Difference between revisions of "Kestler Family"

Latest revision as of 18:19, 3 November 2013

Life on Parkview Circle

My husband, Joe, and I and our 18 month old daughter, Mil, moved into 41 Parkview Circle in mid December of 1957. We had moved from a three room apartment in kew Gardens. My husband was 31 years old and I was 22. My husband had been transferred to Fairchild Graphic Equipment on Sunnyside Blvd. in Plainview. The house was $17,500.00 and my husband put $10,000.00 down and then realized he needed a car and I remembered I had saved $1,500.00 and we were able to buy a blue Chevrolet Bel Air sedan. It was all exciting. I was so delighted with the little park by Bethpage Elementary School which was on Broadway and the lovely tree lined streets especially Maple. I had no car so shopping was at the A & P and I loved the little variety store next door and buying toys for Mil. When my husband was not working we went grocery shopping at Foodtown in Plainview and over to the Sears in Hicksville. When the shopping plaza on Stewart Avenue was built, I was delighted because I still had no car of my own.

There were many young families about the circle and mothers walked about with their children, plenty of stay at home moms. I was lonly and missed my mother so I spent time and talked to the grandmothers who were outside enjoying the sun or working on the property, or babysitting. Mil was joined in time by two other sisters. They didn't have to be taken on play dates but went outside and there was always somebody to play with. When Joe first went to work, he loved driving on Plainview Road and going past the last remaining farmland and a cow on the grounds of the now Charles Cammpagne School. Joe was a former World War II Veteran serving in Italy right after high school. He made friends among the men who were always out there cutting grass, (no landscapers) and planting trees and bushes on the former potato field. In the early morning in the fifties you would occasionally see rabbits running across the lawn.

This was a very happy tim with lovely memories!!

Submitted by Mildred Kestler -