"CAN YOU GO HOME AGAIN ?"
607 Maple Street Fostoria, Ohio
I traveled to the old home town of Fostoria in the middle of Northwest Ohio. Driving down Maple St. to number 607, I introduced myself to the present owners-occupants. Nice couple with four school-age kids!
I am SO pleased that a family with kids is once again living there! They moved in only recently after working on it themselves for months! (He's a Contractor ...no surprise.)
Among many other things, like new siding and re-painting inside and out, they replaced all the house's wiring that our Dad had installed! He used only electrical tape to cover hand-twisted connections. (I remember once asking, "Dad, is this safe?" His only response: "...What d'ya mean? The whole house is this way!")
It was a poignant moment: Years melted away as I saw ...the front porch w/ its railings, ...the large planters, ...even the porch-light & its house-numbers...
A (very) few readers will immediately recognize this address... It was Ed's home address growing up in Ohio! However, Ed recently visited the very house in which he grew up !
Yep... last month, I (Ed) had the opportunity to travel back to my "Roots." Thanks (again) to son Hans' generous sharing of 'flight miles,' I had the joy of flying to the Midwest for my 50th Year Reunion of Fostoria High School, Class of 1964.
And, to use a '60's expression, "What a trip...." But: "Can you ever go home again??"
--Well, YES... and then again, NO....
First: "YES, you can go back..."
I traveled to the old home town of Fostoria in the middle of Northwest Ohio. Driving down Maple St. to number 607, I introduced myself to the present owners-occupants. Nice couple with four school-age kids!
I am SO pleased that a family with kids is once again living there! They moved in only recently after working on it themselves for months! (He's a Contractor ...no surprise.)
The present occupants: Dad (left, w/ watering hose) and the four children
It was a poignant moment: Years melted away as I saw ...the front porch w/ its railings, ...the large planters, ...even the porch-light & its house-numbers...
...exactly as they were years ago when we helped our Father to build-install them!
BUT: "NO, you can't go back..."
In so many ways, Fostoria has REALLY changed over the years! It has suffered the fate of so many "Rust Belt" manufacturing centers throughout the mid-west.
Once over 17,500 population, now it's barely 13,000. The location of my old high school is now a "Kroger" supermarket/parking lot (new schools are out by the cemetery ...symbolic?).
So many of the downtown buildings are now either green space or parking lots. Larry's Market is now a Taco Bell location. The old Lake Erie & Western RR tracks thru downtown are gone. Whitney Drugs and Edison Drugs...gone. The State Theater... gone. Etc. Etc. Etc.
So many of the downtown buildings are now either green space or parking lots. Larry's Market is now a Taco Bell location. The old Lake Erie & Western RR tracks thru downtown are gone. Whitney Drugs and Edison Drugs...gone. The State Theater... gone. Etc. Etc. Etc.
AND, of course, while I was in Fostoria, I had to make the pilgrimage...
...Our Great-Great-Great Grandparents, Jacob & Agnes,
who moved to this part of Ohio back the early 1800's...
...our Parents, Verne and Lavonne, married for 57 yrs, 10 mo.
There is a LOT more, which I will share in upcoming Posts in the upcoming days and weeks, including a beautiful boat ride on Lake Erie, where I first learned to swim.
So check back!
--Ed
