I remember my 8th grade graduation. My friends, Philomena, Angie, and I all showed up for the ceremony wearing exactly the same dress. My mother took a picture of the three of us. Standing up on the stage I was right in the center because I was taller then the others. Remember this was Newark and most of us kids were Italian. And at 13 years, most of them were still short. I was 5 feet 5 inches, so I really stood out. Mind you, in a few years most of my classmates left me in the dust. I never grew another inch. I could still hear my mother at the ceremony. "That's my daughter . . . right in the center!"

That night I went to three graduation parties. I was shocked to see the adults giving the kids alcohol to drink. Some of the boys actually got drunk and the adults laughed at them. Alcohol was never served in our house so this was a new experience for me. It got late and I was afraid to take the bus home. So I went to my aunt Dolly's house and asked if I could stay the night. She said okay, but I would have to call my folks. Dolly did not have a telephone. So I had to go to the corner bar to make the call. It was very dark and smokey and full of men. I was scared to death as I asked the bartender for the telephone. But I managed to call the upstairs neighbor who got my mother. She gave me permission to stay overnight at my aunt's house.

We now moved to 333 South 7th Street. This was a one family corner house. September that year I started high school. I have many happy high school memories. I liked the school and the girls I met were just great. In the summer of my second year, I worked in a clothing factory of a friend of my father's. Since I was not old enough to work, when the factory was being inspected, Mary, another young girl who worked there, and I were told to hide in the bathroom. We did. That summer I was able to buy all my school clothes for the next year and had a ball shopping.