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Ramona's Ramblings

1943-FDR and mom

Ramona Jan
Posted 2/28/23

In 1943, 'Project Y,' the Manhattan Project's secret laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, for the development and production of the atomic bomb under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, …

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Ramona's Ramblings

1943-FDR and mom

Posted
In 1943, 'Project Y,' the Manhattan Project's secret laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, for the development and production of the atomic bomb under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, began operations. Duke Ellington played at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time. Shoe rationing went into effect in the US due to WWII. Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Oklahoma! opened on Broadway.
 
The United States Army (in contract with the University of Pennsylvania) began developing the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer. The notorious Zoot Suit riots, a violent rampage named for the targeted victims, young people dressed in wide trousers pegged at the ankle and long coats, erupted in East Los Angeles. John F. Kennedy's patrol torpedo boat PT-109 was rammed by a destroyer. 
 
The New York Yankees defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, four to one, to win their tenth World Series. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) began broadcasting. The Great Depression officially ended. And my mom, then a small girl, moved with her family from an apartment in a two-family house to their own one-family home, an event that landed in the lap of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
 
How the historians missed that momentous event, we'll never know. Fortunately, it can be found in mom's recent memoir, Stories from my Life by Nancy L. Janquitto (only available to family), excerpts of which I have permission to publish provided I don't change anything. I didn't. In her words, she speaks about her parents:
 
"I think my mother had gotten tired of that lifestyle [apartment living], and convinced my dad that they should buy a house. He was reluctant...He didn't want the responsibility of a house; repairs, hanging and removing very heavy wooden framed storm windows twice a year, shoveling a 100-foot cobblestone driveway...and all that goes into maintaining property.
 
We didn't move far, only to the other side of West Orange [NJ], far enough that I had to change schools. My sister was already attending the high school, so she could now walk to school, whereas before she took a public bus.
 
The house was large and old. There were electric lighting fixtures on the wall of the living room, which had once been fueled by gas.
 
The dining room had a pocket door by which it could be sealed off from view. Adjacent to the kitchen was a butler's pantry of sorts, and in the attic, two finished rooms. We thought perhaps the house was designed for a family with servants.
The hill on which the house was built was steep; good for sledding.
 
My dad would get on my sled, a copy of a Flexible Flyer, face down. I would pile on top of him and hold on with all my strength and we would speed down the street. Usually someone was at the cross street holding back what little traffic might have been coming through...
 
My parents went out on a limb buying the house. Mostly, it was mom executing the plan. They got a Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loan. When the first payment on the loan became due, the bill was a few dollars more than they had been told it would be and more than they could afford.
 
Getting no cooperation from the FHA, the bank, and the local authorities to have the error corrected, mom decided to write to the President of the United States, FDR. She asked that the bill be reduced to the original amount. Her request was granted."
 
Oh, did I mention, in '43, that FDR became the first President to travel by airplane? He flew in a Boeing 314 Flying Boat dubbed the Dixie Clipper to Casablanca, North Africa because German U-boats were patrolling the Atlantic and taking an enormous toll on American ships. Amazingly, he still had time enough to address my grandparent's loan when no one else did.

RAMONA JAN is the Founder and Director of Yarnslingers, a storytelling group that tells tales both fantastic and true. She is also the roving historian for Callicoon, NY and is often seen giving tours around town. You can email her at callicoonwalkingtours@gmail.com.

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