She's a sweet older lady and she wrote a very touching column for The Detroit Free Press...

http://www.freep.com/news...030925.htm

I thought it was really nice...

MICHIGAN MEMORIES: As a kid, being an adult looked so easy and fun

Outings, innocence part of childhood
September 25, 2003


BY PAT WARZOCHA
SPECIAL TO THE FREE PRESS


I was raised on the west side of Detroit on Epworth until I was 6, when we moved to Chopin and Edsel Ford Service Drive.

My family had six children. Our brood included Peter, RoseAnn, Stanley, Thomas and Edward.

One of my first memories is of riding in a large wagon, pulled by one of my older siblings, to the vegetable market on the corner of Livernois and Warren. Coming home, I squeezed into the corner of the wagon, loaded down with all the vegetables and fruits it could carry.

My dad, Peter Warzocha, worked at Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Co. on McGraw, east of Livernois. I remember the plant's huge smokestacks and whistles. Dad worked there for 45 years.

As kids, sometimes we would walk with him to work; as teens, we would pick him up in our cars when the workday was done.

Our mother, Nellie Warzocha, would take us to Belle Isle on streetcars and buses. We always visited the aquarium and plant house. We would stay until it got dark, and I would usually fall asleep on the way home.

My favorite outing was going downtown. Even though these trips took place on a weekday, we would start out with mass at St. Aloysius Church on Washington Boulevard, then head to Cunningham's Drugstore for toast and juice.

No trip was complete without going to Hudson's and Woolworth. We came home with packages containing our purchases as well as fresh peanuts and cigars for my dad.

I am grateful for the innocent and carefree days of my youth.

One that was captured on film is my first Holy Communion. I vividly recall walking alone, early in the morning, to St. Andrew's Catholic Church on McGraw and Cecil, west of Livernois, just two blocks from our home. I wore a beautiful, white communion dress and felt so pretty. In the afternoon, my older brother, Ed, and I walked to the photographer on Michigan Avenue to have our picture taken, even though he had received his first Holy Communion the previous year.

High school days included a part-time job at the Neisner five-and-dime store on Michigan Avenue at Central Street, buying "Ingenue" and "Hairdo" magazines, sock hops, pep rallies, football and basketball games, driving up and down Hines Drive, and Stromboli's Pizza on Warren. It was a blast. I remember thinking how easy it was to be an adult. I was so naive and innocent.

Pat Warzocha has lived in Dearborn for the past 15 years and shares her home with her 4-year-old golden retriever, Katie. She has been employed by Wayne State University for the past 36 years and works in the department of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences.

Michigan Memories appears in Local News on Thursday. Mail your memories to the Detroit Free Press, c/o Betty Jean Collver, 600 W. Fort, Detroit 48226.
[This message was edited Thu Oct 2 8:01:20 PDT 2003 by applekisses]

This is very nice. There is much to learn through an intergenerational connection between all of us.

AnimalKingdom said:

I thought so too

She's a GREAT writer! A damned good story...