DAMON SOLOMON YEARNS FOR THOSE GOOD OLD DAYS

1960 yearbook photo of Damon Solomon, now a Florida resident

By DAMON SOLOMON

Class of 1960

I just read your latest Levittown article (My earliest Levittown memories were the beginning of a half-century old fascination) and it was wonderful. I can’t believe that only Mr.T. (Armand Tarantelli), among the teachers you mentioned, is still alive.

How can that be? After all, it was only yesterday that we were all together in their classes with all of our “best friends”, or at the Village Green swimming the summer away at the pool, or having such a wonderful time at Division cheering for Mike Newton at a basketball game and of course, unbeknownst to us, having the most wonderful childhood and youth imaginable.

I loved what you said about living in the "sticks". How I remember, like it was just yesterday, my Mom cooking and baking and preparing a wonderful day for all our relatives to come from the big city to spend the day with us…and then it rained. We waited and waited and nobody showed up and finally about 3 p.m. my Mom made that costly long distance phone call only to find out that our dear relatives had heard that "when it rained on Long Island all the roads became flooded and impassable."

How can you possibly explain what we had and how we grew up to our grandchildren? Heck, I can hardly get them to put down their I-phones to talk to me.

The home and school were the center of our universe and we loved every minute of it...from the split sessions to the snow days to the summer school and of course to Jones Beach in my 1950 Ford. We were the greatest generation, living in the greatest country at the greatest time that our country had ever known and preparing for the greatest technological advances that the world would ever know.

Ahhh, how I yearn for those good old days. As I’ve said to you so many times, thanks for the memories, Frank.