by Ruth (Klinger) Cisowski February 7, 2010
My parents moved from Chicago to our house at 360 Oswego Street in 1953. There were no sidewalks only wood planks that led from the street up to our house. My mom planted two small evergreen trees out front of the house that were about 2 feet tall. My brother returned to Park Forest in the 1990's and told me they were about 15 feet over the house and that one had to be cut in half so they could get through the doorway and later was removed.
We moved to California in 1964 when my brother chose to go to Berkeley and my parents didn't want us to be separated by the distance. We watched Blackhawk Elementary and Jr. High get built and attended both which were constructed directly across the street from our house. The teachers were fantastic and I specifically remember Miss Pluzinsky who taught our science class and we watched the first space launch on TV.
I have many memories of skating on the flooded football field on Orchard, sledding on the hillsacross the street, drives through the Forest Preserve on hot summer nights, and of course, the Aqua Center where my Mom used to be a lifeguard. We were taught to swim around 5 or 6 and of course our goal was to pass the swim test to get into the "big pool" which meant you had to swim the 25 yards across by yourself without sinking. I remember the giant safety pins for our lockers, and the aqua center badge you got for passing the test you sewed onto your swimsuit to get into the "big pool". My Mom had us doing community service work at a very young age by working as swim buddies at the "Handy Camp" held at the Aqua Center every summer for disabled kids. It was amazing seeing the courage of kids who were blind or without limbs get in the pool eager for an adventure as a normal kid. I learned a lot of compassion and admiration for those who were far worse off than I in life. To this day I can still imagine the high chlorine smell of the pool on the skin of the lifeguards! We would lay out on the concrete areas near the pool soaking up the heat and sun. The McDonald's on site sold hamburgers for 15 cents and fries for 10 cents! What a bargain! Most of us were at the pool as early as we could get in and stayed until closing.
Saturday mornings my Mom would give us 25 cents for the movies at the Holiday Theater, 25 cents for us to pick out candy at the Karmelkorn Shop, and 25 cents for hot fudge sundaes at Kresge's. We loved to watch the intermission serials like "Rocket Man", the yoyo contests, and to sit in the balcony watching kids fling flattened popcorn boxes while we ate jujubees. Some of us would sit in the cry room and scream at the movies on occasion. Seems it was a ritual for many of us.
For some reason in the 4th grade the Board of Education made a stupid decision that I lived on the wrong side of the street and transferred me down to Sauk Trail for the 4th through 6th grades. I was lucky to have two memorable teachers - Miss Iola in 4th grade who brought back Kabuki dolls from her summer trip to Japan as well as oysters for us to put grains of sand in so we could get a pearl at the end of the term and my 6th grade teacher Mr. Hunt. I can still visualize his flat top and black glasses!
Our parents took us to temple every Friday night and both my brother Les and I went through Hebrew School and Sunday School resulting in both Bar/Bat Mitzvah's and Confirmation. My parents were active in the B'nai B'rith and Sisterhood and became chaperones for the 7&8'ers youth group. The temple held many summer picnics with softball, relay races, hot dogs etc.
One 4th of July is especially memorable as we had a high school senior from Norway stay with our family during their trip across the country. They stopped in our town to see a typical 4th of July celebration. At that time we had the tug of war, fire hose contest, fireworks and carnival. I had my first crush on the boy who sent me photos and became my pen pal from a far away land.
Most after-school days were spent roller-skating down the hill on our street with the clamp-on Johnson steel rollers we would tighten with a skate key. When it rained, we would play in the mud and make paper or walnut boats we would float down next to the street curbs. Our mothers would sit outside chitchatting on the front steps and we never had to lock our doors. Boy are those times gone...
At Rich East High we had teachers who loved to teach, Mr. Janota and his wild ties, Mr. Schmidt who taught us to recite "The Highwayman" as a group ensemble, Glee Club (now popular again), and had great bonfires for homecoming. Prom meant a trip on a slow train down to the University of Illinois and a night of partying. We had an all-star football team with guys like Rick Swerangen and a top-notch gymnastic team. Our biggest basketball player was 6 feet tall and we had a 5'6" guard on the same team who was great!
Life seemed simpler back then, and although I had the same growing pains as most kids having braces on my teeth, freckles and being very short, I made friends there, as did my brother who remain in my heart today. My brother is a successful lawyer and author, and I have a good life here in Thousand Oaks, CA now with my 3 grandkids living nearby. I would love to get in touch with some of the people I went to school with so please contact me either by email or on Facebook. rcisowski1 at aol.com.
