews lasted no more than 5 missions before they were shot down. Mr. Hills was on such a mission when he was shot down at 20,000 feet over Germany. He bailed out, landing on a rooftop he was knocked unconscious and rolled to the ground. He was captured and imprisoned by the Germans. When he was captured he was 168 pounds.<br /><br />Toward the end of the war he was marched different places by the Germans to avoid the Russians. When he was liberated after 18 months of imprisonment he weighed just 90 pounds.Liberty Takes Efforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post-59691432103991875772019-04-06T16:20:22.074-04:002019-04-06T16:20:22.074-04:00Go here for a history of Amvets Pizza http://www....Go here for a history of Amvets Pizza http://www.libertytakeseffort.com/p/amvets-pizza-history-amvets-pizza-was.html?fbclid=IwAR2M7dXGhd53FTcXnDEzNiNhPFpb07IJZWG8GQdNe5eTrUqhYGwKXcWJblY<br />Liberty Takes Efforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post-19472507202663432962019-04-06T16:18:06.957-04:002019-04-06T16:18:06.957-04:00Pizza was a big part of our culture and still is b...Pizza was a big part of our culture and still is based on the comments here. Zacks is a favorite of many, but the unique pizza in the area is the “bar room” style pizza. It is unique to the South Shore of MA and is characterized by its 10 inch diameter, crisp and relatively thin crust, garlic and oregano seasoned sauce, cheddar cheese, and cooking in a pan. Seems the original recipe may have come from the Blodgett Oven company. To sell their deck ovens they offered a pizza recipe. It took hold in Brockton. The Brockton Café on Main Street (now closed) and the Cape Cod Café on the south side of Brockton were first. The recipes migrated from their to Randolph and acquired their own unique flavors. Frank Kurlitis opened the Lynwood Café in 1949 and shortly thereafter began making bar room pizzas. In 1953 John Hoey and Henry Phillips opened AMVETS pizza. In 1955 Henry Phillips moved on to create the Town Spa in Stoughton, MA. All of these men were friendly and supported one another. AMVETS and Lynwood would coordinate vacation week closings in summer so that the town would not be without its pizza. Those founders gave us great pizza, many fond memories, and a unique little piece of culinary culture all our own – hats off to them.Liberty Takes Efforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post-74698934081962066042019-04-06T16:17:01.529-04:002019-04-06T16:17:01.529-04:00Powers Pond Part 3
Mr. Powers dug into the land th...Powers Pond Part 3<br />Mr. Powers dug into the land the shape of a hockey rink and would flood it in winter by raising the level at the dike. He built boards and had nets and even lighting strung across this full size hockey rink. Semi-pro players (I think they were called the Randolph Maple Leafs) would practice and play on the rink. Maybe Mr. Powers made a little money at this? I do not know. But it was a lot of work maintaining the rink, removing and storing the boards every season, etc.<br /><br />There was also a telephone pole at the end of a small peninsula abutting the hockey rink. A giant flood light sat atop it and cast light across the pond. There was nothing more fun than skating at night when no snow covered the pond and you could have full range of skating all around. If it was a moonlit night you could even go into the areas over by the brook behind Locke’s and Boothby’s houses. Some nights old Papa Dillon from Wales Ave would be out there with his figure skates on, a pipe in his mouth, gliding effortlessly, the picture of grace.<br /><br />It was colder in the 60s and 70s. Children would skate at the pond throughout the winter. It was tested by a Jeep driving across it and declaring it safe. The fire department would come down and spray water on for a fresh layer of ice. They did this in other places around town too. Rod Langway (NHL Hall of Fame) told me he learned to skate on the tennis courts at North Junior High where the Fire Dept would come regularly and coat with water in winter.<br /><br />We weren’t a rich town. In fact, I was living in Washington D.C. in the 80s when Rod Langway was playing for the Washington Capitals. The Washington Post had a feature in their magazine about him one Sunday and described Randolph as, “a tough blue-collar town south of Boston.” Kind of took me aback, but well, maybe.<br /><br />Skates and hockey were expensive. We didn’t buy skates as we grew – we swapped them. The Randolph Fire Department each year would empty the bays of trucks and set up racks. Whole families would arrive at the start of winter. Each child would carry his skates from the previous year, deposit them for another child to choose, and pick out a new (used) pair someone else had dropped off. There would be no skating for many children in town without this – thank you RFD!<br /><br />Keep in mind that Bobby Orr joined the Boston Bruins in 1966 and the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 72. Hockey was king. It is my recollection that it was more popular than the Red Sox, Celtics, or (Boston) Patriots. Everyone wanted to be Bobby Orr, Kenny Hodge, Derek Sanderson (if you were a scrapper), Johnny McKenzie, Phil Esposito, etc. Indoor rinks were popping up all over, including the Randolph (later Zapustas) rink.<br /><br />Great memories for all of us to look back on.Liberty Takes Efforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post-75973163155630318152019-04-06T16:16:45.896-04:002019-04-06T16:16:45.896-04:00Powers Pond Part 2
The stream that runs from Rte ...Powers Pond Part 2 <br />The stream that runs from Rte 139 under West Street and Grove Street feeds Norroway Pond. This stream was a favored site for children in the area to catch crawfish and catfish in the summer. I recall plucking chickens for $.25 each in the mid-1960s at a coup off Cross Street along the stream.<br /><br />The level of the pond was controlled by a dike at the north end of Norroway Pond. It had boards that were raised or lowered to control the level. Typically the level was raised for the winter for ice production in the early days. Later it was raised in winter for skating. Anyone who skated on the pond knew that the ice was thin near the dike and many a hockey puck ended up at the bottom there.<br /><br />Mr. Powers was a strong quiet man of very few words. To children he was a bit intimidating. Even though he created access to Norroway Pond for skating in winter the farm property was off limits in all other seasons. Of course, children will be children and those in the surrounding neighborhoods always tested that rule and would scramble in fear if they saw Mr. Powers headed their way on his old gray tractor.<br /><br />Mr. Powers maintained two small cabins at the pond and a wood and equipment storage crib nearby. Each had a wood stove and Mr. Powers or his son would stoke the stoves to warm the cabins. The north most cabin was for general use. The other cabin was largely reserved for hockey players.<br /><br />There were storage locker benches there in which hockey equipment could be stored. These cabins appeared to have no other purpose than to warm skaters. The wood must have been chopped by the Powers family. I do not think they were paid anything by the town. Maybe there was less work around the farm in winter so they had more time, but I do not think they were compensated by the town for this service.<br /><br />Liberty Takes Efforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8054521671768779399.post-27936702051048311622019-04-06T16:15:58.900-04:002019-04-06T16:15:58.900-04:00POWER’s POND Part 1 – a tremendous gift to an age ...POWER’s POND Part 1 – a tremendous gift to an age of children. Thank you, Mr. Powers for the joy you enabled and the memories that endure. Thank you, Randolph Fire Department for the Skate Swaps. Thank you to the Town of Randolph for preserving the site as Powers Farm Park.<br /><br />Do you have pictures of yourself skating on the pond? Pictures of the hockey rink? Or the warm wood stove shack? Please attach them here in comments.<br /><br />The Powers Family farm (previously Bendall Farm and then Sunnyworth Manor) was a small farm of about 25 acres used to raise milking cows, hay for fodder, and delicious summer corn. They had about 20 cows and a big draft horse named Raul. Some of us worked on the farm shoveling manure, picking corn, or helping with raking or bailing hay. I personally was run over by the hay truck as Mr. Powers drove and his son and I raked hay.<br /><br />Many a child would be sent up to the farm on an August afternoon to buy a dozen (they always gave you a baker’s dozen of 13) ear of corn for dinner for $1 or $2. I can’t remember which. Anticipation had been growing all summer – “is the corn ready?” Dad’s would stop on the side of the road on the way home from work to run into Minihan’s Handy Store for milk and bread and buy some corn at the farm stand across the street. There could also be a stop at Crovo’s Liquor at West Street for a six pack of Schlitz.<br /><br />Norroway Pond (the official map name) is a major feature of the property. It was commonly referred to as Peat’s Meadow (peat bog on property) or just plain old Powers’ Pond by children of the 60s and 70s.<br /><br />The pond had an economic purpose. For those old enough to remember there was an old Ice House at the access path from Grove Lane onto the pond. In an age when there was no refrigeration ice was used to store food. Blocks would be cut out in winter and preserved right through summer in hay and saw dust. The video here shows how that was done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl1hSWzCbvo<br /><br />Liberty Takes Efforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398225334133635697noreply@blogger.com