Oral history interview with John Leichtenberg

Oral history interview with John Leichtenberg

Madison (Wis.)

Copyright 2014, John Leichtenberg and Westmorland Neighborhood Association. All rights reserved. For more information, contact Madison Public Library.

Leichtenberg, John

Martinelli, Tom

2014-10-02

This is an oral history interview with Westmorland neighborhood resident John Leichtenberg.

Madison, Wisconsin

Dane County, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

en

westmorland-020

John Leichtenberg Interview
Westmorland Addresses: 4113 Paunack Avenue (1931-1938)
3921 Paunack Avenue (1938-1949)
Current Address: 7818 W. Oakbrook Circle, Madison, WI
Interviewer: Tom Martinelli
October 2, 2014

[0:00:00]

Tom: Today is Thursday, October 2nd, 2014. This is Tom Martinelli.

I'm sitting here with John Leichtenberg and we're talking about his memories of growing up in the Westmorland neighborhood. So thanks a lot for visiting with us today John; we'll get started on our list of questions here.

John: Thank you for being here.

Tom: Just kind of getting to know you and your background, where were you born?

John: I was born in Madison at St. Mary's Hospital; 1931, August 25th. My mother had been a nurse at St. Mary's for some time and eventually married my father. And as result of that.... the birth of myself, my sister and my younger brother.

Tom: Okay. What was your address in Westmorland?

John: The original address was 4113 Paunack Avenue. That was in 1931, and then in 1938, my father built a home at 3921 Paunack Avenue on the corner of Paunack and Toepfer where we resided up until, well, the death of my mother several years ago.

Tom: So you grew up in that house at 3921 Paunack; how many years did you live there then?

John: Well, I graduated from high school in 1949, and subsequent to that I entered the UW-Stevens Point, and I was there in '49 and '50. I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951; discharged in '55, and attended school at UW- Whitewater where I met my wife, and our future developed from there.

Tom: Okay. So you said you lived in....so you would have lived in Westmorland until 1949?

John: ’49, basically, yes.

Tom: And never came back after College?

John: No, just for summer months.

Tom: OK. So what are your earliest memories of Westmorland as a very young man?

John: I think the earliest were the winters that we had there. It was wide open country and the winds would blow like crazy. We had huge snow drifts. My dad was pretty good about being outdoors with us. So we had our sleds and he gave us several rides up and down Paunack Avenue. Eventually we graduated to toboggans, and had quite some time with the toboggan rides. And in fact, sometime we would go up to Hoyt Park where they used to have a toboggan slide up there, and had some wonderful times together, as a family and with other children that lived in the Westmorland area.

Tom: Okay. We interviewed the Meyer brothers last summer and they talked about their winter time in Westmorland. Toepfer Avenue was used as a sledding hill. The township wouldn't plough it. They let the kids sled down there and they would sled all the way down to Winnemac Avenue.

John: Yes, exactly. As far as we could go! Then trudge back. [Laughter]

Tom: Yeah, fun times. Anything else you remember.....Anything else you remember about growing up in Westmorland?

John: I think enjoying new families that came in to visit, or if they came in to live there, and became acquainted with the younger family. I also remember some great times with John Turner (lived on Euclid Avenue) who was mentioned in the original history book on Westmorland, and lots of other families including the Dingeldines (434 Westmorland Blvd.), Schlimgens (4133 Meyer Avenue), and the Neilsens. Lots of folks.......

Tom: Clarence Nelson?

John: No, that was Nielsen. Elmer Nielsen (4022 Winnemac Avenue). Tom: Nielsen, I'm sorry.

John: He was part of that.....

Tom: He was pretty active in the neighborhood association.

John: Yes, he was, yes he was. But we really had some time here, going back, going back to school; because there were no schools in the immediate vicinity, I attended school down at Blessed Sacrament. And my dad and a couple of the other neighbors would share giving rides; big piles, maybe six or seven of us kids into one car, and we would all shimmy down to Blessed Sacrament. And then managed to either walk home, or get a ride with someone who we knew.

[0:05:09]

Tom: Did you ever....Queen of Peace Grade School opened in the Fall of 1949. So you would have been gone by then?

John: I was gone. Yes. But my brother Jim attended Queen of Peace.

Tom: Okay. Remember anything about your teachers or classes you took, your favorite teachers, anything goes--

John: Actually not really.

Tom: Okay. Did you have a favorite class, favorite subject?

John: Recess [Laughter]. Impressive.

Tom: Yeah, isn't that what everybody says?

John: In fact, one of the times when we were.....the bell rang for recess, and I happen to forgot what period it was, and I walked home. And mother asked me what I was doing home so early. [Laughter] “The bell rang so I came home!” [Laughter].

Tom: When you say "walked home"....there were no sidewalks along Speedway Road during that time.

John: Walked through the cemetery, yeah.

Tom: Okay. Then your teachers, were they all sisters? Or were there lay teachers?

John: Not at that time. A lot I can't remember.

Tom: So they were all sisters. It used to be that lay teachers, when they got married, couldn't teach anymore. That kind of limited the ones that were available. Going back to Westmorland in the early years, there was a lot of open space there. So kids must have had a lot of fields to run around.

John: We did and I can remember doing that. Prior to World War II, or after, the Army did come up, and bivwacked across Speedway Road. And spent probably a couple of weeks and we would take water over to them or lemonade. And then the soldiers would give us a dime, or so, in return, you know for the treat that they received.

Tom: Yeah. Jim Crawmer (3917 Paunack Avenue) told me stories about that. And they had horse-drawn wagons. The reason that they stopped there, I thought he said, there was a pump there. So they could get water for the horses.

John: I don't remember that. I don't remember that.

Tom: There was an old house on Larkin Street which is where the church is now. He talked about how were on their way to camp and they must have gone up Highway 12 which used to be routed through town. But it must have been neat for the kids to see. Okay, so we talked about childhood. These questions kind of jump around a little bit so bear with me. What did you do for a living once you got out of College?

John: I became a Marketing Representative for a Property and Casualty Insurance Company. And I travelled throughout the state of Wisconsin calling on independent agents; encouraging them to write the products that our company had available. For a time, I was in Wisconsin and then Joyce and I moved our family. We moved to Owatonna in Minnesota where we stayed for approximate five years and then returned to Wisconsin where I continued to work and became Vice President of Marketing for Wisconsin Mutual Insurance Company and then retired 17, or 18 years ago.

Tom: Okay. So you were in the insurance business your whole career? How did you get into that line of work?

John: I guess....I graduated from UW-Whitewater with a business degree, and was then interviewed; my first job was with Midland Union Mutual up at Juneau, Wisconsin and consequently progressed from there on.

Tom: Okay. Did you ever have time for any hobbies, either when you were younger or during your working years?

John: Played quite a bit of golf, and also became pretty active in playing fast pitch softball. And continue my interest in football. Didn't play much basketball after high school, but continued to watch football and baseball games, also.

Tom: Sure. Okay. Did you ever participate in any city wide social or service clubs?

John: No, I was not active in that aspect.

Tom: Okay. This question says who were people who had an impact on Westmorland and/or Madison? Anybody that lived in Westmorland when you were in the neighborhood that might have been well known?

John: Well, I don't know well known, I think Ray Heibel (4133 Paunack Avenue) was pretty active individual. He lived on the corner of Paunack and Meyer, I believe. And Lester Dingeldine was pretty active. Elmer Nielsen (4022 Winnemac Avenue), I can remember Elmer?

[0:10:00]

Tom: Do you remember the March family (4001 Mineral Point Road) that lived in the old Toepfer house?

John: Very well. Pete March. I remember Pete. He was at West High School when I was at Edgewood, and we graduated I believe in the same year, 1949. Didn't really socialize with them that often.

Tom: Mr. March was the one that got the neighborhood association going in 1941. I guess we are kind of jumping back now. When you were a child, how would you describe yourself as a child? Were you well behaved? Or were you a little mischief?

John: Funny, are you asking if we were pretty well behaved? We really couldn't get into too much trouble; it was just my sister and I. We were ten and a half months apart, but very close. And I remember one occasion where mother became very upset with us, so we decided that we were going to leave. Leave home! And this is during the early years of course. We're probably seven and eight years old. So my mother said, "Well here, you get your coat and hat on. Take some food with you; just get right on your wagon and leave!" [Laughter] So we got all the way up to Westmorland Boulevard and we decided it was not a good idea so we came home crying. And, I guess, apologized to mother. I can just remember how we
feel, kind of tender about it.

Tom: Did your mother assign you chores to do?

John: Oh sure. We were pretty active around the house. I always did the dishes in the evening and of course a lot of water spilled on the floor at that time. And we had our Saturday morning dusting and things to do like that. So we were pretty active as far as helping around the house like I still do now [Laughter].

Tom: Was there such a thing as an allowance? Did you get paid for doing these chores?

John: I really can't recall if we did or not. But dad was pretty generous most of the time. We didn't really have to.....Actually, I ended up with a paper route. I think I was still in grade school, and I had at the time about 139 papers to deliver...the Wisconsin State Journal. So I did manage to have a little spending money of my own at that time.

Tom: What would you say would be a perfect day for a ten year old in the neighborhood? [Laughter] That would have been like fifth grade.

John: Fifth grade. You know, we would probably end up at the golf course. Playing golf, or looking for golf balls. There were not many kids my age at that time and my sister and I would go out together most of the time. But then we became quite active with the Schlimgens and Dingeldines, and other families in the area.

Tom: Do you recall much about the Westmorland Golf Course?

[0:13:54]

John: We used to go there quite frequently, and I do remember to this day, Minnie Cashawn was the old gal that was at the shack there....was in charge of the concessions, and things, and she was a hard nose lady. She got after the kids; we'd try to go over to the golf course every chance we could, and they had several apple trees on the first hole going down towards Winnemac Avenue. When we get over there and found a few apples, she'd come around out of that shack and come racing after us. Tell us, "Get the hell out of there!" [Laughter]

Tom: I found it interesting that Karl Schlicht was the first golf pro there. He went on to be the pro a Blackhawk Golf Course for many years. I caddied there when I was in high school. Karl....What did they call him? Kully, Kully Schlicht. He was there at Westmorland.

John: You know, I don't remember too much about him. I don't know if he was out on the golf course most of the time.

[0:15:03]

Tom: How did you know if you did something that your parents didn't approve of?

John: Well they would let me know about it right away. There was no way out of it. My father was quite stern. My mother and dad were not of the same religion, it was a mixed marriage. Dad was very fond of us as well as mother too. They let us know.

Tom: So you were put in the corner or sent to your room? Or did they just tell you what was wrong?

John: They would say, "We want you to understand that you've done something that was improper and you should handle it better later on."

Tom: Did you take family vacations in the summer time?

John: We did. Dad would like to go up north and go fishing. We did it as a family and we ended up going to some type of resort or renting a cabin somewhere.

Tom: Sure. Go to different places, stay somewhere.....

John: We would go to the Minocqua or Tomahawk area.

Tom: Did you ever participate in any organization like the Scouts or 4H?

John: I was a Boy Scout for a short time. I didn't really pursue it that well. Maybe I was for a couple years but then I did quit.

Tom: Did you ever play any musical instrument?

John: I was not musically inclined. And I still can't dance. [Laughter]

Tom: Join the crowd. I think that we already talked a little bit about this. Were there wild, undeveloped, areas where children could play? What kind of things did you do there? The wide open fields, vacant lots?

John: I think we would built huts and things you know, kind of to hide away a little bit. But we were too....mother kept pretty close track of us, you know, because it was a wide open area and because there weren't too many people around. She wasn't too frightened about people coming by to snatch us, I'm sure. Sometime the days were kind of lazy because there weren't that many children around at the time that we were born.

Tom: Was church important in your family?

John: Very much.

Tom: Queen of Peace?

John: Well, not Queen of Peace, but Blessed Sacrament. Actually, I remember, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, we were driving down to Blessed Sacrament. Mother had the radio on when we heard of the bombing. We were very saddened by the fact that it happened.

Tom: Did you have any kind of pets?

John: We always had a dog. Dad would love to hunt; we'd go fishing, hunting, later on, as I grew older, we had a dog by the name of Butch. The neighborhood's, friendliest, black lab that you could ever imagine. He was such a wonderful dog, and mother would not let him in the house; his tail would wag so fast, back and forth, he would knock everything off the end
table. [Laughter]

Tom: I imagined he enjoyed those wide open spaces; running around the fields.

John: Yeah, there were quite a few pheasants around.

Tom: Do you remember getting sick and the doctor actually making house calls?

John: Well, yeah. Mother being a nurse she had access to some of the doctors who she became acquainted with while she was at nurse's training. And occasionally, there would be a doctor stopping by the house to come and visit. I remember Dr. Holmgren who lived on the corner of Toepfer and Euclid (432 Toepfer Avenue), I think it was. It was kind of kitty corner from where we lived. He was very helpful, and worked with our family to
diagnose things that happen to our household.

Tom: The Polio outbreak, did that affect you, your family, at all?

John: I can't remember too much about that time Tom. No it really didn't (affect us).

Tom: You know this says 1955, but someone sent me a recording from an Edgewood playing football game in 1945. It was a recorded broadcast from WIBA. And the broadcaster talked about the polio outbreak in Illinois. They had to cancel the scheduled game with a different team because that team couldn't travel. So they rescheduled it with a team from Belvedere, ILL. So polio must have gone on for a number of years.

John: Can't recall that one.

Tom: You always felt safe in the neighborhood? You never really had stranger danger of any sort?

John: No, no, no.

[0:20:01]

Tom: There were not any street lights at the time.

John: No there weren't. We stayed pretty close to home.

Tom: Moving on high school. What kind of things do you remember about high school, and social activities? You went to......

John: Edgewood High school, graduated in 1949. Became quite active playing basketball, football and baseball. Good days for me. Met a lot of new friends from the other Catholic grade schools that attended Edgewood. I'd say fairly well accomplished as an athlete, and I get my rewards as a results of that. I remember dad would be going to all of the football games and basketball games along with mother.

Tom: Did you ever have any kind of a job during high school? Part time job?

John: One of the craziest jobs I had was working for Whalen Transfer and Storage, humping furniture during the summer months. And it was quite a job. When it got so gosh damn hot, you know, in the summer months, we go to somebody's old home, and into the heat in that trailer, that truck. It was just quite demanding. Of course we had to have a few refreshments afterwards.

Tom: Learning to drive, that would have been around 1947, or so, maybe when you were 16 years old?

John: That’s right.

Tom: Did you take advantage of all the streets in the neighborhood; there were no houses, is that how you learned how to drive?

John: We sure did. And dad was pretty helpful to me at that time. I don't think mother had a license at that time, not until later on. But I remember one occasion when I took the car when I had my temporary (license). It was during the early winter months. I was going down Paunack Avenue, and I slid, and I hit a lady's mailbox, and knocked it over. I felt so bad about it. I went up to the door, rapped on the door, and told her what happened, and everything. I told her I'd fix it so we did a temporary repair, and I ended up fixing it during the Spring of the next year, we put a new post in.

Good. I assume that it was a stick shift then. I believe it was, yeah.

Tom: Remember anything about Felton's Vegetable Farm down between Caromar Drive and Midvale Boulevard?

John: The only thing that I remember distinctly about it was that mother and dad would go down along the fence line there between the golf course and Feltons looking for asparagus. And I would sometimes trudge along with them, but I don't remember too much about the farm itself. Although I do remember, I think adjacent to them were the Mathison family (farm house at 4337 Mineral Point Road). Cliff Mathison and Harold Mathison, and Cliff eventually was the greens keeper out at the golf course along Mineral Point Road, way out.

Tom: Glenway?

John: No.

Tom: Further out?

John: Further out going west.

Tom: The one that Watts developed out by West Middleton School (Tumbledown Trails)?

John: Yeah.

Tom: I don’t remember the name of that now. Okay. Felton also had some milking cows. And I heard stories he would drive around the neighborhood with milk cans, selling milk. Do you remember anything about that?

John: Not too much about that time.

Tom: Okay. And there was that commercial corner at Glenway and Mineral Point and Speedway. There was a grocery store there at the corner. There was a hardware store, the Village Bar, which still exists. Did your mother send you up to the grocery store?

John: We would go up to the grocery store, when Herling’s Tavern used to be the grocery store, yeah we go up there and get our goodies every once in a while. And then I remember when it became the....who bought it, Bob Waterman, I believe, and turned it into a tavern. And of course there was the Sentry Food there for a time too. But that of course is no longer there.

Tom: I think that's when they moved down to Hilldale Shopping Center.

John: I believe that's right, yeah.

Tom: It was still there in the 1980s. We have pictures of the Sentry store from the '80s.

[0:25:01]

Tom: They moved on from there. There was also a small gas station there in the corner, a service station.

John: Kitty corner from Herling’s.

Tom: It was Alderson's Texaco for a number of years. It was built in the late 1940s, I think. And Alderson’s have it in the 50s and 60s.

I think we'll skip raising a family, because you would have been out of Westmorland by then.

John: Yes, we were.

Tom: You met your wife at UW-Whitewater. Your family, how many children?

John: Five.

Tom: Why don't we go down to the question that says "Who were some of the great characters from the neighborhood?" We've already mentioned some names; but you knew the Crawmer family very well. The father there had an interesting occupation hauling dynamite. He used to park his truck out on the street.

John: Some of the neighbors used to get a little upset with that too. Of course, Delbie Littel. Delbie was a year behind me in high school. He was a pistol.

Tom: And he was a bar tender at the Village Bar. He knew a lot of people there. We interviewed Howard and Ellen Cross last year, but I don't think they moved there until you probably had been gone from neighborhood.

John: No, I still remember them; Howie used to come over every once in a while. They would have cocktails with mother and dad. He was a pistol too.

Tom: And they are still there.

John: I believe so.

Tom: Yes. Did you ever feel that, just going back to growing up years, ever feel that you ever had a concern for your safety in Westmorland like when World War II was going on. I know they used to have black out drills. Remember any of that?

John: I remember one time when we had the blackout drill. And that's about the only time I remember about it. I think we all felt pretty safe in Westmorland.

Tom: Quite a ways away for anything that ever was happening. Did any national trends or events ever affect life in Westmorland?

John: Can't think of any right now.

Tom: Remember any stories that some of the older neighbor would talk, would tell? About Westmorland in the 1930s or back in the 20s?

John: I remember my dad used to....he was a pretty good man about buying fireworks, and he would send away for a big old box of fireworks, you know, that would be shipped to him. And he'd put on quite a display himself. I remember one of the times he had, as part of the display, a type of hot air balloon, I'm not sure, he lit a little piece of fuse; that blew in the flame, and one time it landed on somebody's house; had to get the old hoses out, and the extinguishers. Nobody was ever harmed.

Tom: Before the town of Madison developed Westmorland Park, the annual Fourth of July picnic would be in one of the vacant lots; this was back when Mr. March was involved with the neighborhood association. And they would lit off fireworks in the evening. This was part of the neighborhood picnic and I'm sure the grass was pretty long in some of those vacant lots. And some ash falling in those vacant lots. Pretty interesting.

John: Once I remember, talking about the Westmorland picnics. After the parade, Ambrose Schlimgen again was a....I don't know if you recall that name at all, he was a mailman and they had three children. We would run around together. Ambrose was quite active and during one of the Fourth of July picnics, or the celebration, he had a huge pile of saw dust that he brought in. And I think he must have released several hundreds of pennies in there. And so the kids by age went in there and grabbed these pennies. But I don't think it lasted too long, because, I think, the older kids started throwing the saw dust around so they discontinued that little routine. But it was kind of fun for the little guys to go in there to try and find those pennies.

[0:30:08]

Tom: Westmorland was annexed to the City of Madison in 1948. So that was when you were a teenager in high school. When it was part of the Town of Madison, we didn't get a whole lot of services there. Do you remember changes after it became part of the city? Was the patrol by the Police Department more frequently? Garbage collections, snow plowing, did
Westmorland get more attention?

John: Well, I believe it did, certainly, yeah. You know I can remember one of the things that had to be done prior to the sanitation sewers going through there. Spike Peterson, who lived in Mt. Horeb, would come through with his big, old truck, and empty out the cisterns, you know, by hand. For a fee of course. But he was a character. He and Jimmy Demetral would get into some wrestling matches every once in a while (at Breese Stevens Field) that I would...we were concerned about.

Tom: There was also a small garage down at the end of Holly that was a fire station for the Town of Madison. It had a couple of stalls where they kept the fire trucks there, and there was actually a fire chief that...there was two guys that lived there....rotated living there. And then they would drive around the neighborhood picking up volunteers. Do you remember
anything about that?

John: No.

Tom: That all ended when it became part of the city. What buildings do you remember as being the oldest, I guess the.....

John: The old March house for sure.

Tom: The big Toepfer house on Mineral Point Road, and then the barn behind it which the Marches converted into a house, do you remember that?

John: Yes, yes, I do.

Tom: Ever remember being in it when it was still a barn, or stable. I heard they would have dances in there on the second floor.

John: When we were younger down at 3921, we would go in there, it was kind of off limits you know because it was owned by the....I think it was still owned by the March family.

Tom: They staged up dances in there, I heard, up on the second level.

John: It could be, yeah.

Tom: Mr. March would stand down below, watching the beams; a little bit concerned about what might happen. Public Transportation. I know trying to get bus service out to Westmorland was always an issue.

John: It was.

Tom: Did you have to walk down to Regent and Allen to pick up the bus?

John: We walked, after football practice I'd walk home along the tracks, the railroad tracks, which is now the bike trail along Monroe Street.

Tom: Okay. Did you serve in the military; I guess it would be the Korean War?

John: Korean, yes. I went in in 1951 and discharged in 1955.

Tom: Where were you stationed?

John: Primarily in the states. I did.... Several of my friends who I'd been in school with at UW-Stevens Point also had volunteered, or went into the service. A lot of them were sent overseas primarily to Germany and Japan. I did apply for that, but low and behold where did they sent me? To Goose Bay, Labrador. [Laughter] I was up there for a year, and then returned and was stationed in Texas, thereafter. And discharged in Texas.

Tom: Okay. Recreation. Do you remember much about Westmorland Park when that area was converted to a park? In the mid ‘40s.

John: Not too much.

Tom: Okay.

John: I remember going down there. I think it was Jack Wise and Don Page, who played basketball at West High, were counselors down there. I know Jack Wise was. But didn't go down there too often.

[0:35:00]

Tom: Okay. And then of course, the two golf courses, the Glenway Gold Course, the city course, and the Westmorland Golf Course, on either side of the neighborhood. We talked a little bit about them before. You spent some time there golfing and......

John: Spent quite a bit of time at Glenway.

I remember going down when I was, you know, a younger person; we were living at 3921 Paunack Avenue; walked down there and get on the golf course. For $0.15 for nine holes! It was quite inexpensive. And then had quite a few friends that......we usually ended up with a foursome playing and we had a great time. It was a nice little course to learn on.

Tom: Yeah. It was. Did you play baseball during the summer? Any kind of organized ball, or just the neighborhood softball?

John: No, just softball. Fast pitch softball.

Tom: That was later on. Not while you were growing up. What were some of the best time you had as a family in Westmorland?

John: Well, my mother and dad entertained quite frequently. They used to have friends from Chicago come up. My aunt and uncle, they would stay overnight, or stay over the weekend. And it was a joyous time for the whole family. Because the aunt and uncle were good to us and treated us like children they never had. Each of them didn't have any family of their own so we were pretty happy for the attention that we did get, or receive from them. The activities, I think, in Westmorland; we always found something to do and keep ourselves active.

Tom: I don't know if this question is relevant or not, but were there any big neighborhood issues, or challenges, you recall when you were growing up? I guess you don't really pay attention to those kinds of things when you were a teenager?

John: No, I can't remember.

Tom: Maybe your parents might have been more involved? Not as a child. Did your family participate in neighborhood events or parties? Did you have block parties?

John: I don't remember any block parties, but I do remember the Victory Gardens that they had, that were developed. Right behind our house at 3921 (Paunack Avenue), there was an empty lot. And of course, it backed up to the Crawmers backyard, and some of the folks that my mother and dad knew, who lived on Allen Street, would come out, and this gentleman would come through with a plough and plough up these gardens. But then the folks from not within the Westmorland area would come out and plant their own gardens, and they would have some nice times together.

Tom: They kind of took over the vacant lots?

John: I don't know how that worked out, if they got permission from the owner or not. But it seemed to me that they just took them over.

Tom: They might have considered it a patriotic thing to do at the time and were not too concerned about who owned the lot. Any other neighborhood association activities that you participated in? We had the Santa Claus visits back then that started in '41.

John: We did that, yeah.

Tom: OK. And the Fourth of July event was the big thing?

John: Big thing. Big, big thing.

Tom: Fireworks.

John: I remember John Turner. He and I were pretty good buddies; John was mentioned in the original (Westmorland: A Great Place to Live, p. 58) history book. He and his magic act (in 1946), of course, went over quite well.

Tom: Well, anything else that you would like to share with us about Westmorland that we haven't touched on here today?

John: Other than just the fact that I believe for me it was a wonderful place to experience, and to live in, and enjoy the companionship and the....Just the friendships that developed over a period of time while living here. And it still thrives. I remember Jack Gentilli....I saw him the other day at his brother's funeral. We go back a little bit; he's a little bit older than I am, and some of the other folks that we have maintained some friendship with. Some others moved far away, and spread out all throughout the country side.

Tom: Sure. Did the Gentilli family lived in Westmorland at one time?

John: Well, Jack is still there of course, Gentilli.

Tom: In Westmorland?

John: In Westmorland, I'm quite sure.

Tom: Oh, I didn't realize that.

John: I think he's on Westmorland Boulevard (207 Westmorland Blvd. in Sunset Village).

Tom: OK. Have to look that up in the directory.

John: As far as I know, I'm quite sure that he's still there.

Tom: Okay, I think that's all we need for now. So thank you very much for your time. Appreciate you sharing all your memories with us.

John: Okay. I'm glad to do it.

End of Audio

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Sound recordings

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