Two Former Members

January 13, 08

Once in a while I think about former members of the memoir writing class. During the nine years I have been in the this class I have met many interesting people with great stories. Lately I have been thinking about two in particular, Florio Franetovich and Bob Reiter. Florio has passed away and Bob resides in a retirement community in Catonsville.

The way I remember, they appeared in class about the same time. They knew each other slightly because Bob was once in Florio’s current events class. Bob was exploring the senior center looking for classes that would interest him. He settled on an art and a light exercise class, but his favorite class was our memoir writing class, especially when we went out for lunch.

When Florio entered the class someone whispered that he was a retired lawyer. I thought “Oh My” I had better check the story that I was going to read. It was about my father’s wild young days and his problem with alcohol. I didn’t want to give a bad impression of the kind of stories that were read, so I choose a more slower and dull story. I realized later that was a wrong decision because we shouldn’t hesitate to read about our memories, besides he was a lawyer and I’m sure he has heard everything. Florio loved people and the more people he was around the happier he seemed to be. He had a great understanding of people. I guess that came easy after fathering seven children. He and his wife Katy invited our class to their home for several parties. Needless to say they were wonderful times.

Getting back to the beginning of my story. When we enter the class room new faces stand out and we know we have a new member. When Bob appeared I thought he was a very shy and an unsure man. I don’t know how I could have been so wrong. Anyway, he was being asked many question in a friendly way, like are you married, how many children do you have and where do you live. He looked a little stunned, so I interrupted and suggested that we don’t want to interrogate him. He smiled and choose me as his friend. He was happy to learn that Mary Jo knew his father who was a medical doctor. She remembered him from her nursing days. I’ll never forget Bob’s first story. He wrote about the time he and his wife suspected there was a forth child on the way. After he left the house to go work he would call his wife during the day and ask, “Have you come around yet” and the answer was always. “No”. When Bob finished reading, Florio looked at him and said, “I didn’t think you would write about your wife’s monthly cycle”.

Florio’s stories started out about his immigrant father, how hard he worked and wanted his family to have a better life. Then he wrote about his large and wonderful family. He loved humor and enjoyed bringing in jokes for the class. Florio was the instructor in the current events class. My husband and I joined his class and Ed got to know Florio and liked him. Suddenly things started to change because illness struck Bob’s wife, then Florio and then Ed. Bob was ill when we met him, but he was in remission. It’s sad that when you are in your senior years you meet all of these nice people and then they are gone. We have to remember how wonderful it was to have known them and what we would have missed if it had never happen. At least I had Ed for61 years.


Audrey Kaminski

A Visit From An Old Friend

October 6, 08

Recently I had a visit from an old friend named Ruth, it had been many years since I had seen her.When her son learned that his mother had an old friend in Bel Air and he had a daughter living in Abingdon he offered to bring his parents for a visit. I will always appreciate his thoughtfulness.

I met Ruth in 1942 when we were about 15 years old . We were starting to work in Hutzler’s department store. It was during the summer and I was going through a bout of teenage depression. World War II was raging in Europe and in the South Pacific. My cousins, uncles and friends were being called up for the service. No one knew what this war was going to cost our country in lives and money.

My family was still struggling with the effects of the great depression. We lived from week to week and month to month. An English lady who lived across the street told my mother that Hutzler’s Dept. Store was hiring girls my age with a working permit. Mom soon took me to get a permit and off to Hutzler’s we went. It was exciting to enter a beautiful large store with beautiful clothing and furniture. The job was to serve food in a salad luncheon room on the sixth floor. A new style that was copied from a salad room in New York. The room was decorated in green and yellow colored leather chairs. The salad and deserts were well prepared. It looked like heaven to me. Located next to the Quixie was an elegant tea and dinning room and the chairs were covered with white satin with red stripes. There was a beauty Parlor on the same floor and the ladies would have their lunch sent over. A lifestyle at fifteen that I had never seen before.

The clientele were very courteous, not like the customers at the lunch counter in the basement. Sometimes on Thursday evening there would be a fashion show in the tea room. All of this was like a wonderful awaking and I was learning that there was a brighter side of life. It was a nice solution for a young depressed girl. I worked with a group of girls my age and we wore cute colorful uniforms. I became friends with some of them. Ruth Filbey and Loraine Schneider was two of them. Sometimes on pay day a few of us would go some where to eat. We also went to the movies or the roller rink together. In time we broke up to search for higher paying jobs. Some of us tried to keep in touch by sending Christmas cards. As the war ended most of the girls were getting married and starting families. Then when I was 50 years old I got word that Lorraine who was the same age had passed away. Now some of my friends were dying off. It was painful, but you have to learn to deal with it the best that you can.

In the spring of 2008 I sent Ruth a memoir story about taking a bus trip to the lovely little town where she lives in Pennsylvania. I was so close and knew I couldn’t see her because on a bus trip you have to stay with the group. Ed couldn’t drive that distance because he was having health problems. Then I received a call from Ruth that she was going to visit her granddaughter in Abingdon and her son could bring her and her husband for a visit. I was very anxious to see her after all of these years. I waited on the porch as the car pulled up. When Ruth got out of the car I could see the girl I remembered. Even though her hair was white her stature was still the same. She said she had some replacements, but it didn’t show. We both have some heart problems and that didn’t show either.

When I started to reminisce about our days at Hutzler’s Ruth had different memories then I did.. She didn’t seem to be impressed with the beauty of the store she remembered that we only made 25 cents an hour. It never occurred to me that we worked for such a low wage. I could see that Ruth was more practical then me and that I was a dreamer.

All that matter to me was that I didn’t have any money before and with my salary I could pay Mom 4 dollars board and have some dental work done on a payment plan. I needed one dollar for carfare and there was still some left over to buy a garment on lay away. Movies was 25 cents and if the girls ate out it was a cheap meal with no tipping. The experience lifted my spirits, made me happy and taught me to want a better life. I think that was worth more then 25 cents an hour. I was on my way to the future.

You Never Know February 20, 08

Today you never know what is ahead of you. Life use to be more simple. After growing up most people married young, had children and retired between age 62 and 65 and usually lived in the same house for many years. Ed and I followed this pattern very closely. In the year of 1989 after we retired we were not very happy knowing we had to relocate after thirty three years. Being retired we could live anywhere. Ed looked for the best buy he could find where ever it was. The house that we both liked for the price was located in Bel Air, an area we knew nothing about. I did like knowing it was a little closer to my sisters and later our youngest son and his family moved near by and that made us happy.

I was 62 years old, retired from a job I loved and wondered if the best part of my life was over. At least we could still travel, but that was about once a year with a few short trips in between. I needed something to fill in the rest of the year. That’s how I learned that you never know what’s ahead of you. I thought Bel Air was a lay back remote little town with farmers and hard working no nonsense people. The folks I met were very friendly, but I was surprised to find so many above average interesting people in this small town.

Ed was more out going then me. He checked out the senior center. I wasn’t quite sure if I was ready to join an old age club. I was already having trouble accepting my station in life. Then Ed decided to join a computer class at Harford Community College and later joined an exercise class. He was happy to be a student again. After a few years I gave in and decided to check out the senior center. I chose a ceramic class, then a quilting and craft class.

I learned a lot, but I wasn’t quite satisfied. Each time I saw the memoir writing class listed I would think I don’t know enough about writing to consider it, but then I remembered how much I enjoyed writing letters during the war. If this class didn’t work for me I could quit. On my first visit I knew this was what I was looking for. Many of the stories were about growing up, life experiences and travel. Some of the members were retired nurses, teachers and service people.

At that time I remember there were only two men in the class. One was our instructor Al Morey and the other was Fred Jacobs who was born in Germany long before World War ll. There was a lady who taught school in Egypt and another one who lived in Morocco for a few years and a retired army nurse from the Vietnam War. As time went on more men joined the class. During my time in class I met a retired psychiatrist, lawyer and semi retired judge. Once a new lady arrived and when asked about her deceased husband she said he was an army general. She became so inspired about writing her memoirs that she later wrote a book.

There was a lady from Norway and one from Germany and we heard stories about both countries. Some wrote beautiful poetry. All the stories were interesting even the one about a family kitchen table and how it was the center of gatherings for everything. I learned the more you write the better you get. In time you can see how to improve and be more descriptive, but best of all you are leaving behind a written legacy.

Audrey Teal Kaminski


Famous residents of Belair, Maryland

John Wilkes Booth -- American stage actor and assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
Edwin Thomas Booth -- Brother of John Wilkes Booth, son of Junius Brutus Booth. Considered one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of the 1800s.
Augustus Bradford -- 32nd Governor of Maryland, 1862 - 1866.
Cigar -- Champion Racehorse
Blaze Foster -- Actor The Brave One, Wifey
Julienne Irwin -- contestant in America's Got Talent, a nationally broadcast talent show
Kimmie Meisner -- Figure Skating Olympian, 2006 World Champion & 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Champion
Jay Witasick -- Pitcher for Tampa Bay Rays

The Man With The Little White Dog

Written September 21, 08 Audrey Kaminski

In our neighborhood there are a few walkers and joggers and then there was a man who walked a little white dog. He was very friendly and often stopped to let the children pet the dog. When ever Ed was outside working this man would stop to talk to him. I considered him another one of Ed’s many acquaintances. After Ed became sick and passed away I never noticed what was going on around the neighborhood, I was too busy trying to adjust to a big change in my life.

One day as I was washing my car I saw a lady approaching with this little white dog. She came to greet me. I told her I didn’t remember her, but I knew the dog. She smiled and said, “ Yes I know, my husband use to walk this dog”. Then she told me that her husband had passed away in May. She wanted to tell Ed, but she learned that Ed had passed away also. What a sad moment . We were two women in the same situation. Then she went on to say that she was still working, but was considering retirement. I told her that most people in the neighborhood were acquainted with her husband and the dog and we all thought that he must have loved that little dog very much. She explained that he hated that dog, but because he was retired he offered to walk him. How could we all be so wrong?

He was a man with an unpleasant chore, but turned it into a happy one. We will always remember him as a very nice person and the neighborhood will never be the same.