My best friend in high school, Rosalyn, had the same birthday I had. Every summer, till few years after we graduated, we would celebrate together with lunch and a movie.

During our high school years, my sister, Millie, and I would go to New York City and the Adams Theater in Newark to see movie stars and famous bands of the day in person.

My youngest sister, Ruthann, was born the summer I turned 15. I would walk her in her baby carriage up the street. People would ask me, "Is that your baby?" That was a very insulting question to me. But I got my revenge many years later when people started mistaking me for her.

We moved to 21 Rowland Street. I got a part time job in Blums, a dressmaking store on Halsey Street. I covered buttons and buckles to custom accesorize gowns and dresses. I worked there for five years after graduation.

When I was about 15 years old, at the Park Avenue Baptist Church I attended, in Wednesday afternoons I had a sewing class for girls. They made bags to put their sewing material in and each girl made a stuffed doll. Millie and I used to go to the Young Peoples meetings on Friday nights. And, of course, we went every Sunday. I still remember, Mrs. Campbell, Miss Marlin, and Miss Cook. They lived in the apartment upstairs from the church.

During my high school years I had many pen pals, some as far away as England and Egypt.

The summer I graduated high school, Millie got married. She had a typical Italian wedding for those days, big hall, sandwiches, drinks and dancing.