People
Timeline
Pictures
- Earliest - Houses across street, Kids we had apple fights with, tore down houses when the new East Madison Clinic
built circa 1970. House(s) torn down on Atwood Ave. for the parking lot. The Dean Clinic eventually bought the building
and the main door was moved from Attwood Ave to the back at the parking lot. Torn down in 2005 by the Nelson group.
- Knight’s on Butler St. & Parking lot rocks - Shirley’s place on Fair Oaks
- Ice Storm, Lenny's Inferno,
Baby Sitters - Kathy & Mike
- Green Bay vacations, Little League Football
- Bobby Gile - Kid in big Queen Anne style house on Winnebage next to Yahara River
- Bob Moore & Kent Heinz - Dave "Tigger" Craig - Quentin - Don & Ronnie
- Richy Pobance, Tom Brandt - Deb’s Friends - Vicky Showers, Tia, Pam Morton
- Backyard - Plants, Garage, George’s Ice Shanty, sandbox
- Play Areas - Clinic, Parking Lot, Train Tracks, Yahara River, Tenney Park, Trinity Luthern Church
- Stop-N-Go – Circus lady, Manager guy, Rich Hippie, ?, ?
E. Main St - Vacant lot, Pigeons, tracks, Tar buckett, Randy Webber, Steve Weekly, Scott Rolff
- People - John & Elma, Marvin Grinde, Drum guy - Don "Big Don" Moon (so we didn’t confuse him with Donny Gile) -
Frances "Mr. French" Boucher -
(Bob Moore house) Kit/Kix - Stole bikes, Older woman, Met Snowball -
Old Couple on corner accross RR Tracks - Randy Webber, Steve Weekly -
Guy in wheelchair next to Bobby's house - Old man behind our house. No Thougofare -
Two women who lived along the Yahara River between E. Main & big apartment buiding -
Older woman, corner of Winnebago & Merry St.
- Other - Eastwood Dr. - Fiore Shopping Center: Piggly Wiggly, Renne’s
Linda Hansen & Sister - Buell St.
Pat, Alice Lawrence
Hobo Jungle - Fordham appts being built
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- Other - Jenny Market, Footbridge
- People - Collette & Sheise Williams - Hanah Jan Loranitzo (Riverside) - Jeff, Terresa McMahon - Tom Vingy -
Brad "Bubba" Hurtodo - Simon & Brenden Batherick - Margret "Maggie" Mentzer - Lennette Tripeno - Chip & Mandy Hemple -
Vicky & Shelly Horgie - Wally Jabbs, Scott ?? (annoying army recruiter) - Bill Slattery
- Hawthorne Park "The Park"
- People - Greens - Brian, Stephanie, Jimmy, Stevie - Rick Yanke, Tom Kuehl - Joe, Vicky Showers
Tim & Jason Jent - Nick Rios - Bruce Sales - Ragawitz; Jeff, Roger, Sandy -
Brian Greens; Brian, Stephanie, Jim - Hammons; Doug, Jim
Places
Beaches
Moulton Ct. raised in 2005
Clark's Coins on Winnebago
Sunshine Supermarket
Gas station on willy that gave out glasses and stuff from a glass display case by the pumps.
Amoto's Grocery
Space Port on State St.
Barber shop by old Arcade Lanes & Nibble Nook
Employment
Homes
Rohde's Steak House
Rollerdrome
TV Shows love american style
Paper Route
Tae Kwon Do
Cinema/Barrymore - Wall Ball, Skeetching
Ryans; Kally, Steve,
Division St. -
G Helen -
Showers
?? Fair Oaks (Shirley’s)
?? Upham (Pobanse)
Amato’s,
St. Dennis Fest
East pool open swim
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====================================== Friends ======================================
Bobby Gile
The first best friend I can remember is Bobby Gile. The day Deb and I met him coming
home from school he was riding a tricycle. He wasn't real friendly, I seem to recall
a smart-alecky attitude. I think it was over me asking what his name was. When Deb
told him his name was Bobby it really surprised him. He didn't realize it was on his bike license plate.
We lived on the same block so we hung out at each others houses and in the neighborhood
a lot. Their house was on the same block of First St., just off the corner accross from
the church. There was a
parking lot on the corner and the house that "Big Don" lived in was on the other side
of the lot. Big Don's real name was Don Moon but we called him Big Don to differentiate
him with Bobby's brother Donny. We had a blast one day running around the parking lot
on a windy day dodging the leaves falling from the trees. We wanted to do it again the
next day but there wen't any leaves left. Today there is a garage and garden where that
parking lot used to be.
Bobby's family didn't have a lot of money. I didn't realize it at the time but
I remember my mom saying something about us eating mayonnaise sandwiches. No meat or
anything else on the sandwich. At that age I would have never
thought of something like that. I actually thought they were good tasting.
The family was into stock car racing. Bobby used to talk about Dick Trickle & Johnny Ziegler, two Wisconsin racing legends.
We used to run around making noises like fire trucks and police cars. We were imitating
what we saw on a TV show we liked at the time called Emergency.
I didn't see much of Bobby's oldest brother Bill or his sister Judy because they were out
of the house at that time. Another brother, Donny, who was older than us was still around.
Donny was a typical older
brother, only doing stuff with us when he had nothing better to do, and being rude to us
when he did. I remember one time he handed Bobby a sandwich. Since Donny wasn't normally
inclined to do nice things like this Bobby was suspicious and opened it up. It had cat
poop in it. I remember laughing at many references to "Cat Poop" sandwiches after that.
Bob's mom, Evelyn, was a drinker. She wasn't around a lot I think because she was always
at a bar. I can rememebr being in the Ideal and Crystal Corner at a very young age with
her. Evelyn got very sick and died. I don't remember what she had I just remember her boyfriend
telling Bobby "You have one very sick mother". Bobby went to live
with his sister Judy and her family (Erv) in Oregon. I kept in touch with him for a
while spending the night and doing stuff on the farm.
Basement - Steelers Wheel "Stuck in the Middle", Hot Rod Lincoln, Last Kiss
Bobby and the wheather
Bob Moore & Kent Heinz
Were they really friends?
Bob Lived on First St., next door to Mr. French. Bob was a rough kid with a bad temper. He had like 6 or 7 brothers. Today he has
a criminal record that's just unbelievable. I can remember being in his house a lot. Vauge memories of his "Old Lady" and "Old Man"
as he called them, and a few of his brothers. Moved to Talmage St.
Kent lived on the corner of Winnebago and Buell St. His family seemed kind of snobby. Played chess. Shoveled driveway while dog Shep barked at us.
Bikes stolen by Law Park
Quentin Falkenstein
Rusk St., Rick Yanke, Doug & Mark Nelson
Father Ed - Died of cancer, Southern trip
Mother Virginia - Jewelry, Black Men, Cats
Steve & Paulette
David
Brothers almost my parents age, his parents almost my grandparents age
Snuck into drive in, Saturday Night Fever
I moved and we grew apart, Quentin did more drugs and got in trouble
Don Huggins & Ronnie Peterson
Ronnie - Rick & Sheri
Don's older brothers & sisters, Nerf bb
bb at the church parking lot
Richie Pobanz
Upham St. then Tomahawk
Played Hide-n-Seek
Father Dick - Town Pump
Mother Peggy
Bob - Paralized
Teri - Murdered
Building Models, Army stuff
Bus rides up to Tomahawk, Stevens Point, Snakes
Tom Brandt
====================================== Marquette School ======================================

I went to Marquette from Kindergarten through 8th grade. That's 10 years when you throw
in Junior Primary. My mom decided to send me to school when I was only 4 because she
thought I was becoming too much of a mommys boy. I apparently was too imature so they
put me in Junior Primary after kindergaten rather than first grade. The kids I knew
who went into 1st grade teased me about flunking.
The first main doorway I can remember faced Spaight St. We used to line up in front of
this door before school. We played a game where a teacher would call a student up to the
top of the steps and they would try and guess who was holding something behind their back.
These steps were eventually taken out and the doorway sealed up. After that the entrances
on each corner of Thornton Ave. were used as the main entrances. The one at Spaight for
elementary and the one at Jennifer for Middle schoolers.
I was the first president of Marquette elementary. I don't really know how that came to
be. When it was decided that there was going to be a president I think someone just said
hey Ron should be president and things snowballed from there. We had some kind of fundraiser
to get new balls and stuff for the playground. After they were ordered it kept getting
delayed and they didn't arrive until after the school year was over.
I can remember being in the cafateria for lunch. When we were done eating we could walk
out the back door to a paved area between two wings of the school that led to the playground.
This area would disapear as it was the site of the new library. They called it the LMC for
Learning Materials Center I think. Prior to that I remember the library being on the second
floor along Jennifer St. at the end near the playground. This is where the chess club met.
For a time chess was pretty popular with us.
The Plyground. Tetherball, Monkey Bars.
Behind the playground there was a large field. Way in the back corner there was a break in
the fence (or did we climb?). We would sneak out there during lunch and go up to the Sunshine Markett
and buy candy. Wacky Waffers were the big thing then. One time when it was really foggy I went out
into the field and couldn't see the school.
New Library, I can also rememebr the big gym being built.
I was a pretty good artist. I loved to draw Snoopy.
Drop in, Open Basketball
Mr. Magestro, Saturdays, Boxing
School store
Pooping in bathroom
Gym - Rufus Ferguson shuffle - Climbing rope - Battleball - Run through showers
Basement was where shop classes & art - Tornado/Bomb Drills
Vice Loards
Teachers
Mr. Magestro - What he said to Q about me
Mrs. Albert - 1st grade?
Mrs. Farqueson - Kindergarten?
Mr. Zerbil - Science
Mr. Green
Mr. Blum - Math
Mr. Eisenburg - Killer Tadpoles
Mr. Walker
Kids
Alexandra
Duke
Bill Douglas
====================================== First Street Area & People ======================================
I lived in this house from birth (Madison General) until the summer of 1980 when we moved to 117 Leon St.
The house was heated with hot water radiators and the pipes that ran throughout the house were always very warm in the winter.
Some mornings when I was cold I would sit on the radiator in the living room next to the couch. It would get so hot I would
have to sit on a towel. We poured water into pans that were attached to the back of the radiators, using a milk carton, to keep
the house humidified.
The house was a three flat with us having the entire downstairs, and two apartments on the 2nd floor. I can
only remember one person living in the back apartment upstairs the whole time we lived there, Marv
Grinde. In the front apartment upstairs for many years was a sweet old couple who we were very
close to, John & Elma Morrell. We used to go up there and borrow stuff a lot. John used to tell
us if we ever needed him in an emergency to bang on those water pipes that went through our
apartment up to theirs. I remember Alma coming down one day and saying that she couldn't wake John
up and that he was blue. "You don't think he's going to die on me do you"
After that a younger guy who played the drums moved in. We got to know him too. Marijuana plant to
Karls house.
Back in those days doctors still made house calls. I can remember a doctor coming several times because I had bad earaches.
There was some syrupy goop in small plastic packages mom would have to put in my ear while I laid on my side. There was also a
door to door salesman that would come around. He had a huge basket with cleaning supplies and stuff in it. I used to try and talk my
mom into buying any toy that might have been in it.
We rented the house from the Trinity Lutheran church across the street. I used to walk rent money over to the office there.
Backyard
We had lots of space in the back yard. The driveway went all the way past the house to a garage
but there was a grassy area behind the house that went back on the other side of the garage to a
larger grassy area behind it. There was the big green apple tree, several plumb trees, a berry
bush and rhubarb that grew back there. I loved to climb those trees. In the fall when the fruit
we didn't eat fell to the ground it attracted a lot of bees.
Kathy Karls lived in the apartment next door in the back for a while. This is the same apartment where a guy (family?) lived that had
a female dog named Bomar. Our dog Droopy had pups with Bomar. I remember him naming some of the pups "Bomire" and "Droopmire".
I used to shoot baskets until all hours of the night in the back. I can remember listening to Cheap
Trick Live at Budikahn and STYX Pieces of Eight while I was playing. One time Mike Connery stopped by
and decided to show off by dunking the basketball. The rim must having been only about 8 ft high
because he could never have come anywhere near dunking on a 10ft rim. The backboard must have been
pretty week because when he hit the rim it broke off and fell to the ground. My dad must have put
up a new one after that.
Play Areas
East Madison Clinic - The grassy area in front of the clinic was pretty small but still bigger than anything else close so we played
football and stuff there. The ball would end up in the street a lot. The brick wall with the lights that shined up on the building
made for good chairs. We also used the parking lot in back on occasion. Climbed up on the roof a few times, needed to get the football.
Parking Lot - A 6 foot fence separated the house and yard from a large parking lot. That open paved area served as a playground in
many ways for us. Frisbee, football, skateboarding, Bike riding. In the winter snow plows pushed all the snow to the back creating a large
hill. The parking lot was already elevated from the train tracks so it made a great place to slide, build tunnels. A Kid got tine poked
through hand.
Train Tracks - The train tracks that ran near the house was another area we spent a lot of time.
We used to run along side the trains and grab ahold of the metal ladders attached to the side of the cars and pull ourselves up.
Some days we would just be walking with not much to do and then the railroad signs would start dinging. We'd look
at each other and then just start running for the tracks with no words being said. I think I did this with Bobby Geil, Bob Moore and
maybe Kent. Sometimes we would ride for long distances and end up with a long walk back home. We would cross streets
where cars were sitting facing us. Once in a while there would be bushes that needed to be cut back more and they would scrape us.
One time a train started going really really fast. We had no choice but to jump off or end up who knows where. I hit the ground and
tumbled head over heals. It hurt pretty bad.
There were lots of gardens along the tracks that we used to "raid" at night. Cucumbers, tomatoes, Calarabi, Carrots, sometimes we
would even bring a salt shaker along. One night someone must have called the police on us. We ran from the squad car and hid in the tall
brush or a garden while he shined his flashlight around. He didn't see us so he left.
Leaving Pennies on the tracks so the trains would crush them was another diversion. If you got to them right after the train went through
they would still be warm. Other times we would see how far we could walk on the tracks, balancing without putting a foot down.
We could just let Droopy out the front door to go down to the tracks and do his business. Seems like a bad idea now but he would always
stay in the area not crossing any streets. When he was bored he would just come back to the house and sit in front of the door.
He did get at least one dog pregnant.
The Yahara River - I spent a lot of time in and around the Yahara river when I was younger. We used to wade in it, swim in it,
jump off the bridges, and play in the fields beside it. We would ware shoes when jumping off the bridges because sometimes you hit
bottom and there was always junk in there.
Bobby and I used to walk across the train bridges on the outside which was pretty tricky because the ledge was narrow and there were bars
to go around.
One time Quentin had this big inner tube and with Rick Yanke we paddled around asking boats to throw us their ski rope. Some would and we
had a blast. Another time we tied a rope on a tree near the mouth to lake Monona. We would wait for boats and time it so we swung out over
them and scared them.
There's a footbridge right at Jennifer St. & Marquette school. This was the bridge that when I was in school some tough guy was always
going to throw someone off of. Never happened.
We would spend hours walking along looking for crayfish & watching people fishing for carp.
There were some people along the river we used to stop and see. I remember an older woman who lived on the corner of the Yahara and
E. Main St. It was at her house I saw a remote control for the first time. There was another woman a couple houses down we used
to stop and see. This may have been who I was with when I saw Snowball. She pointed him out and we must
have talked with him. Being a young kid I made the statement when we walked away that he stunk. She said Everyone's
beautiful in their own way. She was what I would describe as a flower child/hippie type.
Tenney Park - Fishing all day. Sunfish, Bluegiles and the Northern pike from the Marston Bridge.
Bridges; Marston, Zimmerman, Foot, Steel
Trinity Lutheran Church - We used to sneak into the church a lot. Just run around mostly, sometimes we took stuff.
Didn't have much else to do I guess. Went to Cub Scout and Boy Scouts in the church too. Played in the huge window wells.