Ran this a couple years ago, but 'tis the season. Found this in the NJ Holidays - Christmas folder at the NPL's New Jersey Information Center, which we must all remember in our wills.

The more I look at this picture the more I ask myself, where did we go wrong as a generation, no fancy cars on the street, working class neighborhood, crime was down or no crime at all, there was no weight problem, streets were clean, well lit, very festive, I remember the R&S at the corner, the fresh coffee brewed by A&P before you checked out, the saw dust on the floor, never a fire and thats when people smoked in the store! Back then there was no energy saving lightblubs and look at the string of lights they have. Now you be lucky if you see that anymore.

The nums at St. Rose's use to get the boys from the school to help them with the shopping at the A&P. After the carts were loaded, we wheeled them up to the convent, unloaded them in the kitchen and the nuns always gave us a treat for helping them.

It was nice to see this photo to bring back memories of Roseville and the holidays (the Christmas lights strung across Orange St. in the photo), The tivoli Theatre, Food Fair, the railroad station with the Phoebe Snow passing daily on its way to Scranton PA (ah, ha the connection to Dunmore) and the MacEvoy Apartments. My family partipated in the Imperial Lancers Drum & Bugle Corps. Our family lived at 107 Roseville Ave. next to Mr. Tetta's Shoe Shop and across from the old National Guard Armory and Tevan's Bar. My mom and dad had the grocery store there. Moy Bing's Chinese Restaurant was on the corner of Roseville and Orange with the drug store under them. I remember Grunnings where my dad worked his second job in order to raise us kids, the Plaza Theatre was around the corner and Rallo's (?) Pizza Parlor on Orange St. We eventually moved to Orange St. (above one of the stores) about a block away from this photo. This was a great neighborhood until it all fell apart.

I ran into my neighbor, Jack Satterwaite, who lived in Mr. Tetta's apartment building, in Vietnam in 1967 - what are the odds of that? I hadn't seen Jack in over 4 years. I recognized him by his voice as he was talking to his buddies and walking past me one night at Tan Son Nhut Airbase (outside of Saigon) outside the Airman's Club after I had missed the last bus to the offbase billet where I was housed because there was no room onbase for us TDY (i.e. Temporary Duty) folks (I was there on a 2 month TDY assignment from Mactan Airfield in the Southern Philippines (across from Cebu) at that time). Jack invited me to his barracks, we had some drinks and talked about the old neighborhood. I was able to crash in his barracks that night and I never saw him again after I departed the next morning to go change from my civies to my uniform for the next work shift (we usually had 12 hour work shifts in Vietnam - 7 days a week). Does anyone know where Jack moved to after he got out of the Air Force? I had 2 TDY tours at TSN from Mactan. I would like to talk to Jack about his experience in Vietnam and what has happened to his family. I think he had a sister. I got out of Tan Son Nhut about 2 weeks or less before the 1968 TET Offensive started and the Viet Cong and sappers attacked the Base (TSN) - lucky me.

My Air Force career went from 1966 to 1970. My last assignment was at U-Tapao Royal Thai Airbase in Thailand (6/69 - 6/70) with the B-52 unit before my discharge in California on my way home to New Jersey. The VC sappers also attacked this base 2 years before and 2 years after I was at U-Tapao - lucky me again (somebody was looking after me back then).

Our family was a part of this neighborhood until us kids (Sarah, Jerry, Tony and me) graduated from various High Schools (Barringer, Bloomfield Tech and Our Lady of Good Counsel) and we moved to West Caldwell. Our parents and my brother Jerry have died but the memories live on. Tony and I live near each other in Northern California (SF Bay Area) and Sarah lives in Virginia.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who visit this memorable website.

Marty De Venuta
December 9, 2008

P.S. My mom was also from Dunmore and probably knew all the families in Roseville from Dunmore and Scranton.