A Little Bit of History - A Few Great Memories

Elmira, New York is a very small town just over the Pennsylvania border. That was home to us for many many years, where we were born and raised. It was a great place to grow up, a real family town, with a lot of history. Back in our highshool days when Rich was a Southside Hornet, and I a Notre Dame Crusader.........we didn't know each other at all, even though we lived just a few blocks from each other. Back when Denny was born in 1969, downtown Elmira was like a street out of a fairy tale, and the population was somewhere around 46 to 48,000. In the summer of 1972, there was Hurricane Agnes, which was the first named storm of the season. It was barely a tropical storm when it hit Florida, but it worked its way up the east coast, meeting up with a tropical low and produced some of the worst floods of the century. The worst urban damage of the storm was in Elmira. Water rose to about 2 feet from the second floor at Rich's mom's house. After that, many of the manufacturing companies and factories began to close and today the population has dropped to just over 29,000. Denny was in New York at Fort Drumm for work, and when work was completed he headed to Elmira, NY. These are all pictures he took while he was there for the day and they sure did bring back a lot of memories. Love the Welcome sign - that's new! Did you know that while a small town with not much notice it was the home to some pretty cool people?

Geoff Bodine, Nascar stardom in the modified division, Eileen Collins who in 2005 was the first woman to pilot a space shuttle and command a space flight. And there was Ernie Davis, the star running back for Syracuse University and the first Black man to receive the Heisman Trophy. You all know Brian Williams of NBC news. He and I both grew up on the same street!!!! Then there was the Underground Railroad - and John W Jones, whose home in Elmira was the major stop between Philadelphia and Ontario and where he aided the escape of 860 runaways. Mark Twain also lived for a while in Elmira back in the later part of the 19th century and there is an octagonal shaped study that was given to him as a gift when he lived at Quarry Farms, that is located on the grounds of Elmira College.

The house on the left - Miller Street was Denny's first home. This is where mom and dad brought him home from St. Joseph's Hospital. The house on the left was his Grandma's house and the one that housed the flooding waters of the Chemung River in 1972. We had soooooo much fun here; great holidays, Grandma Stawn's kitchen filled with homemade baked goods, and we'll never forget that winter we built a huge snow slide in the backyard or the picture of my brother Dave, shoveling mud in the front yard after the flood. Can't believe these two houses are still standing - they were "OLD" back then, at that was almost 40 years ago.

And where did you go when you were a kid in Elmira? Well there was the Brand Park Public Swimming Pool that was crowded every day in the summer, and everyone went to the little concession stand outside after a swim for and icecream bar. Loved those creamsickles! Dun Field - Home of the Elmira Pioneers. We spent many an afternoon watching the baseball games, and always loved those days with double headers. This ballfield was built and opened back in 1939 and named after builder Joseph Dunn who donated the land to the city of Elmira. Baseball is still played there today. For many years it was part of the Eastern League and the NY-Penn League and today is part of the NYCBL one of the nations leading summer college baseball leagues. Who played or managed here? Earl Weaver, Cal Ripkin Sr., Lou Piniella, Wade Boggs, Curt Schilling
to name a few. Rich and Denny caught many a foul ball in this park.

And Eldridge Park!!! Denny mentioned that it really looked better than he expected after so many years. But what a place this used to be. Back in the 1850's it was beautifully sculptured plant gardens and then the city of Elmira purchased it in 1889. This was the home of "The Stage" where I performed in so many talent shows when I was very young, and where I even took 2nd place in the Miss Chemung County Pageant. It's where we held many a family reunion, played a little minature golf and watched the fireworks over the man made lake from the hoods of our cars. We rode the whip, the roller coaster, and bumper cars. Denny loved Kiddie land - and the Spook House, but couldn't wait to ride the roller coaster with Dad or scare me to death in those things that flew high and out over the water! The best Merry-Go- Round ever! And on each turn you'd stretch and reach to catch the rings. The gold ring and you got a free ride! We always went to the Penny Arcade and finished the day with ice cream, a candy apple or pink cotten candy. WOW - What great times.

But we're all grown up now. Much of the family still lives in the Elmira or surrounding areas. Denny stopped to visit briefly with a couple of his cousins, Tammy, and Danny - brother and sister and children of my late brother Don. These three spent a lot of time together growing up. Brings back memories of those Friday night auctions, family get togethers and UNO around the kitchen table. Rich and I had a cottage on Lamoka Lake, and my brother Don one on Waneta Lake. They are located in the Finger Lakes region, not far from the southern tip of Seneca Lake. The two lakes were connected by a canal and we would often make the trip back and forth by boat. The two families spent a lot of time together here in the summer........Fishing in morning, water skiing in the afternoon, cooking on the grill, fishing in the evening and then started all over again the next day! Denny - I know you still tell everyone about the roast of beef that turned to a rock cooking on the grill while we played badminton in the yard...... laughing with Dad in the boat when you'd turn quick and make me fall from my water skiis into the seaweed, how we never let Dad get a chance to fish, because he was always baiting the hook or taking the fish off for the two of us, the two "girlfriends" that you and Danny brought home to the cottage, and how we laughed when Danny's oatmeal was loaded with salt and not sugar...............And there was so much more.

Thanks for the pictures Denny - thanks for the memories.