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Neighbor Bobby Cartwright, Jack,Raymond in back, Tony Jr., crying about the fish, Rene next to Tony Jr.,, Donna in back, and Carol in front. Ray, Jack and Tony, and Carol are deceased. Ray at 71, Jack at 77, Tony at 43 and Carol at 28 yrs.

This was our back yard at 1310 Luther avenue in Forest Park, Joliet, IL. We had just come back from a weekend of fishing with Dad & Mom. Probably at the Fox River. Dad fished there and in the Kankakee River and at the Yorkville Dam. We had a huge garden on the left and I'm surprised that a chicken or Goose or one of our animals didn't get in the picture. We always had animals running loose. The goose and Gander used to chase me and nip at me all the time. I had a favorite pig who used to come to the pen fence when I called her Suey, but eventually she became our bacon, sausage and ham dinners. I'll never forget the night I heard her squealing so loud Dad and Grampa Altiery were out in the yard and Mom wouldn't let me go see what why Suey was sscreeching. In my heart I knew, so when I went down the basement the next day, I found my pig hanging from the rafters. When Mom put bacon or ham or sausage on the dinner table, I wouldn't eat, so Dad said "Well you must not be hungry so get away from the table until you decide you're hungry. We used to see chickens running around the yard with no heads and some were hung from our clothesline. Then Mom would boil buckets of water, soak the chickens and we had to pick off the feathers. Dad sometimes helped Mom cook and when they made lamb, I would throw up and go to bed because I couldn't stand knowing a lamb was slaughtered. Even when Dad skinned the fish, I watched him cut off their heads and I would cry. He yell and tell me to get away from there if I didn't like it .I didn't mind when he skinned the rabbits because the kids would all fight over who was going to get a lucky rabbit's foot to carry around in our pockets. Coming home from the river one night Dad had so many fish he put in the trunk but the turtle was so big it wouldn't go in there.

Dad told us to take a walk wwhile he figured out how to get the snapper home, but he said "Don't go very far because we will leave you behind if you're not here when it's time to go." Then he called us back to the car and all piled in and had to sit on each other's laps. Mom held Tony Jr. on her lap in front and because I so smaller than Carol I had to stand in the back.A short distance away I was crying that I was tired so Dad told me to lay on the rug he put on the floor behind the back seat. Just as I fell asleep, I felt the rug move, so I jumped up and started crying again yelling to Mom that the rug was moving. Dad said, "That's not going to hurt you, so settle down. It's only the turtle under the rug." I jumped up on Donna's lap and Carol let out a screech because she was already on Donna's lap and Donna squealed that we were too heavy. Dad said "If you kids don't stop the racket, I'm going to drop you all off right out here so cut the noise." Do your think we shut up? I guess so. It was quiet all the rest of the way home except for a few little moans now & then that someone's hand would go over my mouth or whoever would start to squeal. Looking back now, I treasure all that closeness, but when you're little, It's no fun at times. We didn't have the luxury of a complaint department. It was 'grin & bear it'.

A few years later when Sandy was born, things were even more hectic, so we had to move to a scary big 2 story house with an attic and a basement. After sleeping 3 or 4 in a bed, 2 in a bed was even more scary. The bedrooms were humongous and upstairs and our protective parents were downstairs. Topping it all off, we lived across the street from a cemetery and railroad tracks and the neihbor kids who were moving away told us our big house is haunted !!! Woe ! Woe ! and more Woe !