19421998

I tell people I was born at a very early age. That’s because I always felt older than I was. Today, I just feel old. I’ve lived beyond the age of either parent. But it is interesting and neat to know there are still relatives older than I.

I was born Ethel Louisa Weisel at 5:25 PM Saturday, July 7, 1928 on 212 Landis Avenue in the Borough of Oaklyn, County of Camden, New Jersey. My father was Irwin Fanklin Weisel, Jr. and Mother’s maiden name was Ethel Emily Creely. I understand I was named after both grandmothers.

When we moved to Pitman, I don’t know. But, apparently, when Mother was a young girl she lived in Pitman. For some reason I think she lived either in the Pitman Grove at some time in her childhood or just outside of it. I remember her having said she had to “run” through it to the store every morning and then back home before she went to grammar school at Summit Avenue.

I don’t know too much about Mother’s childhood. She was the oldest of four. Her brothers were “Bus” who, I think, was named after his father (Roland), Charles and Marvin. I do know Mother loved her father very much and, while she cared about her mother, I don’t believe she’d gotten along with her all that well. I think she had to do a lot of things as a child which normally are performed by an older person.

Mother married at a comparatively young age because she was only 19 when her first child was born. Her birthday was June 25, 1909. I was born ,
1) Ethel Louisa Weisel, on July 7, 1928.

My Brothers and Sisters are listed below.

2) Irwin Franklin Weisel, 3rd was born December 31, 1929
3) Grace Miriam Weisel was born January 28, 1931
4) Allen Lewis Weisel was born January 26, 1932
5) Doris Mae Weisel was born March 7, 1933
6) James Creely Weisel was born March 4, 1935
7) Alyce Joane Weisel was born August 10, 1936

As I said, I don’t know when the family moved to Pitman, but my first memories are of an address at 24 North Fernwood Avenue. I was 5 years old July 1933 and went to school that September as as first-grader in Summit Avenue School.

Mother was so pretty! She had dark (if not black) naturally curly hair. Mine was very soft, but very straight. It did have a lot of red or auburn in it when I was younger. Mother had a curling iron she used to have to heat on the stove. She tried to give me curls a few times when I was 5, 6 or 7. I feel she placed a lot of emphasis on appearance.

Every morning she applied fresh make-up. I do most of the time. As a teenager I had bad skin. It was oily. Mother’s was dry. My skin had eruptions due to an oily condition. Mother’s was always beautiful. But even today, I still try to create an air of confidence and good looks which I don’t measure up to.

Daddy was very heavy. Mother was “just right”. I wanted to look like her. I loved her. But we didn’t seem to get along so well. I recall we lived next door to a family of Madden’s. Dorothy Madden had a personal influence on me and gave me an interest in exercise and dance. She was a lot older than I and so we didn’t share too many other subjects. The early 1930’s was to be known as the period of “The Great Depression”. With a family of 5 or 6 kids, feeding and clothing them was quite difficult I’m sure. A very pretty older girl lived across the street. She was a high school student as I was first attending grammar school. I recall Betty Jane ’s mother giving me some clothing BJ had worn. An article I particularly remember was a plaid cape.

I really had no weight problem as a youngster. I ran and danced whenever I could. But when I started going on “diets” that’s when I began having difficulty. I have all kinds of books and recipes, exercise gadgets and exercise instructions to help me in the fight against being overweight.

When we lived on Fernwood Avenue was also the time one of the girls on the street took me to Sunday School at the Pitman Methodist Church. I don’t remember who it was and I don’t recall going with any regularity, because it wasn’t until I was 11 years old that I was baptised and joined the Methodist Church through the influence of school mates.

I remember one time Daddy took some of us to the shore for a weekend on the train. I don’t recall whether it was Atlantic City or Wildwood. The only thing I do know is we slept under the boardwalk. There is no way we could do that today - we wouldn’t be allowed to, for one thing; anyway, it would be too scary if anyone saw us.

Another move to 317 Grant Avenue placed me right in front of W.C.K. Walls School. A family whose surname was Slifer lived on the next street. Mrs. Slifer was the daughter of C. Austim Miles who wrote the hymn “In The Garden”. It’s always been a pleasure to me to have Christian friends and know so many people who have been an influence for good on me. Grandfather Creely used to make root beer and ice cream. He used to line the bottles of root beer on the lawn - to age, I guess. And maybe that’s where I acquired the taste for ice cream.

I used to spend some time during the summer with the couple. They also had a set of Encyclopedia Britannica which I enjoyed. Mother used to go to clean her mother’s home in Berlin one day a week. One day, during the summer, she had driven over when a few of us kids decided we’d go over, too. This was after Mother had already left, so we started walking. Needless to say, we didn’t make it to Grandmother’s house; but Mother was returning home about 4 or 4:30, I guess, when she saw the gang of us. She certainly had not expected to meet us and when she passed us we started hollering to her. When she stopped to pick us up she was really angry!

I don’t think any of us went to doctors that often. When we were kids, one would get the measles - we all got the measles. When one got the chicken pox - we all got the chicken pox. As students, doctors and nurses came in to school once or twice a year and we then had an eye exam, our ears were looked at, our heart beats were listened to and I think even a dentist checked out our teeth.

I was a cheerleader during the last two years of high school. I’ve had colds and bronchitis every year for as long as I can remember. I still suffer with them every winter. My left breast has been removed due to cancer. I also had bladder cancer. No treatments were required after the breast surgery but I must go periodically for “washes” for the protection or prevention or treatment of the bladder cancer.

Less than a week after I graduated I started working at the Glassboro State Teachers College (now Rowan’s College). I was no older than some of the students but I had to keep a proper business-like attitude. I worked at the College for a little more than 5 years.

I met my husband, Bert Beebe, through his cousin who, at the time, was a Glassboro policeman. Bert worked for Atlantic Electric Company. Courtship was not long when he took me to meet his parents. We used to spend Sundays all together. His mother was Italian and she taught me to cook spaghetti sauce from scratch. Today I’ve found a sauce in the store that tastes exactly as she made hers. She also taught me to cook venison (deer meat) and rabbit. Since my divorce I’ve had no occasion to prepare either. Bert and his dad had been hunters.

Bert was an only child. When he asked me to marry him I was looking for someone who would care for me and about me for the rest of our lives. I had been so unhappy as a child and felt so unloved, even at age 22, I grasped at the chance to make a home with someone. I had no money and so could not provide myself with a wedding and reception. Daddy was dying of cancer. I bought a short pink dress and Mr. & Mrs. Beebe gave us the reception in their back yard. Neighbors and friends assisted, I know. We got married in the Trinity Protestant Church in Glassboro.

When our son was first brought to me, I suspected Gil was a mongoloid, but I had never seen a new-born infant (despite the fact I was the oldest in the family) and nothing was said to me about any defects. I had some bleeding early in the pregnancy and the explanation given to me was that something may have failed to develop properly during that time. In 1951 they still did not know that much about the causes for having a child with Down’s Syndrome. Now they say something about the baby having 3 chromosomes numbered 21.

The doctor I had, Dr. Whitaker in Pitman, suggested I try to make arrangements to have Gil “institutionalized” as soon as possible, so he’d grow up with others of “his own kind”. He would receive more attention and care than he could at home. I didn’t know any better. A professional person should have more knowledge about such things, I thought. In hindsight, though, I believe I could have been more of a help by giving him a one-on-one assistancae. Bert refused to believe anything was wrong with his son.

Then started the arguments between us. Bert would go drinking with his buddies after work and we would end up fighting, shouting at each other. I just could not take the stress. I remembered the way it was with my parents. Gil was about three when we got word room was available att he North Jersey Training School at Totowa. After arranagements were finalized, Bert went back to his parents’ home and I went to live with Mother who had an apartment in Woodbury. Our divorce became final October, 1954.

Some time later my brother Pudd and his wife, Shirl, came from Fort Lauderdale, FL on vacation and took me back with them for a few months. I fell in love with the warm weather and, on my return to New Jersey, planned how I could go back to that climate. Meanwhile, Gil had been transferred from Totowa to New Lisbon State School. I could visit him more frequently and take him for rides.

In 1960, I got a job with a large international accounting firm in Philadelphia. I really enjoyed statistical typing. I was proud of the end result after working with some messy drafts. I typed financil statements and audit reports. Of course, a variety of tax returns also needed to be typed. This was before computers and word processors.

But then I did make the move to Florida. I knew Gil was being well cared for and I was ill every winter with bronchitis and/or severe colds. Eventually I made a move to Denver, Colorado, and worked for another international CPA firm. I ended up in the hospital with an infection at the base of my spine. I realized all my family were in the East so decided to move back to Fort Lauderdale, FL. If any other illness occurred I would have people I might be able to count on for support. I had been in Colorado less than a year.

I transferred my church membership from New Jersey to Park Temple Methodist Church in Fort Lauderdale. Pudd, Shirl and the girls always went to a Presbyterian Church, so we didn’t share in the worship services. But we often spent Sunday afternoons at their home.

Sometime after my return to New Jersey from Florida ,Gil left New Lisbon State School to take up community living in a “Group Home” in Runnemede. Eventually he graduated to a modified apartment in Clementon. I’m still fearful for him because he doesn’t talk distinctly. He does not know his numbers or the letters of his name, although he can print his name. He is making slow progress and I’m proud of his accomplishments, yet I’m scared. He doesn’t know colors, either, and I’m afraid one day he may cross a street at the wrong time.

I do prefer the warm weather, but I like to have the changes of the season. The snow is beautiful as it is falling and after it has lain before traffic and people mess it up. After the first thaw I’m ready for Spring. When the trees start budding and the grass turns green, the flowers are in bloom I know God is real. I even like to see the rain. When I was little I used to lay on the floor in front of the screen door during a thunderstorm. I remember how I used to feel when the ground smelled so good during the rain. As I said, I’ve always preferred the warmer weather. That’s the main reason I had moved to Florida. I do admit, however, that in recent years I am definitely uncomfortable when the heat and humidity gang up on us.

The changing leaves in the Fall are so beautiful. I know they will have to be raked up and taken to the curb eventually. Gil and I took a bus rip to Vermont one year when the colors were so vibrant. I just cannot express my emotion when things of beauty are all around us. Whoever can look at Mother Nature’s handiwork and still not believe in God must be incapable of understanding and feeling. My life has been lived with a growing respect for who God is and love for Christians who have influenced me.

THANKS FOR LISTENING!!