I've written before about time in Allentown, San Pedro and Ventnor, but when my childhood comes up I always say I grew up in Philadelphia. We moved there in the spring of 1972, when Grandad was called to Gloria Dei (Old Swedes) Church, on Swanson Street in South Philly. My first memory of it is walking through the rectory (where we met the retiring minister Dr. Roak, shaving in an upstairs bathroom), then having lunch at a McDonald's on Broad Street. It's the oldest church in Pennsylvania, established by Swedish settlers. They built a block church in the 1640's, then the current church was built around 1700 (of course with subsequent additions & improvements). It was originally a Lutheran church, but later became Episcopal.
This was the beginning of my connection to rivers. The church is along the Delaware River waterfront, and since marrying Dad in 1987 I have lived within a few blocks of the Susquehanna River.
The church location is interesting, it's between I-95 and Columbus Blvd (formerly Delaware Ave). This is part of the Queen's Village neighborhood. One of the constants of my childhood was traffic noise & a fine dust that accumulated all around. Only during snow storms was it blissfully quiet. One of the great things about the church is that its property is the middle of a city block, and the land on both sides of it is owned and maintained by the national park service. I believe the park service purchased the property & razed structures include many houses around the church in the 1960's. By the early 1980's, Swanson Street was closed off and the area in front of the church was converted to a small park. We lived in the rectory next to the church and enjoyed a lovely back yard, church yard and national park grounds. I spent a lot of time day dreaming in nice green spots - like about how much fun it would be if I were a bird or dolphin, and how fascinating it would be if I could walk the streets of Philadelphia during colonial times. You can understand why I am quite comfortable in cemeteries, in fact I enjoy walking through them.
Here are some of my memories of childhood in Philly.
- I finished 2nd grade at McCall Elementary School (7th St. near Pine St.) and continued through 8th grade. McCall's was a well-integrated school that included a substantial ESL program. It was about a mile away and we walked to and from school (there was no school bus service in the city, and Grammie believes in exercise). I was a year younger than my classmates, and didn't make friends easily. But I did well academically and had some good teachers (I'm sure you can think of your own mix of good & not-so-good ones). I remember one particularly well - Mr. Pietrafitta (Mr. P) was an English teacher and my home room teacher who loved opera. Mr. P taught us 7th graders to sing a duet from Mozart's Don Giovanni. The boys sang Don Giovanni's part and the girls sang Zerlina's part of La ci darem la mano. I still remember the words.
- Great Uncle John McCausland's unexpected death over the late summer of 1972 (Edie's father). We had visited Webster very shortly before and stopped to see him at the police station. And had a family picture taken at 14 Hill Street, except for Diana. Grandad brought me with him when he went for the funeral; I didn't attend the service, but went to the viewing (My Uncle John was the first deceased person I saw, I kept thinking he was just asleep).
- Uncle John's birth in September of the same year - you know that he's named John McCausland Rivers after Great Uncle John. Early in the morning, I remember Grandad calling up from the bottom of the stairs to tell us we had a little brother. This was not an easy time, as he had a birth defect which required surgery almost immediately after he was born. John was a big, sturdy baby and fully recovered. As far as I was concerned, he was a delight since when he cried it was a dull roar... unlike when baby Diana cried, which was a piercing shriek (very similar to your cousin Beatrice!). I remember that Julie and I took turns feeding him his morning bottle as quickly as possible, sitting in the rocking chair in his room.
- Julie and I dressing up as little Swedish girls for events like an early summer Colonial Fair which was held annually in the early years. It was fun, and my other fond memory is of delicious strawberry shortcake which was sold by the church ladies at the Fair. In later years, we were in a kids Swedish folk dancing group.
- House work. Grammie was a firm believer in learning by doing. In the rectory, we cleaned the upstairs on Wednesday afternoons, the downstairs on Sundays before church and folded laundry a couple days as well. Julie & I took turns doing dinner dishes/clean-ups. On Saturdays we typically had extra jobs like sweeping the patio. During the summer we had "special" jobs like cleaning silver, going through closets and the dreaded sweeping of the basement which created clouds of dust. (I did get a fundamental understanding of many household cleaning & washing activities, however did not get much experience with food shopping, cooking or personal finance stuff.)
- These efforts were rewarded by an allowance. I don't remember how much exactly, but it was enough for Julie and me to walk to Pop's store at 2nd & Christian St. for treats. As far as I could tell, he sold just newspapers and candy. One of our favorites we called "nominators", which are actually "Now and Later" fruit candy, reminiscent of Starburst. You can try them too - they're available at the Ballyhoo shop on Luzerne Ave.
- Living simply. A family of six is relatively large. Many of our clothes were from thrift stores, although some new items were purchased from Sears; Grammie would order from the catalog by phone. There were some hours of joy looking through Sears catalogs mostly at the toy section. Grammie shopped for produce at the open-air Italian market on 9th St (made famous by the Rocky movies). Grandnana was a talented seamstress and did make clothes for us (especially dresses) and knitted items with our initials (I still have my Christmas stocking and a pair of CR mittens). We didn't have normal milk, we had powdered milk (which was mixed with water in the morning, and never cold enough when eating cereal for breakfast). We didn't use facial tissues (toilet paper was a good substitute), avoided using paper towels and almost never had restaurant meals. But did go out for ice cream now and then.
- Attending Sunday school and then church on Sundays. Wearing a dress and 'church' shoes was a must. Also Sunday evening meetings and various outings with the Girls Friendly Society, which met at a parish building. I just read about it and now realize it's a girls ministry of the Episcopal Church - there more about Girls Friendly here. Here's a picture from Easter, 1975 (Nana made the girls' dresses).
- Having overnight and other visits with the Rivers family (Uncle Dick and Aunt Ginny), who lived in a Philadelphia suburb. They had a literal mansion on N. Ithan Drive in Rosemont. It had a ball room, servant's quarters, 9 bathrooms & was the absolute best place ever to play hide and seek. Their kids were close to our age - Matthew, Jessica and Steven - where all my other cousins were older. Below is a picture taken when we spent a summer afternoon together at the Mehoopany cabin. Back row is me, Jess and Matt; middle is Steve and John; front is Di and Julie. You know the special connection with cousins your own age, in your case it was Kyra and Lucy.
- Trips to northeast PA (Wilkes-Barre and Beaumont/Noxen area). We visited the Kerr family (Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob) on North Franklin Street, W-B. And spent time with Grandnana and my Grandad at their retirement house. Grandad had been the rector at St. Stephen Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre and retired in May, 1972 - notably, just before the Agnes Flood. The picture of them below is from 1974 or so.
- Occasional day trips, for example to Washington Crossing State Park along the Delaware River (you can guess how it got its name); Lums Pond State Park in Delaware and the Jersey shore. Usually we went to the park at Barnegat Lighthouse (the beach was great, the hour plus drive back to Philadelphia in a sandy bathing suit sitting on a wet towel was not).
- Vacationing a couple summers in Mehoopany (I wrote about previously, also see picture above), and later at Good's Campground in Red Rock. We took some other vacations including to Cape Cod and the blue ridge mountains going down to North Carolina - to visit the Carlson family (Aunt Margaret & Uncle Jack) and Grammie and Grandad Zeller. I cannot overstate how unbearably hot it was in Philadelphia during the summers. Often over 90 degrees & 100% humidity. We had fans, but other than Grammie and Grandad's bedroom and the kitchen there was no air conditioning. Getting out of the city was a blessing.
- In 1976, the 200th anniversary of adopting the Declaration of Independence was celebrated across the country. You can read about it in this Bicentennial Wiki article. This summer was unique because most days the church was open for tours hosted by church members in traditional Swedish garb.
- Going to Camp Lackawanna (in Vosburg, up-river from Tunkhannock), affiliated with the Presbytery of Lackawanna. The presbytery had purchased Camp Sterrett, a neighboring camp property, from the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem. Grandad and his family spent happy, busy times there during the 1950's while the camp was associated with St. Stephen's Church in Wilkes-Barre. Kids having a connection to St. Stephens were welcomed to Camp Lackawanna. During each summer from 5th - 7th grade, Julie and I spent a week at Camp. The first time was hard, I was pretty homesick. This week was still special, since Cindy Clauser from Slatington was in our cabin (maybe the put all the "south of the tunnel" types together?). We continued to be cabin-mates in later summers, then pen pals. And have stayed friends all our lives, she is now Cindi Reitz. I enjoyed camp so much that I came back as a Counselor in Training when I was 15. I'll write more about this in another post.
- The Lucia Fest. This was a Christmas-time pageant (and fundraiser) at the the church, held the weekend closes to Dec. 13th - the traditional winter solstice in Sweden. You can read about current traditions in Sweden in this article about St. Lucy. You are familiar with Lucia at Old Swedes, I will write about your star boy time later. I started at age 7 as one of the smallest candle girls (Julie started as a coffee girl at age 6). We had to learn 4 songs in Swedish. As the years went along, I learned more Swedish songs to sing with the big girls during the offertory. It was a special experience, and I remember feeling completely drained after 2 services on Friday then 3 each on Sat & Sunday. I wore the crown with candles to sing my Lucia solo in 1981 at age 16, which was exciting. Dad came to the ceremony. On chilly Sunday afternoons in November, I still think of rehearsals (I remember all the songs). And still wear my Lucia pendant around Christmas.
- I started high school in 1978 and graduated in 1982. Rather than our local South Philly high school, fortunately Julie, Diana and I went to the Philadelphia High School for Girls on North Broad Street and John went to Central High which was just down the hill from Girls High. Both were college prep magnet schools. Getting there involved a bus ride from Front St to Broad St, then a subway ride which totaled 45 mins plus each way. Other than the most obvious problem (no boys!!) and being so far away, Girls High was a good experience. I made some friends, who I have since lost touch with. Overall effective teaching, interactions with smart classmates and a wonderful music program. The best part of high school was being in the choir (then called "Treble Clef") and the orchestra playing cello. I worked hard, my GPA placed me close to the top of my class and at graduation (held at the Academy of Music on Broad St) Grandad gave the invocation since I was the highest ranking student whose father was a clergyman. I had a graduation party in the back yard later in the day - below is a picture of me, my friends Lynne and Lorraine, Uncle John and Aunt Julie. Dad came to both the ceremony and party.
Although the Philadelphia years weren't ideal for me socially, Philadelphia was an interesting place to spend formative years. After that it was off to King's College in Wilkes-Barre. I have no regrets, and have been happy to spend the majority of my life by the beautiful mountains and Susquehanna River in the Wyoming Valley.
