Welcome Back to the Bronx

Dear Friends from the Bronx,

Welcome to the very first edition of the Westchester Country Club Newsletter. After more than 50 years, a number of us from the old Country Club neighborhood have re-united by e-mail and phone. I like to think that one of the factors that made this happen is the memoir my brother, John, and I have written entitled “Almost Golden.” It’s a book about the unique time and place in which we all grew up.
The purpose of this Newsletter is to bring everyone back up to date on all of our lives so far. Please send us pictures from the old days as well as pictures of you now, your kids and your grand kids. Send them along with a written “history” of your life so far. Don’t worry about format or length or “style.” we’ll edit it and make it fit our format.

Another old friend from the Bronx, Bob Crimi, has been good enough to design our letterhead and will help me put the piece together. Bob and I hooked up last summer after 50 years. He and Joe Dolan and I had a great mini-reunion here in Providence, Rhode Island where I’ve lived since 1965. Bob C. lives in Kingston, NY where he is an artist/painter, illustrator, and graphic designer. Joe lives in Milford, MA and is retired.

Just recently I spent a marvelous weekend back in the old neighborhood with my oldest and dearest friend, Chris Sheehan. Chris came up from his home in Fort Lauderdale and we walked the old streets together just like we did when we were 10 years old — Campbell Drive, Agar Place, Polo Place, and of course we went back to the Club. Yes, it’s still there and only a little the worse for wear. It’s still a club with about 90 members. It’s run by Bobby Edderly (nephew of the late, great Gertrude Edderly, first lady to swim the English Channel). Chris and I had lunch at the City Island Diner, walked the boardwalk at Orchard Beach (still a remarkably lovely spot), and we even drove up to Rye Beach, Playland, which also still looks terrific. (Maybe you saw parts of it in Woody Allen’s movie, Sweet and Low Down.)

I’ve also been back in phone contact with Marion DeJulio and Arlene Butler. Marion’s the one who has given me most of your addresses and for that I thank her very much. She’s living in Vermont along with several other members of the old crowd. Arlene is in New Jersey and spends some of her time in Del Ray, Fl.


START PLANNING NOW FOR THE WESTCHESTER COUNRY CLUB REUNION

This summer, we’re trying to have a Grand Reunion. At the moment, I am strongly in favor of having it in the Bronx at The Club. The upstairs “ballroom” is in beautiful shape with gorgeous water views of Pelham Bay and City Island, and we can have it catered either by Bobby Edderly or an outside caterer. Hey, maybe it could even be a clambake!!






So here’s how we start:
1. Send us your bios and your pictures, (preferably by email) with pictures as j-pegs, or snapshots that we can scan-- send to rmariani@fctvplus.net or to the regular mail address above on the letterhead.
2. Tell us which 2 or 3 weekends in August or September would be best for you to attend. I’ll be sending out specific info about places to stay near The Club.
3. Let us know if you’d prefer to bring family or if you’d prefer it to just be the old gang. (Note: if you’re getting this letter, you’re a “member.”)
4. Finally, pass this along to anyone else you may still be in touch with from the “Almost Golden” era.

I’d really like this to happen. I want so much to see all of you again and find out about your lives so far. You know what they say about Nostalgia—it’s a way of living in two time periods at the same time.
I’m including a list, at the end of the newsletter, of all the people who’s contact information I have at the moment so that you can get in touch with them independently.
Meanwhile, here’s a picture of Chris Sheehan and me on our recent mini re-union:



I’m sure you recognize the sign. Do you recognize the guys?

——————————————



MY LIFE SINCE I LEFT “THE CLUB.” By Rob Mariani.

I was always the shortest kid in the gang. And my best friend, Chris Sheehan, he was the tallest. I actually liked being the shortest. It was part of my identity, and I also always thought that if I did stuff as well as the regular size guys, it was considered exceptional. “Not bad for a short guy.” And if I failed at something, something physical, well, it wasn’t my fault. I just couldn’t reach that high. Nice try for a short guy though.
I left the Country Club neighborhood the same month I’d turned 16. Reluctantly, I might add. We moved to Westchester County but I kept coming back to the old neighborhood for the next few years. My mother would drop me off on weekends and after school (I went to Iona Prep. In New Rochelle) at the Club and there would always be somebody, Chris or Dave Cunniff or Richie Swift, or the Dolan Brothers to hang around with.
I was also “going steady” with Arlene Butler from Crosby Ave. then. She was my first real girlfriend and she made me very happy because she wasn’t just a good sweetheart, she was a good friend. (We’re back in touch by phone and she’s doing great.)
I got into Fordham U. (just couldn’t escape from the Bronx!) and became an English major. I became more involved with jazz, learned to play the drums and finally began to make some new “jazz friends” in and around Westchester.
I spent the summer after I graduated college at Harvard summer school where I met my fist wife, Marilyn. She was from Philly. We got married and moved to NYC in 1963 and it was a great time to be living in the Big Apple. My first job was as a copy boy at The NY Daily Mirror. A year or so later I got a job in the advertising/pr department at Con Edison. My second day on the job, “the Big Black Out” occurred. Next day I called friends up and said, “OK, want me to do that again?”
I was very happy in Manhattan until I got drafted into the army. I went to Fort Hood, Texas for basic training and then was assigned to the Public Information Office there. I wrote stories for the post newspaper. And got drunk a lot with my army buddies.
A year and one month into my military “career,” my father died very suddenly of an aneurism. It was a tough way to earn it, but they gave me a “hardship discharge” so I could look after my mom.
I moved back to NYC but there was no work there. I finally landed a job as an advertising copywriter for a new ad agency in Providence, RI. My first week on the job I was writing TV commercials starring the son of comedian Jerry Colonna. Bob Colonna has become one of my best friends through the years.
Marilyn and I bought a little house in the country but after about 10 years of a pretty interesting relationship, we decided to split up.
My career as an ad writer was going well and I was winning awards and moving up the ladder. I freelanced for a while and then became a partner in my own agency, Mariani, Hurley & Chandler. We did pretty well for about 17 years, during which time I met my second and current wife, Jan. She was a theater major and continues to be a very talented actress appearing in various local productions. She’s also the Communications Director for the Untied Way of Rhode Island.
We had two daughters, Nicole, who is now about to turn 30 (Yikes!) and Jenny, who is 27 (double yikes!!) We bought a house in Rehoboth, MA and I got involved with one of my first loves—horseback riding. Specifically, polo. No, I wasn’t rich like Prince Phillip. We called it “sandlot polo” because the guys we played with were mostly middle class working stiffs like me.
I had two appaloosa mares, which I kept in our front yard—a lifelong dream come-true, and for about 8 or 9 years, I played polo twice and sometimes three times a week.
The polo club went away and I finally gave up the horses. Both my daughters graduated from college. Nicky is married now and lives here in Providence. She’s studying to be a baker. Jenny lives in Albuquerque (which I always have to spell check), NM where she works in hospital administration. No grandchildren yet, I’m sorry to report.
A few years ago, my brother, John, and I decided to write a book about the Bronx where we grew up. John lives in Tuckahoe now and when ever we go down to visit, he and I always take a drive around the old Country Club neighborhood. We are delighted with how little has changed there. It’s still kind of “The Rivera of Da Bronx.” The book, “Almost Golden” is a collection of stories and personal memories about that place and that time—the 50’s—when everything seemed possible. What can I say-- John and I are both strung out on nostalgia.
I live in Bristol, Rhode Island now. In a lovely, unpretentious condo community on Narragansett Bay about a half-hour drive from Newport and Providence. Jan and I are empty nesters, longing for grandchildren. I’m semi-retired writing food and travel articles and still doing some advertising. My hobby now is wood carving.


I sell my stuff at craft fairs.
So that’s it so far. One of my goals now is to re-unite with all of my old Country Club friends, either all together in one place (like the Club), or one-by-one by phone or email or whatever.
Please send us your own stories and pictures – they don’t have to be this long, I just like to write. We want this newsletter to be a re-connection for everyone who was fond of the years they spent in the Bronx and at The Club.
(You can get a copy of ‘Almost Golden’ at www.bbotw.com or on Amazon.com.)



MARION (DIJULIO) LATORELLA

After the golden years, there were a few "I’d like to forget" years, except for 1966 when my son Todd was born. But a new golden era began when I moved, so I’ll begin there. In 1967, I left The Bronx to start life anew in Vermont. My sister, Janet and I, with three babes in the backseat of her station wagon, left on a rainy August day for Manchester Vermont. Our furniture left that same morning with "Chase the Mover," and despite the name, it did arrive!

I was deposited in a large, homely (not to be confused with homey!) apartment in downtown Manchester. I had not previously seen the place. To this day, I’m not sure who chose it. To make ends meet, I rented a room to two waitresses, newly arrived from the deep South. If you haven’t already heard stories about these two, ask me when we meet!

My first week in town, I was introduced to Fred, who helped me find a job. At our very first meeting he said, "I’m going to marry this girl." It didn’t matter to him that I was already married to someone else (not that the marriage was going very well). I had no such thoughts about him!

Not having many skills, other than typing and organization, I hired myself out as a waitress. The owners of the local diner in town must have seen some hope in me, and with Fred’s recommendation, I had my very first Vermont job. In five years, I rose to the ranks of being hired by The Sirloin Saloon, the primo restaurant in Manchester at that time... I had arrived in my new calling! I could write a book about those years!

The "practice" husband left town, we divorced, I began dating Fred, we married in 1970, Todd (now 40, Fred (in the AARP range), and I moved to East Dorset, Paul (now 34) was born in 1972.

In 1984, I decided to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a teacher. I graduated from Castleton State College with a BS in 1987 (30 years after graduation from Christopher Columbus High School!), got my first job teaching sixth grade that same year, received my Master’s degree in 1990, retired in 2003 and I’m loving every minute of it.

Todd, my son the civil engineer, is married to Erin and they live in Kansas with my two granddaughters, Sophia (8), and Isabella (5). Paul, who is writing the great American novel, lives in Oregon, and moonlights as an event technologist.

Fred rose from bartender to real estate broker, and for the last ten years has owned a Remax Agency. We both love to travel and do so as often as possible. I’m involved in lots of "social" work, play as much golf as I can, and keep really, really active.

Life has been good… how many people are lucky enough to get two "golden" eras?