Posts
I remember one day in particular when I fell asleep in her arms like this and woke up later on the couch in the living room, hearing a strange voice in the kitchen. The Sunday School teacher from the Presbyterian church that my brothers, sister and I attended had come to visit my Mom. It seemed very strange to me at the time to see this teacher in our kitchen.
I have been racking my brain trying to remember the name of the church, to no avail. It was on Stuyvesant Avenue in Lyndhurst, but my web searches have not turned up any churches where I remember this one to be. Can anyone help me here?
I'm sure my brothers and sister can add similar memories.
The photo above is of my Mom holding a baby, who I believe is my oldest brother, Ron.
My brother Ken has provided this answer
ReplyDeleteto my question via email. Thanks Kenny.
"We attended Reed Memorial United Presbyterian Church from when I was small until I enlisted in AF in 1959. It was near Oriental Pl. on Stuyvesant Ave. just a few short blocks North of Valley Brook Ave. but before the rail Road overpass.
Map Quest Aerial View shows a building just North of Valley Brook but my memory (NOT VERY GOOD) says it was a little further North? I believe Janet continued there, and I believe you also went there. Ron had already married and moved to Nutley.
We earlier started at another Church but when they visited Dad did not agree with them (Lutheran?)
All of our neighbors were Roman Catholic, and I only met one girl in High School that I new from church.
Map Quest Aerial View shows a good view of the High School and the Park across from our house. Except for all the building changes.
I did a search for a list of all churches in Lyndhurst, and the only one that is listed on Stuyvesant Ave is the New Jersey Glory United Methodist, 250 Stuyvesant Ave, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071. I can't find a web site for the church and the google street view of the church that's there now looks very different from what I remember, but it does seem to be in the right place. I'm going to do some more research on this.
ReplyDeleteReceived this additional info from my sister, Janet:
ReplyDelete"from what I remember - The church was on Stuyvesant Ave. about 1/2 a block north from Valleybrook Ave. It was an "L" shaped building with a basement. It was set on a large lot with a lot of open space on the north side. The end of the block had a funeral parlor, I think it was adjacent to the church empty lot. My girlfriend (her name also Janet, Janet Cole) lived upstairs. The last time we drove past there, which was quite a few years ago, the church was gone and was replaced by a larger office building, much to my dismay. I remember going to Sunday School classes in the basement, and my favorite teacher was a Mrs. Dezavala (I think that is how you spell her name). They had a hall in the long part of the "L" that went along the street and we would start out in that room for our Sunday worship. If I remember correctly there was a stage in there, but not sure. Somehow I could remember having some of our Sunday school classes on that stage. We met for an half hour in this room sitting with our class and then went to our little class areas for the second half hour. The classes where in different parts of the building (except the actual church part. Depending on your age and teacher. Sometimes we even stayed for the 11:00 Sunday service in the church which was the smaller part of the "L" that went from the back of the land to the front. When you walked down to the main door of the church from the street you actually walked past the front side of the church into the Upper part of the L."
I remember the stage too. I remember being in a Christmas play there. It was a funny situation. I was very young and I so wanted to be in the play, but all the parts were taken. The Sunday School teacher made up the part of an old woman who fell by the roadside and all I had to do was lie on the stage with a sheet covering me. Not much of a part, but I was in the play!
Always wanting to be part of the action, as I got older I joined the church choir. I loved singing in the choir, even though I wasn't all that good of a singer. It doesn't matter much in a choir - as long as you can blend with the other voices. I think I only sang with them for a year or so, but it was a highlight of my time there.