Perry Street, Yellow Creek and Anna!

I remember my elementary days, that part of my life was one of my favorite periods.  My family lived on Perry Street in Struthers, Ohio and in those days doors weren’t kept locked.  Neighbors knew each other and helped each other and it was safe for kids to play together, even after dark.   I remember playing Hide N’ Seek within a two blocks radius, what fun and you can imagine how long that game took to finish.

I attended Center Street School, which was three long blocks east/south of Perry and about five houses up.  Of course, walking through neighbor’s houses in the back of ours made it easier and no one seemed to care.  Cutting through the back yards took off 15 minutes of time from our walk and dismissed the drudgery of walking up a hill to reach the school.  There were plenty of kids to walk to school with, which made the walk seem like a bash. 

My best friend, in my elementary days, was Anna Matlak, her family was Ukrainian, and I believe that her and her siblings were the first generation to be born here.  Everyone in her family fluently spoke Ukrainian and Anna would have to translate to her mother to what I have said when I would talk.  When Anna spoke English, there was a slight accent.  I remember her mother making these most beautiful eggs for Easter; they were not like the eggs that we would decorate for Easter. They were eggs that were artistically drawn with color using something that would resemble a hot pencil, it was fascinating to watch. I always wanted to learn how to create those beautiful Ukrainian Eggs.  It’s a fact, the eggs that her mother painted were as beautiful, as the ones that I found on the internet --- and maybe more so.

Anna was one grade behind me in school; however she seemed more mature and witty. I remember spending every light of every day with her.  Our days together were mostly spent in Yellow Creek Park, a nearby park and woods near the neighborhood.  We would hike through the woods forever, can’t tell you the cliffs we climbed, rocky paths we walked and caves we explored.  This one cave called the “Ice Cave” in Yellow Creek, I was told that it is still there.  It’s not a cave that you could walk into; it’s more like a large cavity in a stoned cliff located high on this rocky path.   If you would insert your arm into it, you would think that you were in a freezer.  Another treat we would see in our experience in the woods was this huge rock; it was called “Devil’s Rock.”  This boulder was huge; you can climb it, lie down on it, walk on it and have fun sliding down it.  Fifteen kids could probably sit together at the top, that’s how big it was.  Today, if I would walk a path towards Hamilton Lake and reach Devil’s Rock, it would be possible to find my name along with Anna’s. 

My mother would have had a conniption to know how often we would climb these cliffs and hike these paths.  Today, I would probably yelled at my kids too, because a couple years ago, I looked at some of these paths I walked with Anna, and wondered how the H*&% did I do that without killing myself?   My mother probably thought that we went to the park to go on the swings and play in the sand boxes; yeah --- sure, us two Tom-Boys!  I bet my last dollar that Anna and I know every path from Yellow Creek Park to Hamilton Lake in Poland, Ohio.

Every place has a tale; the one for Yellow Creek was ‘Nature Boy.”  The story was about a young boy who was an orphan who did not own any clothes and would go frolicking in the woods.  The truth of the matter was; there was a pervert.  One day, Anna and I were walking back from Hamilton Lake to Yellow Creek; we just crossed Wetmore Drive and started on the paths that lead to Yellow Creek Park.  Behind the old swimming hole in Struthers which was nicknamed “The Bird Bath” they was this pond, where we would wade in the water to catch tadpoles or go there just to skip stones.  On our way back to Yellow Creek we stopped at this pond to skip stones and wade in to comfort our tired feet.  Across the pond, there was this older man just walking around the pond.  Anna said, let’s go, I need to do something for my Mom.  So I was slowly putting my shoes on while Anna called me a slow-poke in order for me to hurry up.  I took her lead and thought of it of being a race, so I moved more swiftly putting on my shoes.  We started back to the path, again, Anna pointed at something ahead stating she seen something shining and started to run.   Of course, I followed her thinking that I could beat her to this bright object that I didn’t even see, then, I noticed that the strange man at the pond was following us.  Once we got to the point to where Anna said she saw something, we looked at each other and quickly ran all the way back to the park.  Once we were in the park and near the swings, we finally stopped, breathing hard we looked at each other and laughed.  Anna asked me, Boy, weren’t you Scared?  I just looked at her and smiled and honestly said, “Heck no, I was with you.

I just saw Anna last year for the first time in thirty years, and the first thing she said to me after we had the initial greeting hug, was boy, do you remember that one day in the park, when that strange man started to chased us.  I started to laugh, because I remember how stupid I was because I was so brave because I was with her.   Thinking about it NOW, really scares me.  Thank God for Anna for realizing something with that guy was not right.  But too bad, we weren’t smart enough to go the park attendant at the park for they may have located this man who chased us.  I pray that no other kid was hurt by him.  Things we do as kids!

A few of the neighborhood kids would play together, I remember, Rosie Agresta, Michael and Nat Agresta, John Bilous, Anna and myself would play behind my house.  We had three large cherry trees in the backyard.  These trees were easily climbed with so many branches to protect any slip you may have along the way up or down.  We play Tarzan and Jane; the smallest would be Chetah, what fun we had.  In the rear of the house beneath the back porch was an empty area, where logs laid and other stuff.  This was where we held our so called neighborhood club, we played and talked, complain about school, our parents and even our little brothers.  One day we were back of the house playing, Anna was running and all of a sudden, you heard her yell and cry with a piece of wood stuck to the bottom of her foot.  She stepped on the long roofing nail that pierced right through her tennis shoes; I remember it being so gross.  I ran like the wind to her house to get her Dad, he came running, quickly picked her up in his arms and raced back to their house.

I remember my Mom being so worried and scolding us, telling us that we are no longer allowed to play back there.  She was scared that the Matlaks were going to sue us or something.  I assured her  no they wouldn’t, they are not like that and I cried for a good hour, for after listening to Mom, I thought for sure, that Anna would not be my friend.  A few hours later, she came back over with a little limp for she was protecting her foot; my mother asked Anna to have her Mom give her the doctor’s bill.  Anna exclaimed that, “There would be no doctor bill, my Dad just pulled the nail out washed it and poured something over it and had me soak it for while.  He bandaged it and wrapped it in order to make it more comfortable for walking.  Don’t worry Mrs. Yallech, it is fine.”  We started to play house in the basement like nothing ever happen.

I loved Perry Street, it was what I knew, where I had my fun.  I was upset when I heard we were moving to a new house on Grimm Heights, it was a bigger house and closer to the store.  Mainly, it was a brick house, my mother’s dream; her whole dream was to have a brick house.  Well, she got it.  But why wasn’t the brick red, I thought and still think, it is the ugliest orange brick around.  Plus there is a “School Bus Turn Around Ahead” sign posted in the front yard and these two ugly pine trees in the front, you can’t climb pine trees.  How sad, so many memories and I knew nothing would be the same.