Sledding Down Ledgewood Dr.

Easter Sunday Snow 1955, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Sledding in The Plat

As you can see by the photo in this post, Easter Sunday, 1955, brought us a lot of unexpected snow. I remember hanging out by the back door watching my father shovel out the area in front of the garage when a neighborhood child, Jamie Nero, who lived diagonally across the street, appeared with a little poodle she got for Easter. My father chased the dog all over the driveway and tied it to the garage door while he took Jamie home. She was wearing a short sleeved frilly Easter dress and white patent leather shoes and ankle socks with no coat. He bundled her up in a jacket of his that hung in the garage and hurried her home. Pretty soon, he came back with Mr. Nero and a dog collar and leash to get the puppy. Both men were annoyed that Jaime just walked out of the house with the dog. 

Around the same year, on a weekend day, my father was waiting for the snowplow to plow the street. Time passed and they didn't show so my father got out my sled and walked me over in my snow suit to slide down Ledgewood Drive. Kids appeared from all the streets with sleds in tow. The "saucer" type sleds were popular and I wanted one. My dad monitored the kids sliding down the street which was not a easy task. Finally, he knocked on doors to get other fathers to come outside to help. My dad took one unruly boy home by the collar, leaving his sled for his sister to use. 

Finally, the snow plows showed but my father asked them to do all the other streets in the Plat so we could slide a little while more. I saw him slip the driver some folded bills when they came back to plow that final street. Sledding was over and to my knowledge, this event never happened again. 

Dad's good rapport with the neighbors kept the situation under control more than once. He thought we should have more fun in the winter like he had when he was a kid.