1545 Mt. Ephraim Avenue Camden NJ about 1950 AUDIO INTERVIEW: LEONA BURDALSKA LARGE Leona Burdalska Large, born 21 October 1931. Left us on 2 January 2023. With daughter Deborah Large Fox Audio File transcript 19 APRIL 2017 L: Leona D: Deborah Deborah: This is my interview with Leona Burdalski Large, my mom, and she is … Continue reading A Family Grocery in Polish Camden: Memories of Leona Burdalska
Tag: family stories
Holy Kiełbasa, or Why Mrs. D Ate the Butter Lamb
When I was a child, and for many Polish Americans today, having the kiełbasa blessed by the priest was important on Holy Saturday. We ate kiełbasa year-round--with bread for lunch and kapusta for dinner or plain for snacks--but eating the blessed kiełbasa? Only on Easter Sunday. I don’t know if having the kiełbasa blessed is … Continue reading Holy Kiełbasa, or Why Mrs. D Ate the Butter Lamb
Snow Day
Snow Day “All clear!” the kid at the bottom of the hill yelled. We trusted that he was not lying about approaching cars because we were sledding down an icy street, no adult supervision. As if hurtling head-first on a wooden Flexible Flyer sled with steel runners sharp enough to slice off a limb wasn’t … Continue reading Snow Day
Trick or Treat/Smell My Feet
Tripping over the too-long hem of my Casper the Friendly Ghost costume, I elbowed my way past my friends, the Lees Avenue Gang, to the top of the steps and held out my pillowcase. We all chanted: “Trick or treat Smell my feet Give us something good to eat!” “And who do we have here?” … Continue reading Trick or Treat/Smell My Feet
Uncle Bill’s Stetson Fedora
Uncle Bill and Aunt Katherine Landy visit us at 1127 N. 19th Street in Camden NJ on Christmas Eve, 1956 My job, when company arrived, was to take the guests’ hats and coats upstairs to my parents’ bed. All the men wore fedoras. All the women’s coats smelled of Chanel No. 5 or a popular … Continue reading Uncle Bill’s Stetson Fedora
COFFEE TIME WITH SISTER WILHELMINA
“Child, what are you drinking?” Usually, we could hear a nun approaching behind us. Those clacking rosaries and heavy footsteps gave children advance warning before the wrath of heaven descended upon their misdeeds. I must have been extra tired that day because I heard nothing, not even the rustling of the voluminous black habit Sister … Continue reading COFFEE TIME WITH SISTER WILHELMINA
Philip Large. Detective, POW, and Newsboy
Philip Large “Are you a praying man?” Detective Phil Large said as he hoisted the suspect by the collar and belt, then hung him, head-first, out of the third story window. “If you are, you better start praying now.” According to the story told to me by a veteran detective in the Camden County Prosecutor’s … Continue reading Philip Large. Detective, POW, and Newsboy
THE HUMAN TOUCH
Dominican Sisters of the Shrine of the Perpetual RosaryHaddon Avenue, Camden NJ about 2007 The Human Touch A finger poked through the metal grate separating us. I reached out my hand and was immediately hooked into a finger embrace. “Me, too! Me, too! Me, too!” Fingers wiggled through the metal barrier that separated me from … Continue reading THE HUMAN TOUCH
A FEARLESS PARADE
Note: "Dziadzia" is a diminutive term that our family used for the Polish dziadek (grandfather). As children, we pronounced it "ja-ja." My grandfather could not fly, or leap over tall buildings with a single bound, but I would not be surprised if one day I heard a story told that he accomplished those feats and … Continue reading A FEARLESS PARADE
First School Dance: Crossing the Generational Divide
Collingswood Junior High School NOTE: "Linda" is a composite of my friends. In 1954, the most common names for baby girls were Mary, Linda, and Deborah. As my father pulled the car, full of giggling seventh-grade girls, alongside the Collingswood Junior High School gym on that cool September evening in 1966, I could hear the … Continue reading First School Dance: Crossing the Generational Divide
Deb Said 