Early Memories - What Were You Like

Zelda Friedenrich Weiner's answers to questions posed by her great-grandson that were compiled in a book titled "Early Memories" are the basis for our July 2022 Monthly Memoir.

“Dear Zelda, at playschool we have been talking a little about cowboy history.  We became curious about life in the “old days.”  Together we thought of questions we wanted to ask. Please help me learn some of my family history by answering the questions below about
your childhood.      --Thank you!”

The book in our collection, Early Memories, is the result of this request to Zelda Friedenrich Weiner (born in Paterson, NJ, in March 1915) from Amos, her great-grandson.  After Zelda composed her responses to the questions, her family encouraged her to write more and then published the book to preserve her memories and learn from her stories.
 
This selection is an excerpted from the chapter “What Were You Like?”

What I really remember is that I was always busy.  There was so much to do with the other kids. The big hall in the [apartment] building and the backyard was ample for playing ball, roller skating, and looking for mischief.  There was school.  All of us went to the same school which was in the neighborhood.  When we came home from school we generally played with the local neighborhood kids.  Reading was a specialty of mine.  I can’t recall sitting and doing lessons although I was a good student.

Every Saturday afternoon I visited my friend Sylvia.  The members of this family were the first acquaintances my parents made when they settled in Paterson.  They lived in their own two-family house in the Totowa section, over the river and up the hill.  [In high school] Socially all of us were always together.  We would gather at one another’s homes and we could sit and entertain ourselves.  Dancing was a great joy.

As I look back on [Eastside High School], there were only about 20% of the graduates who went on to college.  We graduated at the height of the Great Depression and for most of us there was not enough money to go to college.  Also, it was necessary for each person to try to earn some money because very often parents were out of work.  I know some of the graduates later became professionals by working and going to school at night.  When I graduated from high school, I was fortunate enough to get a well paid job as a stenographer.

Following my first great job, I became a secretary to two lawyers, making the big sum of eight dollars a week. That lasted about four or five months.  I left when they could not pay me my salary.  They still owe me for three weeks work.  I guess I’ll never collect.
 
This selection is an excerpted from the chapter “What About Travel and Summers?”
 
As far back as I can remember Pop had a car.  The first car I recall was an Oldsmobile Touring Car, with a running board and an improvised way of holding a box of food for picnics and long trips.  It had a convertible top to cover for rain or cold.  There also were, I think, some attachable curtains for the sides with a type of Isinglass windows.  Cunningham Farm was our destination most summers, as soon as school was over.  It was very comfortable.  There was a huge kitchen and I suppose renters had time allotted to cook and serve their own food.  Later, we moved to White Lake (today called Kiamesha Lake) which had a waterfront.  There were a few summers we vacationed at the Jersey shore but the country vacations in New York were the most memorable.

Pop did eventually change his Oldsmobile.  I remember the Chevy vividly.  It grew old and it had a choke and a throttle on the wheel that had to be adjusted to start the car as you put your foot on the starter.  Just right and it started at once.  Of course, it was a standard shift car with four positions and a clutch pedal to enable changing gears.  I went for my driver’s license soon after I turned 17, but not in Pop’s car.  My friend taught me to drive his new car. The inspector was so nervous with an inexperienced applicant driving this “powerful” car.  He was happy when I finished the test.  Many years passed before Pop permitted me to drive his car and I never bothered him about it.  Mom wanted him to allow me to drive so one evening, coming home from work, he said I could drive.  We were about two miles from home on a wide main street and he kept saying “pull over to the right.”  He wanted me along the sidewalk.  When we came home, Mom asked “how did she drive?”  His answer, “…women don’t know how to drive.”  He eventually changed his mind.
 
This selection is an excerpt from “Looking Back”:

Writing about going to school and finding a place in life is one legacy I want to leave to the younger generations of grandkids.  You will find many things to interest you and many directions you will want to follow.  Be interested and be curious and find what you will love to do; but never give up your basic and advanced education.  Writing this memoir has encouraged me to look at my own life.  I’ve had a good life.  I may not always have thought it, but I had the best parents in the world and I was always surrounded by a wonderful family.  I could always depend on them when I needed them.
Zelda Friedenrich Weiner