A Letter Full of Memories

This is an excerpt of a letter I received from Jill Jones Meyers. Jill and her parents and family are long time Groveville residents, associated with Anchor Thread, members of Groveville Methodist Church, Members of The Groveville Volunteer Fire Company. Jill's uncle, married my aunt, I swear everyone in Groveville is connected in some way, but that's another story.

This letter brought back a lot of memories. One was the Groveville School fundraiser's, the one I remember the most was selling Old Monmouth Peanut Brittle, still made in Freehold, NJ today. The other is Prior's Donuts, at Liberty and South Clinton, Avenues. I remember going there with my Dad, seeing the donuts riding on their little elevators and conveyor belts, and getting sprinkled with powdered sugar. There has never been a donut that good.

I would like to have a nickel for every time I have related the story of the movie stars pictures on the inside of Dixie Cup lids, to my daughter, Kati, she says "Not again, Dad".

When she mentioned the "Halloween Masks" I could almost smell what it was like to wear one, not a bad smell, but a "Memory Smell", Like coming home from school and your Mom cooking your favorite food, you smell that food today and it takes you right back to Mom's kitchen and her home cooking.

It's great to get letters like this, as much research as I do, letters like this make me just smile and say "O yea, I remember that".

Jill's full letter can be read in "My Guest Book"

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Jill writes;

Mom would send me to Hepburn's store with a bowl and a piece of waxed paper and Harley would put scoops of ice cream in the bowl, cover it with the waxed paper, and send me running home before it melted.

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I also remember that they would put up a line in the store and hang all the Halloween masks out for us to choose one. I think they were 15 cents. They were made of some type of stiffened muslin and by the end of an evening of trick or treating the color would come off all around your mouth.

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Another treat from the store were the ice cream Dixie cups (chocolate and vanilla) that had pictures of movie stars on the inside of the lid.

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A couple of things I remember about Groveville School concern fundraising! I remember selling seeds and also taking orders for Prior's donuts and delivering them door to door. Three flavors.....glazed, cream filled and jelly.

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Another memory is of the "hot lunch" our Mothers would get together and cook for us. They were 25 cents and were served downstairs in the lunch room (turn right at the coal bin!). It wasn't every week. More like once a month.

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Speaking of the coal bin, do you remember how they spread the cinders on the playground and how they always ended up embedded in your knees? Remember sliding down the slide on a piece of waxed paper so you would go faster?

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I was a summer playground supervisor (my first job!) one year and we would take the kids to Woodlawn Pool sometimes. You could always smell the chlorine a block away!