22.Graduation

Towards the end of my senior year I became very anxious to walk across the stage. During the second to last week of school it really started to kick in that we would not be returning to Thomas the following year. During the last week of school there is a common tradition at Thomas where the seniors do a senior prank. On the night before the last day of school my friends and i decided we had to pull a prank. We put all the soccer nets that were around the building on soccer fields in the Parking lot so put could not enter the school. Along with this our class was planning a beach day on the last day of school. We hooked up a bunch of hoses and gathered different things that we could use for beach day. In the morning a group of about one hundred kids showed up on the field where beach day was taking place. After already talking with our principle, beach day was a go. We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers on a grill and brought a bunch of drinks. It was the perfect way to end our senior year. As graduation came around people began to feel sad about leaving Thomas where they had so many great memories. At my graduation, I remember the different emotions in the air. Some people were crying while others were laughing and having a good time. As everyone crossed the stage it really hit me, i was done at Webster Thomas High School. At the end of our ceremony, close friend of the entire class and also the president of the class gave a speech. In this speech they gave us a challenge. They said we would have to hold our arms in the air next to us for 3 minutes. As everyone was wondering what they were doing this for a song came on. Lean on me, at this point i could hear people start to cry. For me a was a great was to end my graduation ceremony.

21.T-Birds

Over the summer of my junior year my friends and I decided we wanted to make our senior year the best we could. A few weeks before school started we started calling people and asked them if they were interested in joining a student cheer crowd for our football team. After rallying up about 40 to 50 kids we began to make our t-shirts. After our t-shirts were complete we went to the first football game. Knowing that everyone who was at that game who wasn’t a t-bird at the time now wanted to make a shirt and join. This cheer crowd connected many people in our school who would not have hung out with each other if it were for the t-birds. Before the games we would all meet at Boulters parking lot which is a huge warehouse across from our school. Here we would spend all morning grilling hot dogs and hamburgers and then walk over to the game as a group. This group ended up being a huge part of the school. Which teachers and our principle loving what we did, they decided to make it into a club at our school and had t-shirts made for us. When it came to our homecoming game it was very close. With plans of charging the field, we decided to do so. As Thomas stopped the opposing team on their last possession in overtime we lumped and ran over the fences and began to make a huge dog pile in the middle of the field with the players in it to. This is one of my greatest high school memories that I will never forget.

20.What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger

Playing a lot of baseball through my high school years I learned a lot and planned on playing my senior year and possibly in college. Throughout my lifetime I have had to persevere through many things. One of the hardest was getting through the end of my junior year. As a member of the varsity baseball team there is nothing to look forward to more than putting on that freshly cleaned uniform running out on the just groomed baseball diamond and getting yourself all dirtied up from sliding into second after a stolen base or diving after that ground ball hit hard up the middle and digging your cleats into the batter’s box as you step up to home plate. After being able to feel this for many years before, this year was different. Three days before our first game and just finding out that I was going to be the starting second baseman for our team, I had also found out that I had a genetic kidney disease. This changed the way the rest of the entire season had gone. I had found out from many doctors and professionals that my kidney had something going wrong with it. It was bleeding and what it was supposed to be doing just wasn’t happening. After sitting out the rest of the season and never being able to experience the feeling of stepping out onto that diamond and smelling the freshly cut grass I had never changed my mind about baseball. With my surgery a few days after our last game I never had been so disappointed in my life.
This did not only ruin the way my baseball season went but also my grades. I learned that going to class on pain killers was almost as affective as not going to class at all. For about 2 months of going to class with this pain I was so concentrated on my pain and what had been going on and not on my classes. After going through many MRI’s and CT scans the doctors began to wonder if I had kidney cancer. While they were testing this for about a week I had never seen my mom cry so much. I remember lying in my bed at night and hearing my mom crying herself to sleep and both of them talking about what they would do if I did have cancer. After having my surgery I learned that my disease did nothing but make me a stronger person. Even today I still must go through these tests every few months and for weeks after there is much stress in my mind and my families too.

19.Willink Middle School

Ever since I was a young kid I loved physical activity and playing sports. In middle school I learned what it was like to play on a modified and freshman sports team. With many of the kids playing their first year at these sports in middle school it was difficult to watch let alone play on the same team as some of these kids. Doing many activities including soccer, basketball, football, baseball and skateboarding, I kept myself very busy. I had some great coaches that knew how to have fun and some that made me want to quit. Skateboarding was something I did for fun with kids in my neighborhood. The summer going into seventh grade I remember building at 7 foot tall half-pipe in neighbor’s yard. After the half-pipe was complete was would spend days and nights skating on it. Even if kids did not skateboard they still enjoyed coming to the ramp and watching us skate. I remember how nervous my mom was when she saw me start skating thing I was going to crack my head open. As I got older and entered high school I stopped playing football and basketball and concentrated more on soccer and baseball. My freshman year I played soccer and baseball and enjoyed both. The next year I decided to stop playing soccer and spent a lot of time playing baseball. Through middle school I developed many close friendships that seemed to get closer as I got older and stuck with them until now.

18.Growing up in Webster

As a kid growing up in Webster I always enjoyed spending time with my friends in my neighborhood. I remember spending all of my childhood running around the neighborhood playing wiffleball in backyards hockey in the streets and football in open fields. Often times we would play with the same group of neighborhood kids. At night we would meet up with other neighborhoods around us and get big games of hide and go seek in the entire neighborhood. Going to Klem Road North Elementary school I was friends with a lot of kids from other neighborhoods too. Getting bus passes to other kid’s houses was always very fun to do. Often times I would go to friends houses on Fridays eat dinner there and then spend the night. Some of my greatest memories as a kid growing up consist of going to friends houses with a large group of my friends and we would spend all night watching television and talking about what went on throughout the year. In the winter I would gather a group of my friends to come to and go sledding at Webster Park which was a very popular sled hill in Webster. My friends and I would get together make jumps and see how high we could go off of these jumps. When it came to Middle School I was the first class to complete three year there seeing that the middle school was just built. Middle School was very different from elementary because the fact that we were given lockers to keep our stuff in. This also was a huge transition because you meet many new people and say goodbye to many others. Since Webster has two middle and high schools often times they choose a group of elementary schools to go to one and a group to go to the other but my school was split down the middle due to where they lived in my town.

17.Raising the Kids

“Life was pretty simple. Raising the kids as toddlers was fun; we would go to playground and on walks and bike rides. I did not make them join organized activities while they were young. I enjoyed spending time with them. We would set up play groups with other stay at home moms and their kids. I never regretted staying at home with our kids; they always had their mom at home to talk to. I was fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom ever since we decided we wanted another child.” My Dad told me stories of when he used to get called into work in the middle of the night and work his job and then when he got home he would have to take care of me or my sister when we were babies crying in our cribs. My mom would wonder why he was so tired the next day, not even knowing that he was called into work for a few hours he night before. Many years were like this for my dad’s first few years at Fairport Electric. In 1996, I found out I was pregnant again. I suffered a miscarriage with that baby and then another miscarriage in 1997. In august 1999 we finally had our third child named Mackenzie Rose Travis. She was such special blessing for our family. We had suffered such hard ache over the years and finally got her. Her older sister and brother loved her and finally had our complete family of 5.” Living in three bedroom house with five people was very tight. In 2003, after a few years of putting my little sister and big sister in the same room my parents decided to put a big addition on our house. We extended our kitchen and added a bedroom on top of that. This created a lot of room for us to live in.

16.Getting Married

In 1983 my mom and dad met at a local tavern called Flaherty’s that was a popular hangout for people in Webster. One year later my dad decided to propose to my mom while playing the song you really got me by Van Halen. During the year they were engaged they bought a house together but my mom was not allowed to move in until after their wedding. After their wedding they went to Disney World for their honey moon. After the honeymoon my mom was allowed to move into the house they purchased. In 1986, “we were blessed to find out we were expecting our first child. In 1987, we had a baby girl and named her Brianna Travis. Unfortunately 13 hours after her birth she passed away due to complications with her labor. She developed severe phenomena which was caused by me conium aspiration. She was born three weeks over due. She was then rushed to strong memorial hospital for the best possible care, but was too sick to survive. This changed the way that your dad and I lived the next few years. After planning our baby’s funeral we were forced to grow up very quickly.” During the time of mourning my mom and dad attended many of their friend’s weddings. They said for about 3 years they attended 10-12 weddings a year. My mom got a job at Voit for a few years where she met Patrick Ewing who was a player on the New York Knicks. In 1988, my mom quit her job and had another child. This was my older sister named Stephanie Lynn Travis. After two years off of work she realized she wanted to spend the rest of her life as a mom. She had another child named Daniel James Travis in 1990. Living on a tight budget with my dad only making 28,000 dollars a year my parents needed to do something to lower the cost of living. They refinanced their house and brought the payment of the house down from 735 dollars a month to 600 dollars a month. This helped with supporting the family but we were still forced to live on not much money.

15.Finding a Career

When my dad was in high school he could not wait for it to be over with. He had a lot of friends and liked some of the teachers but he was just “not cut out for the classroom and college.” This was why he decided not to go to college. Some of his friends went to college and enjoyed it while a few of his others friends went to college “had a little bit too much fun and had to drop out or failed out.” After High school he decided to start his first big job at Bausch and Lomb working in the stock room. When he got transferred to a different department building he was laid off. Since he was the last full-time person hired he was the first person to get laid off. His next job was for the Rochester Cable Vision. Here he learned how to climb telephone poles and hook up cable. His area was Webster/Penfield and he was able of mapping out his area without any maps. After a while the company wanted to switch some of the City installers with some suburban installers. Being one of these swaps, he tried working in the city for while but did not like it at all and decided to quit. His next job was for Fairport DPW doing body work and mechanical repairs. After a couple of years working this job a position opened up at Fairport Electric. Since he knew how to climb poles from his past job he decided to apply. 27 years later he is still working there and is now a crew chief.

14.Cars and Street Racing

(Direct Quote from my Dad) During High School I never really worried too much about my classes and homework, I just really like cars. When I went to Webster Schroder I attended the Forman center for auto body. During the time my aunt asked me to fix up her older beat up 68’ Camaro. The Camaro had some rust around the edges and an old beat up convertible top. Every day I would have to drive the car to the Forman Center and work on the rust and the faded paint, at the end of each day I would spray paint some primer on the spots that I just finished working on. After a couple of months, this car was so ugly that nobody wanted to be seen driving in it. Towards the end of the year the Camaro was ready for paint. I painted it Factory Chevy Blue, cleaned up the tires and had a new white top put on it. After the car was done I drove over to my friend’s house. From the day forward everybody wanted to be seen driving in this car. After giving it back to my aunts I decided that I wanted my own car looking like that. So after buying another 68’ Camaro I had a lot of work to do. I had to rebuild the engine, change the wheels and tires, and then needed to repaint it. (Before and After Pictures) A few years after the Camaro was done my friend called and said that there was a wrecked 80’ Corvette that he had scene. After buying that car I fixed that one all up too. After making these cars I always would want to test how fast they would go. So my friends and I would take our cars down to Lake Ave. in Charlotte where many people would go to show off their car and race them. After walking around Charlotte for a while, you would pick out a car that you wanted to race against. After you had the car you wanted to race against you would drive up to the parkway and race. At the time I was a really big fan of foreigner and since Lou Graham was from Rochester he would sing about racing in Charlotte and on Lake Avenue. In his song Rev on the Red Line, he sings about watching people race on Lake Avenue. (1 minute and 8 seconds into the song you hear him say Lake Avenue)

13.Mothers High School Years

Webster Schroder High School was the only High School in Webster at the time that my mom had gone there. With very lenient rules my mom remembers high school as some of the best times she has had. Some of her best memories come from her senior year in 1982. After driving to school in a 1976 Camaro, my mom would attend a few classes, but spend much of her time hanging out around school or would leave school with a group of friends and hang out at different places around Webster. She was a varsity tennis player and played on the team until the end of her senior year. Her high school dances, prom and ball were held in her high school cafeteria. While attending Schroder High School my mom remembers how different it is from high school today. With a smoking lounge right next to the cafeteria it was not unusual for someone to smoke inside the school building during their school day. At night my mom would get ready in her jordache jeans get her hair all done up in a perm and go through cans of hairspray to keep her hair nice and curly. Since Disco music was very popular in the early eighties my mom would go to club 2001 or Club 747 and disco dance. Another popular hangout for high school kids was Flaherty’s. Flaherty’s is a tavern in Webster. This was a very big hang for kids at the time from the ages of 16 up to about 21 everyone would go there. After her High school graduation ceremony in her Schroeder’s gym, my mom decided to go to Monroe Community College as well as work part time as a mortgage originator at Nothnagle Home Securities. My mom decided that she really enjoyed working in real estate and decided to drop out of MCC.

12.Our Move to Florida

During the 1960’s jobs were very easy to find in the Unites States. With this in mind my grandpa decided to drive to Florida hoping to find a new job. After interviewing for a job in Florida, he found out the same day that he got the job. So, after living at 264 Oakdale drive in Webster for a few years and having two children, my grandparents decided it was time for a change. My grandpa decided to take up the job offer in Florida and move there. With plans of having both of their parents moving down with them they thought it would be a better place to raise their children and live a happier warmer life. In 1972, they moved into a small apartment complex on Kendall Drive in South Miami. During this time my mom, Debbie, and Aunt, Lynne were still in grammar school. For them changing schools was very hard, not because of making friends but more because the school they would be attending was a bilingual school. The name of the school was School without Walls. At this school my mom and aunt learned both the English language and Spanish. Even today my mom remembers songs and Spanish words that were used a lot in the classroom. At the time there was not much transportation to and from school and my grandparents did not feel safe having their first and third grade daughters walking to school in the city so my grandma had to bring them to school every day. While in Florida my grandpa worked as a payroll specialist at Pemar Industries which was an engineering company in Florida. At this company my grandpa only made 12,000 dollars a year which is only 86 dollars a week. This forced them to living in a transient apartment complex. At this apartment complex my grandparents met many people. This included many Puerto Ricans, Cubans, single mothers, and a group of people from New York City. While living in this apartment my grandma made friends with one of these single mothers who happened to be Ernest Hemmingway’s niece. After going to Disney World its opening year and staying at the Polynesian Resort my grandparents decided Florida was not the place for a family, but more a place for vacation. In 1973, my grandparents decided to move back to Webster.

11.Being a Wife and Mother

In 1963, Jim Eggleston and Yvonne Knittle got married. At their wedding they seemed to meet many of the people who we are still friends with today. They met a man named Raul Perez at our wedding; he came with a relative from Florida. After speaking with Raul for a long time the day after their wedding they found out a lot about his life. Raul was able to leave Cuba, and go to Florida. He left his family behind in Cuba. Raul's one brother was a communist member; this caused many problems for him when he tried to leave Cuba and enter the United Stated. For years he was never allowed to return to visit; when his parents passed away, he could not go back for their funerals. After many years and still remaining in contact, they still speak about how they met. “After many fun years with our friends we decided to settle down and start a family”. In 1964, they had their first daughter. They named her Deborah Jane Eggleston. After, two years had pasted and a lot of work with their first child we had another daughter named Lynn Marie Eggleston. “Since Jim’s salary was not very high at only ninety five dollars and military reserve pay at only seven dollars a week it seemed like he was putting in a lot of work and we were not getting very much in return.” Being at home with her daughters raising them most of the time it became hard not seeing her husband much. With a mortgage payment of seventy two dollars a month it seemed like they were living off of nothing. They did not seem to have much money to do much more than live off of what they had. Since my grandma had a job before she had two daughters, she had to take years off of work to raise them. “This turned out well and I am glad that I decided to do that.” All through the sixties and even into the seventies she stayed at home. She enjoyed watching her daughters grow into young women and loved teaching them and helping them through some of the toughest years. After years of being a stay at home housewife, she decided to go back out and get a job.

10.Life During the Kennedy Era

The election of 1960 had a huge impact how the rest of the sixties went. My grandmother remembers vividly watching the two candidates, Nixon and Kennedy, on television. These two candidates were always debated certain issues of the time. Kennedy was a young unknown senator to my grandparents and they really did not know much about his experience or what he wanted to do for our country. Nixon was older and much more experience. When it came to voting time both of my grandparents remember voting for Kennedy because after watching him campaign for many years after their first time watching him they both seemed to like his younger new style and ideas. Once Kennedy was president my grandparents remembered a lot of happiness in the country. It seemed like everyone loved the Kennedy Family in office. My grandma said directly that it was a “Very sad day when John F Kennedy was shot. I remember vividly working at Kodak Office on State St. hearing the news and spending the next day’s watching TV at a conference room, cafeteria settings.” When this happened everyone seemed to congregate together in disbelief. After going home from work my grandparents met up and talked about what had just happened to our country. My grandma said that for the next few months “it seemed as if this event changed the nation.” “Everyone seemed to come together”, she said, people all over were talking whether they knew each other or not. It was talked about on all newspapers, news stations, and all over the streets. In 1968 my grandpa, Jim, shook Bobby Kennedy's hand when he came thru Rochester campaigning for the democratic primary. When Jim was at his mother's house, Kennedy's car came parading down her street and he reached out and shook his hand. “He was so excited.” When I was talking to my grandpa about it he had a different tone in his voice, he said “Daniel, you could even believe it; he stuck his hand out the window and shacked my hand, unbelievable.” That summer Bobby Kennedy was killed during a primary rally. He too is buried at the Arlington Cemetery with a very simple white cross as a grave marker. My grandpa said this death had a bigger impact on his life than John F Kennedy’s. After this day my grandparents went out and bought their first American flag. The death of these two great men seemed to have that kind of impact on everyone in the United States. Ever since then my grandparents have not gone a day without hanging an American Flag from the front of their house.

9. "How we Met"

While my grandpa was a junior at St. John Fisher, his friend from Aquinas who also was going to Fisher was dating a woman who worked at Kodak. This woman at Kodak was good friends with my grandma, so the two of them decided to set my grandma and grandpa up on a blind date. They were about 20 years old when they went on their first date. It was February 3, 1961 when my grandpa and his friend from school brought my grandma and her friend from work to a double header basketball game held at the Buffalo Auditorium. St. Bonaventure was playing against St. Joes in the first game. After leaving mid-way through the next game they all decided to make a drive up to Niagara Falls. While walking around in Niagara Falls and watching the falls for a while my grandpa bought my grandma a rose. “Starting then, I started to call her Rosie,” my grandpa said. The night seemed to have gone perfect for the two of them until it came time for my grandpa to drop her off. Not getting back until 4 o’clock in the morning, my grandpa though her dad was gonna come out with a shot gun. After dropping her off, he made sure he got out of there fast. After weeks went by and staying in contact with each other it was time for the two of them to meet each other’s parents. My grandma was very nervous going to my grandpa’s house to meet his parents. She described his Father as an “Archie Bunker kind of man, very intimidating.” My grandpa’s family called my grandma “Frenchy” because they figured since she was French she would hate Italians. When my grandpa went to meet my grandma’s family it was very quiet. Both my grandpa and my grandma’s father were very shy and nervous people. So at dinner there wasn’t much conversation which did not bother my grandpa at all.

8.Cuban Missle Crisis

During this time period Military draft was still in effect. If one left college or didn't go to college, they were open to be drafted for 2 yrs. active duty, 2 years reserves or opt to be a reservist for 6 months active and 5.5 years of reserve. In the event of a national event, reservists were compelled to serve. In that timeframe, some ran to Canada to dodge the draft or declare being a conscientious objector or one who believed in non-violence, no war. During this time my grandpa Jim spent 6 months in active duty and 5 and a half years as a reservist. Some of his instructors were activated to Homestead Fla. for training in case there was an issue with Cuba and the Russian missiles that were there. My grandpa came very close to being sent into active duty during this time. With the missiles put into Cuba the United States began to take action by placing more reservists into duty. During this time both my grandparents remember being very scared with missiles so close to American soil. Since my grandpa knew what these nuclear weapons could do, for those two weeks it seemed like everyone was very content with what they did. Remembering many of his reservist friends who were sent into active duty from his same company, he never realized how close to this crisis he really was.

7.Teenage Dances

Sock Hops and Roller Palaces: Often times for school activities the student government would organize different types of dances and activities to do. The most popular activities during the time were sock hops, Roller Palaces, and dances. The sock hops were usually high school or middle school dances that students would attend and they would dance on the gym floor in their socks. They would usually dance to rock and roll or other popular music that was out at the time. Roller palaces were places where people of the community could go to dance and skate with roller skates on in a big area that was meant for skating. They had loud speakers and also would play popular music of the time. Aquinas Academy had dancers mixed with all girls’ schools in the area so they could get to meet girls since they didn’t go to school with any. They called these mixers. These happened many times a year. Often times the men from Aquinas would end up dating girls that they met at these mixers. The dances at my Grandmas school were always in her gym and she always would go. These dances were always the big thing to do during their high school days. It was always the big thing to get asked to go to these dances and then get all dressed up.

6.Popular Music

The style of music changed greatly during this time period. During one of the most popular television shows of the time one of the most popular artists was introduced. His name was Elvis Presley, and he was introduced on the Ed Sullivan Show. This was when both of my grandparents were older in age and were both able to understand what was going on. They seemed to remember this vividly. It was a Sunday night and he had a completely different style of music. Originally many people were against the style of music and dancing that Elvis was doing. My grandmother remembers many people were very offended when Elvis would shake his hips. So often times when they showed him on television they would only show either his top half or just his face. Since many people grew on the dancing style and what he was singing, media began to film his whole body and his dance moves. Elvis was one of the most popular names in rock and roll and the reason that rock and roll got so huge during this time. Many other bands also began very popular due to Elvis making this style of music. Each of my grandparents was very big fans of rock and roll. Rock and roll is the reason that many events during the fifties happened such as the most popular sock hops and different kinds of Roller palaces. These were very popular activities for teenagers during the fifties. My grandma remembers everytime Bill Haley's song rock around the clock came on my grandpa would have to get on the dance floor with her and do the twist. When i was talking to my grandma about this and my grandpa left the room i turned the song on, on my computer and when he came back in the room my grandma convinced my grandpa to show me what the twist looked like. My grandpa was laughing through the whole thing and was wondering where i found the song on my computer, not understanding that you can find everything on the internet.

5.Poodle Skirts and High Heels

The women’s style was very different to those before the time period. My grandma had to wear very different styles to her school and when she was out with friends. To school girls were not allowed to wear pants or short skirts like they can now. Then they would have to wear long skirts or poodle skirts. She said all of her friends had similar skirts with a poodle in the bottom corner of it. With the skirts they would usually wear saddle shoes, loafers, or white bucks. All of these shoes looked very similar. When my grandma was not in school she would often times wear dickeys which were a brand of jean in the fifties and I believe it is still around now. Also she would very high heel shoes when she would wear skirts. The skirts that she wore were very wide at the bottom. Due to this women would wear slips under the skirts often a color that would match the outfit that they were wearing.

4.Dungarees and Undershirts

The 1950’s was a period of many different types of styles. This includes hair, clothing choices, and footwear. Living during this time period as a middle and high school student it seemed to be the perfect time period for my grandpa to show interest in these styles. He said as a young teen he would wear the most popular shoe of the time, the “P F flyers.” Along with P F flyers as a young boy he would wear a ball cap a pair of dungarees with a white undershirt. As he got older and moved into the high school he picked up smoking, but only when he was out of season for sports. Attending Aquinas Academy it was viewed as disrespectful if someone smoked while in season for sports. As soon as his season ended, he began to smoke. To hold his cigarettes he would roll the sleeves to his undershirts and use that as a little holder for them. He would usually only smoke lucky strikes, once in a while he would buy a pack of camel. My grandpa’s style while attending Aquinas Institute was to wear dungarees with flannel lining and the bottoms rolled up. Along with the dungarees he would wear a plain white undershirt or an undershirt with a flannel shirt over it. The shoe of choice for him was either the penny loafer or white bucks. The white bucks are popular shoes that were made popular by a man named Pat Boon. He would gel his hair in the “D A” style which was when all of the back was gelled together. This choice of clothing was only when he was out of Aquinas. Since Aquinas had a dress code to school he would have to wear khaki pants and a collared shirt with a tie and a nice pair of shoes.

3.Catholic Schools and Military

After attending a catholic grammar school called Holy Rosary, my grandpa, Jim Eggleston attended an all men’s catholic school named Aquinas Institute. With a very strict disciplinarian it was impossible to get away with anything. Since the dress code was enforced, being caught without khaki pants, a collared shirt, a tie, or a nice pair of shoes would result in a punishment. Aquinas was a very strict school and a disciplinarian who took nothing lightly. Being an x-marine his punishments were very harsh. For something as simple as walking down the wrong side of the hallway, a student would receive a punishment. These punishments usually consisted of either a hit on the back and backside with a hose or getting smacked on the knuckles and wrists with a meter stick. Starting in grammar school Catholic schools were a very popular place for my grandpa to go. So ever since he met a camp counselor at his neighborhood playground that attended the University Of Notre Dame which is also a private catholic school he was determined to go there. After being accepted into this University he was very excited to attend but then financial problems stood in his way. With four younger sisters in his family they did not have the money to afford a college like Notre Dame. So after he denied their acceptance he decided to attend St. John Fisher College which at the time was 400 dollars a semester. While attending fisher he decided to rent an apartment with a few of his friends. His first week at fisher during orientation, the freshman had to face a challenge. The upperclassmen placed a hat at the top of a tall 20-30 foot poll and challenged the freshman to climbing it and retrieving the hat. After they greased the poll the freshman would climb while the upperclassmen tried knocking them off the poll by throwing tomatoes at him. After leaving Fisher before graduating he enlisted in the army reserve in order to avoid the draft. At this point he had to attend basic training in Fort Dix New Jersey. After Basic Training you went to Fort Gordon in Augusta Georgia. Here he went to a teletype school where he learned how to type. He had to take tests and he learned to type 92-100 words a minute. He remembers taking another soldiers test for him because the other man could only type about 25 words a minute. After about 10 weeks he went to Camp Drum in Watertown. Here my grandpa was the head of payroll; he would have to attend weekly meetings in order to keep the payroll in order. This camp is now Fort Drum, which is one of the largest military bases in the country. After serving in active duty for six months and going through physical training every day, he learned how to shoot, throw grenades, and fight. After becoming a three stripe sergeant, he left that part of the military and to become a reservist for 5 five and a half more years before leaving. During these years my grandpa was used as a transportation solider. He was in charge of transporting colonel and captains to different bases along the North Eastern Coast.

2. Technology in the 1950's

Appliances (Contexts): Before Television the way to get information and entertainment was through the radio. Growing up my grandmother would always listen to stories on the radio. For her Sunday nights were family nights. After her dad would purchase one Baby Ruth candy bar, he would cut it up into three pieces and give each of them a piece. While sitting on her parent’s bed with her brother, sister, and parents and listening different stories they would enjoy their little piece of the candy bar. Her personal favorite was a story called “the shadow.” Besides the television another huge invention during this time was the telephone. The way the telephone worked at the time was that each household was put on a “party line.” This means two or three families would split the line with each other. When my grandma and grandpa would pick up the phone as kids they would have to say the extension number and then they would be connected. Sometimes when they picked up the phone neighbors who were on the same party line would be talking so the funny thing to do was to listen in on their business. Another new invention during the time was the Wringer Washing Machine. This machine would wash your clothes for you, but not wring them out at all. So as kids they would have run them through the wringer at the top of the washing machine then hang them on the clothesline either in the backyard or in the basement. This was part of Yvonne’s chores around the house. She remembered what a pain it was the wear clothes that were so stiff from the drying racks.

1. Being a Child in the 1950's

The nineteen fifties brought about many visions of my grandparents life as they grew up. My grandmother, Yvonne Knittle (at the time) had vivid memories of what great times she would spend on 187 Farmington Road, Rochester New York. With an older sister named Malou and a younger brother named Renee they spent much of their time running around the neighborhood and playing ball in the streets. Since the backyards were filled with large victory gardens, ball in the street was a common activity for Rochester kids. During one of their games my grandma remembers one of her good friends on the street hitting the baseball straight through her neighbor’s window. These incidences many times resulted in a week off of the streets and the kids were forced to find something else, such as, playing on clotheslines in backyards. As kids they used to clothesline as jungle gyms and would hang upside down off of them. My grandpa, Jimmy Eggleston had some similar memories to the time period. AS a young boy living on Lexington Ave. each neighborhood had a large playground. Each of these playgrounds had a softball field and a team. After meeting early in the morning at their shed, that was located next to the field, they would walk or ride bikes to other playgrounds and challenge these teams to a game. With about eight playgrounds in the area they seemed to get a good number of games in each week. After spending hours at playgrounds and on the streets my grandparents would return to their homes with groups of friends and hang out on the large porches on the front of their homes. Since both of my grandparents were the first on their streets to purchase televisions around 1951 many neighbors seemed to congregate towards their houses. At the time televisions were in black and white so both my grandma and grandpa remember covering their televisions with a multi colored see through piece of plastic. Since each section of the colored board was different each part of the person’s body on the television was different. Looking back and talking about this, made my grandparents begin to realize how much the times have changed.