Family Concoctions

A page from one of my many scrapbooks.

I am one who does not like to spend much time in the kitchen if I can help it. I love to eat, but would much rather enjoy someone else’s concoction. About ten years ago (2005), I found an envelope filled with my maternal grandmother’s recipes that she copied by hand. Mary Sarna GABUZDA loved to cook. Her husband, Steven Andrew GABUZDA, was a butcher, in the small town of Freeland, Luzerne, Pennsylvania. The Gabuzda Meat Market was located at 899 Centre St. (corner of Centre & Chestnut) right across the street from St. Anne’s Catholic Church.

Mary Gabuzda with her daughters 1986

I came up with the idea of putting together a cook book of family recipes and started earnestly on it; but, as we know other circumstances can interfere. To my delight, another cousin had the same, yet “different” idea. She contacted our aunts, her four daughters, for family recipes, to include with our grandmother’s recipes. 

On the first page of her family recipe book she states my identical intentions, feelings and memories. Thank you, Maureen.

“This recipe book is for my mom, Marion Denion and my aunts, Irene O’Donnell, Martha Cooper and Beezie Clapper and for all the Gabuzda offspring. When I think of my mom and her sisters, I think of women who love to laugh, especially at themselves. I’ve always enjoyed listening in on their conversations...

“In my memory, my grandmother is always in the kitchen preparing food. We spent many Easters, Thanksgivings and summer time visits with her in Freeland, Pennsylvania. At the end of these visits, she lade us with food for our trip home... 

“In her later years she loved to collect recipes from many sources - her daughters, magazines, her neighbor, Anna Stunz, and the radio... She would sit in her kitchen listening to “Alice” read recipes on the radio. She would copy them down until she heard an ingredient she didn’t like, then she would scratch out the recipe and turn off the radio. She also got recipes from magazines she read at the hairdresser. She wouldn’t tear them out, but would memorize them and write them down when she got home. Wow! While these are the recipes of the Gabuzda sisters, it is obvious their mother is the 

main contributor.  

Maureen Gray 

September 2005”

I am so thankful my cousin, Maureen, caught the cooking gift from my grandmother and collected our family recipes. We are both into scrapbooking and quilting. 

Check out Maureen’s blogs. One on quilting and the other on the farm life. 

Pursuit of Quilts - http://pursuitofquilts.blogspot.com/

Glen Almus Farm - http://glenalmusfarm.com/wp/

I will post some of grandma’s recipes from the “old country” and even the “newer ones” she picked up that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren still enjoy today. Here are two for a start. See above. Enjoy!

I visited east coast families during the summer of 2012. Maureen and I share our current projects.

Mary Irene Sarna 1894-1991 Part 2

Life After Stephen

After the death of her husband, Stephen A.  Gabuzda in 1966, Mary Sarna GABUZDA continued to live in the huge home that her husband built back in 1915. Her seven adult children “kept an eye on her,” by visiting her on a regular basis. They would also pick her up and take her to visit their homes throughout the east coast from Pennsylvania to Virginia. 

During the summer of 1967, Mary took a Greyhound bus with daughter, Beezie and grand daughter, Gail, to Norfolk, Virginia to visit Martha. I found a letter that my mother, Martha, wrote to her mother-in-law, Sophie Piña COOPER describing in great detail her mother’s visit. She writes, “I kept them quite busy with sightseeing; but learned that this is not what my mother enjoys doing. She enjoyed her day at the beach the most and her big thrill was wading in the Atlantic Ocean - her first time.”

“I took them down Cape Hatteras to Manteo to see The Lost Colony, also a trip to Williamsburg. Beezie and Gail throughly enjoyed it. Mom decided she had had enough traveling and refused to go to Pennsylvania Dutch country with us…so we took mom home to Freeland.” I am sure Grandma was glad to be back in her home at age 73.

The summer of 1968, my family moved out to California. We drove up the east coast to visit relatives knowing it would be awhile until we would see family again.

It was not until the summer of 1975, that my family took a trip back to the east coast to visit relatives. We started in Maryland seeing her two sisters, Beezie  and Marion. We drove up to Freeland, to pick up their mother, Mary, so she could stay with her daughters for a few weeks. One of our visits included Arlington National Cemetery to visit my father’s gravesite. I remember seeing a large crowd in another section with areas blocked off.

Asking about it, we found out that President Ford was at the cemetery that day. My grandmother was delighted to be able to shake the president’s hand. She did not wash her hands for days. 

I thought we had to have taken some photos with our cameras of this trip. Unfortunately, I have yet to find them. But, I remember the proud look on my grandmother’s face for many days after this event.

With my membership with Newspapers.com, I was delighted to see that this story was reported in my grandmother’s local paper, the Standard-Speaker of Hazleton, PA. Aug. 14, 1975, page 18, accessed 16 June 2015.

Years later, in 1982, the corner at 899 Centre St. was sold. The new owner converted the location into three apartments with two in the upper level. Notice the front porch is still there. (By 1999, the porch was turned into a garage.) Mary was taken back to Freeland to visit friends and her "home." The tenants were kind enough to let her inside see how each had been converted to new residences. She was satisfied and thankful.

Mary would live with four of her children for three months at a time until 1990.

In 1984, her family celebrated her ninetieth birthday with her at Irene's home in New Jersey.

Happy Birthday, Mary!

My next trip to the east coast was in 1987. We saw her at Beezie's home and later when she was transfered to Marion's place. We also visited other family and places during this visit.

She also started crocheting to keep those hands active. One Christmas, my mother and I received a set of six covered hangers in two different colors. We still use them in our closets. I recently found the picture of her in action with the crochet needle. I bet her son, George, made the wooden stand to hold the hanger up for her. Great idea!

Mary still loved to cook for her family. I will be sharing her favorite recipes in future posts.

Ninety-six year old, Mary died 14 Feb 1991 in Woodberry, New Jersey, while Irene was reading Valentines orally to her. She was buried with her husband, Stephen Gabuzda, in Drums, Luzerne, Pennsylvania. 

Stephen A. Gabuzda 1885-1966 Part 7

Remembering My Grandparents

Mary and Stephen Gabuzda celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

The Gabuzda brothers, Stephen and George Gabuzda made the decision to split their meat market and farm business in the start of 1933. George took the Glen Almus Farm and Stephen kept the brick store at the corner of Centre and Chestnut Streets of Freeland, Luzerne, Pennsylvania.

All three of Stephen’s sons helped out their Pop in the store throughout the Depression. This included, his eldest George, who put off going to Villanova at the end of the decade on a football scholarship graduating with a chemical engineering degree in 1942. Eddie, below, works at arranging fruit in the store window.

With the start of World War II, all four of the Gabuzda families in Freeland, Luzerne County and Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania,  had sons or daughters who went to war or served at home as soldiers, sailors, airmen, or nurses during the war. George used his chemical engineering degree from home. Eddie worked as a nurse overseas in Burma and after the war also obtained a degree in chemical engineering. Steve, Jr., served in the famous battle of Remagen. Martha, my mother, 

graduated from Mesicordia Nursing Hospital in 

Philadelphia in 1944 and joined the Navy Nurse Corp and served for the next five years on the east coast. 

Stephen Gabuzda and Mary Sarna became grandparents with their first grandson born in 1939. All together they had sixteen grandchildren born between 1939 to 1966 (one born after his death). Photo to the left is Mary and Stephen proudly posing with their first granddaughter born in 1944. Photo to the right shows their first two grandsons in front of the Gabuzda Meat store at 899 Center Street in Freeland.

During the 1950s, son George helped his father renovate the store which included a new butcher meat refrigerator seen on the right. Stephen, like other small local business, began to feel the effects of competition from larger supermarkets coming into town, like A & P and Acme. His business, like others, went “down the tubes.”

The Gabuzda family had a family reunion on 23 June 1962 celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of their parents. Mary was privileged to hold her first great grand child, her son’s Steve Jr.’s grandson, as seen to the right. 

It was held at oldest son, George's home in Hometown, Pennsylvania. All seven adult children with their families were in attendance. 

Original photos in author's possession.

Seven granddaughters pose for the camera.

Stephen was diagnosed with bladder cancer three years later. He also lost functioning of his kidneys the following year. 

I remember our family driving up to Pennsylvania from Virginia several times the last six months of his life with my parents helping out the best way they could for Martha’s parents. 

My father does a “fake” nap with his father-in-law, Stephen, on a Sunday afternoon. This is a very special picture, seen on the right, in my memory as my father died six months after my grandfather.  

Stephen A. Gabuzda died on Friday, 22 July 1966, at St. Joseph’s Hospital, following a surgery three weeks earlier at the age of 80.

His daughters said that as he lay in his hospital bed he told them some of the stories of Slovakia and his journey to America that they had never heard before.

His viewing was held at the local Petrilli Funeral Home. His funeral was the following Monday, July 25. This was the first family funeral I attended. It was held with a mass at St. Ann's Auditorium since the church was being renovated at the time.  I remember seeing him in his open casket. It frightened me and I started crying uncontrollably. This followed with most of the people in attendance crying with me. 

He was buried at Calvary Roman Catholic Cemetery in Drums, Luzerne, Pennsylvania. 

Stephen’s sons were not interested in taking over their father’s business. Stephen’s nephew, Andy HAZARA, mentioned in a previous post, was given the family recipes for the kielbasa, bacon, and sausage. These meats are still made by Andy’s daughter with special orders throughout the year.

Stephen A. Gabuzda 1885-1966 Part 6

Family Memories

The Gabuzda family poses for a family picture taken in their living room at 899 Centre Street. Sons, George, Stephen Jr., and Edward lean behind the couch. Daughter, Martha with father Stephen Sr., mother Mary and daughter Bernice (Beezie) sit on couch. Youngest daughter, Marion, sits on the floor in front. Oldest daughter, Irene, had left home as wife to Donald O'Donnell.  Photo taken around 1940.

Stephen Gabuzda was a son of Slovak peasants who probably couldn’t read. As a young boy in Austria-Hungary, he had been given the equivalent of a fourth-grade education, only because he served as caretaker/companion of the son of a local dignitary and attended school with him--otherwise, he could not have gone to school. Whenever the dignitary’s son was naughty, Steve got the punishment--with the school master’s switch. He was truly a “whipping boy.”

Stephen Gabuzda, with daughter-in-law,
Mimi (married Edward in 1944).

Steve was a self-taught man. Every morning after opening the store in Freeland, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, he would return to the kitchen to await customers. Sitting at the kitchen table, where he could watch the store through the glass in the upper part of the door between the store and kitchen, he read the morning paper, The Hazleton Standard-Sentinal. Martha has vivid memories of her father using his index finger to follow the line of the print. He also read the Hazleton Plain-Speaker, and the Slovak-American journal, Jednota. Martha says he always seemed aware of the issues of the day, and discussed them with his customers, and had beautiful European-style handwriting, written with a flair. She says he probably learned English by “total immersion,” without classes, and none of his children remember  him attending classes here. Martha thinks he learned so quickly because he was a gregarious man, so friendly and outgoing. While he had a good command of the language, he spoke it with an accent, pronouncing “veal” as it it were “weal.”  His oldest daughter, Irene, remembers her father having a very pronounced, heavy accent, but his later daughters remember a more moderate accent, and the youngest, Marion, remembers no accent at all.

Stephen never spoke of returning to Slovakia, and had no desire to go back. He often expressed his pride in being an American. The only time the girls heard him speak Slovak at home was when he and their mother didn’t want the children to know what they were talking about, or when “Granny” Sarna, who didn’t speak English, visited Saturday mornings. When Martha once asked him why he didn’t teach his children Slovak, he said, “Because we are Americans, and in America we speak English.”

A few years back, my mother, Martha, and her sisters, recorded their “Front Porch Memories” of growing up at 899 Centre St. in Freeland. Some of these stories of the 1930s to 1940s include:

Martha

The girls were often found playing “house” with their dolls on the porch, or Martha directing her sisters in stage productions of their own, but Martha says if her Pop was ever annoyed because he had to walk around the girls there to go down to the chicken house and the big truck garage, he never showed it, but always seem amused.

Marion remembers as a teen sitting on the porch with boyfriends who walked her home, her Mom saying, “Be careful, the priests are watching.” (The rectory of St. Ann’s Catholic Church was directly across the street from their front porch.) She remembers Pop coming home from the Elks Club about 10 P.M. saying, “Time to come in now,” and seeing Mr. Stuntz, the next-door neighbor occasionally peeking out his window. Marion remembers Mom “used to scrub the porch with buckets and buckets of water, carefully wiping down the bannister and keeping the porch clean, and then, after all her chores were done, her Mom sat on the glider on the porch in a nice clean dress.”

Beezie with Kitty and Trix

Martha was Bobby’s  Seitzinger’s date for the MMI Senior Class Day at Pocono Manor once, when they left the house to go to his car, her Pop came out of the side door from the store in his bloody butcher apron with a meat cleaver in his hand to say good-bye. He called to Bobby, while waving the cleaver in the air, “Now, you take good care of my daughter, Bobby.” Martha said she will never forget the look on Bobby’s face. Martha says that it’s funny now, but she was so embarrassed then: “He must have been cutting meat and forgot that he still had the cleaver in his hand.”

Martha also remembers that as a teenager, her brother Georgie and a friend would sneak into the garage, push the car out along the gravel driveway to the street, turn on the engine and drive off. “Mom, getting wise to this, surprised them one night by sitting in the back seat and waiting for them. Caught them red-handed!”

Stephen A. Gabuzda 1885-1966 Part 5

Business Trips

Stephen A. Gabuzda was a business man who also invested in world business. He took trips to Bermuda with fellow stockholders in 1922 and to Belize in Central America in 1924.

Hamilton, Bermuda in 1922

On the back of this photo is listed names. Starting from the left side: Stephen Gabuzda, Ben Davis, Mr. Belakanich?,
Stanley Orberrender, ???, William Flad, Andrew Zelnick, ???, ???. 
1923 is date written on back.

I was first made aware of these adventures when sorting through my mother’s files of photos and documents. I first found a letter that Mary, mother to Martha, wrote to Martha in 1946. (So glad that the envelope was saved with the letter.)

On page 2, Mary’s comment, “I just showed Bernice (younger daughter) what is on the other side, and she laughed and said, ‘Ah, isn’t that nice.’ I translated from Slavish, he was in Central America at the time or was it Bermuda.” On the other side of this page was the translation Mary made of her husband’s, Stephen, letter he wrote her while on the ship to Central America in 1924. 

See transcription below.

This led me to find files of photos of Stephen’s trips with names written on the back with co-investors as seen above.

I found Stephen's actual passport he carried on his second trip to British Honduras, now Belize.
His application also can be found on Ancestry.com. dated 27 Feb 1924. See link below. Interesting to see that Stephen intends to go to Guatemala.

http://interactive.ancestry.com/1174/USM1490_2436-0011/1141319?backurl=http://person.ancestry.com/tree/95307/person/-2127616805/facts/citation/-1534090741/edit/record

Original passport dated 3rd March 1924.

Photo below is used in passport application above and passport. This dates it to the 1922 trip to Bermuda.

On the back of this photo is listed George Palya, Ben Davis, Stanley Oberrender, William Flad,
Theodore Reichman, Steve Gabuzda (Pop), and Andrew Zelenak. 1923 is date on back of photo.
Irene Gabuzda's (Steve's eldest daughter) handwriting on back.
Arch Rock, Hamilton, Bermuda labeled below photo.

The photo above was taken at the natural arches beach of Tucker's Town in northeastern Bermuda including Stephen Gabuzda (Pop). Unfortunately, the arches were destroyed by Hurricane Fabian in 2003. [1]  

Below is Steve with his uncle George Palya, (who started Steve in the meat cutting business 10 years earlier), enjoying the Atlantic Ocean in Bermuda.

Stephen Gabuzda with George Palya

I go to Ancestry.com typing these names between 1922-1924 in Passenger Lists. I find one ship with the group. They are on the S. S. Fort Hamilton sailing from Hamilton, Bermuda, on February 25th, 1922, arriving at the port of New York, New York, on February 27th 1922. This verifies that Stephen took two trips. His first one to Bermuda. I checked out several pages of the United States Citizen pages. On pages 3,4,7 and 8; I found nine passengers traveling together to Bermuda from Freeland, Pennsylvania.

"New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.aancestry.com : accessed 10 August 2016), image of 505 0f 698, Line 4,  Steven Gabrizda entry, citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T715, Roll 3084; Ship S. S. Fort Hamilton out of Hamilton, Bermuda,  AR Francis master, arrived New York on 27 Feb 1922.
http://interactive.ancestry.com/7488/NYT715_3084-0505?pid=4026232664&backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dnypl%26h%3d4026232664%26ti%3d0%26indiv%3dtry&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true

These included: Samuel Hess, page 3, line 1. The next four were on page 4 including William Waskervich line 3, Steven Gabrizda line 4, Andrew Zelanak line 9, George Palya line 10 (seen above). On page 7; listed William Oberrender line 20, William Flad line 23, Benjamin Davis, line 24. Finally on page 8, William Martin is listed on line 29. Theodore Reichman is not found on the S.S. Fort Hamilton; so is this an error in name labeling on the photo? 

Are the question marks in above ship photo William Martin, Samuel Hess and William Waskewich? I hope this blog post finds the answers to this mystery.

I was fortunate to have a cousin who possessed more documents (including the above passport) and other photos that belonged to my grandfather. He gladly sent me boxes with these detailed documents instead of tossing the contents in the trash. Thank you so much, dear cousin!

Here is what I found out. There were about a dozen letters written to various stockholders from 1924 to 1929 from The Tidewater Lumber Co. Woodward Building of Washington D.C. The above investors were interested in mahogany logs grown and cut in Belize. Was the first trip to Bermuda to impress the company's stockholders? 

Belize, Central America in 1924

Stephen took a second trip for the Tidewater Lumber Co. but this time from Central America in Belize. I find him on the S. S. Coppename leaving Belize, B. H. [British Honduras] on 17 Mar 1924 sailing to New Orleans arriving 19 Mar 1924. Samuel Hess is the only familiar name of group of stock holders from previous trip. Charlie Johnson is also a familiar name with letters written to investors from offices of the Tidewater Lumber Co. Edgar Snyder is also traveling to same destination with Samuel Hess and Charles Johnson as signed witnesses.

"New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1813-1963." digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.aancestry.com : accessed 10 August 2016), image 163 of 594, Line 2 Steven S. Gabuzda entry, citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T905, Roll 098; Ship Coppename out of Belise, B. H., [unknown]master, arrived New Orleans on 19 Mar 1924.
http://interactive.ancestry.com/7484/LAT905_98-0271/913258?backurl=http://person.ancestry.com/tree/95307/person/-2127616805/facts/citation/-2120591960/edit/record#?imageId=LAT905_98-0273

This is where the above letter fits into the story. See transcription below. 

March 10, 1924

Dearest Wife,

I am letting you know that I am well and resting because I don't see anything but water and the heavenly skies and the fish in the water. I have nothing to think about but you and the family. I miss you everyday and our Martha because I have no one to play with. 

I am letting you know that maybe I won't be home until about 29th or 30th of March because I don't think will be able to take this ship back, because we have to spend a little more time here. Take care of the family and yourself keep well my dear.
xx-----------                                                              husband
                                                                                   Stephen Gabuzda

handwritten note by Martha Gabuzda Cooper
"Translated from Slovak and copied by mom
Obviously written aboard ship"

It is interesting in investigating my grandfather's second trip, he and above traveling companions, all went together to apply for their U.S. Passport Applications for British Honduras as all approved date is 3 Mar 1924. Destination is Guatamala[?], Central America.

The photos below (in my possession) were a documentary report of their visit to British Honduras/ Belize.

Here are Steven's 3 traveling companions. Picture is too dark to see who is who.
Looking at their U.S. Passport photos my guess is Edgar Snyder (standing on steps),
Dr. Samuel Hess (sitting on steps) and Charles Johnson ( standing at far right).

In my paper files, I find a several page typewritten report on the Tidewater Lumber Co. operations in British Honduras requested by the Mackubin, Goodrich and Company of Baltimore, Maryland, dated November 1924. The purpose of the examination “was to determine the ability of the company to successfully carry out a contract to supply the Williamson Vaneer Company, Baltimore, Maryland, with certain hardwoods, suitable for manufacture into veneer, from lands held under Government concession.”

It lists the officers, directors, stockholders, personnel, holdings, equipment in Stann Creek and All Pines, British Honduras. The conclusion of the report states that the Tidewater/Williamson contract “may be considered a feasible and sound commercial project.”

This challenged me to find out more about the Tidewater Lumber Co. focusing on their mills in British Honduras. In 1925, the railroad line between Middlesex and The Tidewater Co.'s pier (Stann Creek, now called Dangriga) an agreement was made with the British Honduras government and the Tidewater Lumber Co. to use their line to export their mahogany lumber to the United States. After the decline of lumber manufacturing, the railroad was used for passenger cars until the arrival of automobiles.[2]

Among my documents, I find this letter sent to my grandfather from the Tidewater Lumber Co. dated 7 Jan 1926, stating of the Tidewater Lumber Company’s disposal “in and about the tropical republics, shipping to Belize; Puerto Barrios, Guatemala and Puerto Cortes, Spanish Honduras.”

Letter in author's possession.

Unfortunately, The Tidewater Lumber Company later failed thus making their investments worthless as stated (in the final letter in my possession, dated 19 Dec 1929) by George Nicholson,"My own opinion is that the stockholders will not realize anything from their investment, and it may just be as well to charge it off."

[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Tucker's Town Peninsula, Bermuda," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tucker%27s_Town_Peninsula,_Bermuda&oldid=654453044 (accessed August 11, 2016).

[2] Rollinson, David. Railways of the Caribbean. London: Macmillan Education LTD. copyright 2001.

Mary Irene Sarna 1894-1991 Part 1

Standing in the back row are George Jr., Anna and John. Sitting in the front row are Mary, their 

mother Mary and father George. Standing in-between his parents is young Andrew taken around 1900.

Mary Irene SARNA, my maternal grandmother, was born in Sandy Run, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, on 26 April 1894. Her parents, George SARNA and Mary HYDUK/KOSTELNIK, immigrated to the U.S. during the last quarter of the 19th century. 

Immigration records are yet to be found, to state if they traveled together or separately; but both are found in Eckley, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, by 1880. George worked as a miner in the local mine fields. George and Mary were married in the small Immaculate Conception Catholic church in Eckley on 20 Aug 1883. This is the same exterior church building used in the film The Molly McGuires with Sean Connery and Richard Harris (1970). The movie resulted in the town being saved from demolition. It was afterward turned into a mining museum under the control of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. See website about the Eckley Miners Village. http://eckleyminersvillage.com/history/

Small Catholic church in Eckley, Pennsylvania. Photo by Mary Cooper.

Their first three children were Anna SARNA, George SARNA and John SARNA, born from 1884 to 1891. A fourth child Josephine SARNA, was born in 1892, but died a year later. They returned to Europe in 1893, to take care of family business. Mary was homesick for the United States and they returned the following year to Upper Lehigh, Luzerne, PA, where daughter Mary SARNA was born in 1894. Andrew SARNA was born in 1899. She had another child by the 1900 census who died in infancy. Mary vaguely remembers watching her mother give the baby a bath and seeing “holes in her chest” or blisters. This was Susan SARNA, born in February 1896. Susan died 4 months later in June of ‘cholera infantum’, a summer illness caused by heat. 

The family moved to Freeland, a nearby town by 1900. Anna, the older daughter, married Michael REMAK in 1903. Michael and Anna owned and operated a bar and restaurant in Freeland, PA.  Their oldest son, George, Jr. was killed in a mining accident in 1912. At the time of his death, he was married with a young son. John grew up to collect and repair clocks. Andrew, the youngest son, worked in the coal mines most of his life with his father, George.

There is a family controversy concerning the name of Mary’s mother’s maiden name. Some family records/obituaries state it as Koscelnick and others as Hyduk. On Mary Sarna’s certificate of baptism, it states Hajduk. It is interesting to see that this document was copied from the original on Jan 8 1930, 36 years later. A future blog post will cover my research regarding this name conflict.

As a child, Mary’s job was to carry two buckets of water at a time from a cistern two blocks away on wash day. Mary would also find empty discarded soda bottles, take them to McManaman’s Drug Store and trade them in, one bottle for a pencil or tablet for school. She would go to the dump for wooden orange crates for driftwood. Once she found a grapefruit spoon and had it for years after she was married. It was one of her treasures as a little girl. She didn’t know what happened to it.

Mary started school in first grade. Mary’s best friend from childhood through adult years was Annie Metro (Mrs. Slefanick). They shared a double desk in a two room school house in Sandy Run. They were always together. Mary spent more time at their house then at her own. Mary’s schooling was up to eighth grade. She and Edith Saricks were the top two students in her elementary class. Edith went on to high school in Freeland and then to college. Mary was not allowed to finish schooling by her parents as they could not even afford the shoes which she’d wear out too fast walking three miles to Freeland. Mary even offered to carry them. Miss Saricks was later Mary’s daughters’ Freeland High School music teacher.

Mary, left her family’s home in Sandy Run at the age of 16, and moved in with her older sister, Anna REMEK, in Freeland, to take care of her four nieces and two nephews. Mary made a daily trip to Palya’s Meat Market to buy groceries.There she met the young handsome GABUZDA brothers. 

Mary SARNA’s story continues with Stephen A. Gabuzda 1885-1966 Part 2. 

http://familyfilmfabricfood.blogspot.com/2016/07/stephen-gabuzda-1885-1966-part-2.html