Family
members are invited to share stories of grandparents, parents,
aunts, uncles, cousins, and so on, to add to our Steven
Hollenczer tribute. Any remembrances you have of family members
are welcome, and will be added to the appropriate pages! Please e-mail me with any stories you would like added to these pages.
The
following are some of these remembrances, by Helen Weeks Hollenczer Janice Weeks
Hollenczer Bernath, Margaret Hollenczer Spatafore, Dorothy
Hollenczer Dziomba, Steven Hollenczer Jr. and Pete Hollenczer III.
(Click
on the thumbnail images or any of the name links to jump to the photo page)
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Peter Hollenczer III
Pete wasn't born until we'd been living in Pennsylvania for almost a year, and he always
called Lower Bucks Hospital "his house". He was the devil child of the Hollenczer family,
at least the rest of us kids thought so! He was spoiled by all the rest of us, though, so I
guess we're to blame for his 'evil' behavior! I do remember always playing with him when
he was little; he was my little pal. He and I were always closer to each other than to
Margaret and Steven, who were pretty close themselves. When he was still pretty small,
he carried one of my old dolls around, calling her "Mary Jane Mrs. Kishbaugh"; we think
he must have had crushes on those two neighbors!
Was it Peter who used to call a truck a 'fwuck'?
When Pete was 4, he had an accident on his bike. He fell off of it, and the handle bar
jabbed him in the abdomen. He ended up with a hernia, and needed surgery. When I didn't
go to visit one time when he was there at the hospital, he wanted to know why I didn't
come. I went next time!" Mag says: "I remember when Pete was in the hospital,
Lower Bucks, and the pediatrics ward was on the ground floor. I wasn't allowed in to see
him, so Mom went in and Daddy stayed with me outside, and we were able to talk to him
through the window. I guess Steven was there too. Pete asked where Janice as, and I
said 'She didn't want to come" I remember Daddy shushed me, he didn't want Pete to think Janice didn't want to see him!"
When he wasn't even 2, he pulled over a cup of hot water onto himself; he was burnt
pretty badly, and the scar looked like a map of Africa!! When he was taken to the hospital,
he was given morphine for the pain, and our Mom said when they came home, he recited
every word he'd ever learned while under the morphine's effects. He didn't really know
many, maybe 40 or so, but Mom said he'd repeat them over and over, til he finally fell
asleep!
"Mag, Steve and I {Janice} remember Pete driving us crazy playing the drums at 6 AM every morning. Who knew then his plan was to get us all to move out, so he
could claim the house!! {Just a joke, Pete!} And who can forget those bunny sleepers he loved, complete with a hat with ears, and a snap on carrot. He wore that outfit ‘til he couldn't fit into it anymore. I recently came across the Polaroid
shots of him wearing it, and will scan them and enhance them to see the detail of the suit, if possible. I have only one question: How could someone so angelic
looking turn into the awful brat he became??!!"
Margaret remembers this story about Pete: "I was about 19, which would have made Pete 13. I took Pete and 3 of his friends to the seashore for the day, about an hour and a half ride from home. I brought my blanket and a book, and let them swim and explore and do their thing while I soaked up the sun and read. I got up at one point to get a soda on the boardwalk. When I returned to sit down on my blanket, I found myself stuck in a 3 foot hole! They had dug a hole and laid my blanket over it! I called them every name I could think of, and threatened to leave them there, but Pete said, "you wouldn't dare; Mommy would kill you". And he was right! But I was really mad!"
Janice continues: "Pete is the musical one in the family. As kids, we were exposed to classical
music by our Mom, who'd always loved it, and who bought a Victrola and records when she started working after her high school years. I think she told me the
Victrola was the first thing she bought, and the first record was Begin the
Beguine by Artie Shaw. A favorite of all of ours, even today. When we moved, Dad took it upon himself to give the Victrola away to one of our cousins, Eddie, I
think.
"But another source of classical music, and the Ragtime music popular in the early century, were the cartoons first televised in the 40s -- Farmer Grey and his nemeses the mice, and many other early ones. But the greatest of all were The Looney Tunes! Pete learned his first classical piece from a Bugs Bunny
cartoon, with Bugs as conductor of a symphony orchestra, and playing the piano too -- the Hungarian Rhapsody by Liszt. Over the years, he recorded all the Loony Tunes he could, maybe even all of them, and we still enjoy watching and laughing at those silly things.
"Once Pete visited me early one AM (about 1974 or so), really early in the morning, before 7 AM. I think it was still dark when he arrived. He thinks he was coming home from playing a gig down at the shore. We turned on the TV, and of course Looney Tunes were still on every Saturday morning in those days. A
particularly funny Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote set us off into gales of laughter, with us carrying on so loudly, though trying to stifle our laughter, that we woke up my husband Steve. Luckily, he's another toon buff, and instead of being annoyed at having been jolted out of sleep by a couple of 'old' kids so
early on a Saturday morning, joined right in watching along with us."
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Uncle John Stories Aunt Mary Stories Steve Hollenczer Stories
Uncle Joe Stories Uncle Mike Stories Grandma Hollenczer Stories
Aunt Anna Whitlow Stories Grandpa Hollenczer Stories Joe-Joe Stories
Helen Stories Uncle Pete Stories Janice Stories Margaret Stories