"Aunt" Wanda was not our Aunt at all, but we were taught to call her that, out of respect, since she was older than we were. We were never allowed to call adults by their first names, whether they were related or not. Her father found us in Schenectady, and brought Wanda and her brother, Leo, over to visit us, and we became close friends. Leo got the biggest kick out of my mother. The last time I saw him before he died, he remembered the shawl my mother kept hanging on a hook, on the back of the door. Leo said he always remembered, "every time we came to visit your mother, we weren't there 5 minutes, when she was out the door, with the shawl over her head, and back with a load of groceries to feed us". Wanda and Ray's daughter, Dorothy, was six months older than my daughter, Doris.

My father, Leon, was a musician as well as a machinist. He played the clarinet in small bands, and at parties. Dances were held upstairs, over Dan Donahue's store. Stanley, (husband), played drums. My father liked to play tricks on kids ... if a kid fell down in the street, he'd say, "Come here and I'll pick you up!". (another wise-cracker) DTC. One time my father stopped at a tavern on Front St., for a few beers, and met a nice looking young man there. He invited this man to come home and meet the family. When they got to our house, no one was home, so they sat at the kitchen table talking, until my mother arrived. She was shocked and surprised to see it was her nephew ... home from the war. He was looking for family, and did not know he was talking to his own Uncle! My Grandfather Szalwinski had a store on Crane St., when I was a child. He was a stern and silent man, and I was always afraid of him, although he gave us candy sometimes, (familiar) DTC. I have a cousin Bernice who lives up there now. She's 89, and lives in back of the Crane St. Co-op, right near where his store used to be. My mother's family never came to this country, but I heard one of her brother's had a coffee plantation somewhere.

When I met Stanley, I was quite young, but we wanted to get married. My mother said I was "crazy in the head", to get married at 17!! But I reminded her that she was married at 18, and I was going to do it anyway. He was 21, when we were married, at his parents house in Stuyvesant Falls, near Coxsackie. My wedding dress was a long blue chiffon velvet, with a matching hat, silver shoes, and a silver rose on the hat.

Stanley's parents were Daniel Joel Cole and Nancy Carman Cole. I'm afraid I didn't get along very well with Nanny. She always made me feel I wasn't good enough for her son. But I certainly tried! Grandpa Dan was easy to get along with, and had a lot of friends. He often had men over to play cards. And he loved the kids, as they did him. Our four children were born while I was still very young. The oldest, Charles Stanley, arrived on New Year's Eve 12/31/1925. (I was 18). He was named Charles, because Stanley did not like his own name, or want him to be called "Junior" all his life. He liked the name Charles, and when he worked at GE, a lot of his friends called him "Charlie". When he, (Chuck), was a baby, he fell off Nanny's lap and cried and cried, ... he couldn't even suck on a bottle.