First Home

Little Mary spent her first few 4 years in a modest two story frame house in Paulsboro, NJ at 25 East Washington Street. Her father Joe worked at a DuPont Plant in Gibbstown that made black powder. E va, Mary's mother, spoke scant English. So German was the primary language of the home for Mary and her two older brothers Joe and John. Sister Eva was 2 years younger than Mary. Tony was a baby.

The Paulsboro house had a front porch with a child's rocking chair. Circa 1920, little Mary loved to climb up on the seat, make herself comfortable, to sit and rock. She fell asleep in the rocking chair. A neghbor alerted Eva that her little girl was asleep. Her mother woke her up and took her inside. Mary cried. (Her mother always said she was a crybaby.) After a while, when no one was paying attention, Mary returned to the front porch and her rocking chair and rocked herself asleep again.

[Ed Searl]