Chapter 4
Our next move took us to Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. We found an apartment in Dover, enrolled Philip in school, and prepared for the new arrival to come in October. The apartment was the second and third floors of a large house that had been made into two apartments. We had a large kitchen, where we could have our washer and table and chairs, three bedrooms and a bath. We had a large central area where we could put a larger dining table for guests. The attic was a large room we used for a living-room, and it had storage areas opening from it. It was actually quite nice. The third bedroom was kind of a catch-all and space for the baby. The laundry was hung on outside lines attached to a pole at the other end of a large back yard. I hung it out in all weather, sometimes pulling in frozen jeans and other heavier items in Winter. All was done thru the window, a very common thing back then, and I guess still is in some places. No electric dryers for most people.
Philip walked to school and had friends who came over sometimes. I made friends with their mothers too. At one point Philip tried having a paper route. He was too shy to really do it, so that didn't last long. We did get involved with Boy Scouts, and he made a trip to visit the grandparents in Queens, NY, all on his own for a badge. It was scary, but he did it and we were proud of him. We spent quite a few weekends visiting the Jacobsons, and they visited us too. We weren't too far from Bernie's Uncle Victor at that time, as well. Bernie grew up in New York, so driving there was no problem for him. He was happy to do it and be able to show us things in the area. We bought some plastic dinnerware at the factory outlet store in Boonton, NJ.
It was a very warm summer in Dover that year, so we got an airconditioner/heat exchanger to put in the upstairs livingroom window. That helped a lot.
We had Puerto Rican neighbors in the apartment downstairs. Their cooking often smelled like garbage (to me), but they were very nice people. I didn't communicate with them much because they didn't speak English very well, and I don't do Spanish. But they were good neighbors.
When it came time for the baby, Bernie took the boys to Grandma and Grandpa, and off we went to the hospital. That was the morning of October 29, 1959. Ruth Anne arrived at about 2pm, and was a wonderful baby. This time I was in the hospital 3 days! I didn't believe them when the nurses told me she didn't wake up during the night. I thought they were feeding her in the nursery. When we got home, I learned she did sleep thru the night! I was awake with full breasts, and she was sleeping! My perfect little girl!
Philip was 10 now, and Daniel was 6, so we could go shopping for an hour and leave the boys home with the baby. At one point, Philip even changed her diaper and remarked that she looked like a chicken! I'm sure he was curious. We didn't leave her with them very often, just because they were so young, but they were responsible.
Our landlord's wife was a beautician with a shop in their home, so I went to her for perms and haircuts. I kept in touch with the Mizzoni's for quite a few years after we left Dover. We had some friends through Philip's school classmates, also. They were all very nice, but gradually we lost touch.
From Picatinny and Dover, we moved to Bel Air, Maryland, where Bernie worked at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. We rented a house at first, and later were able to buy a house in the same neighborhood. Our neighbors there were good, too. Across the street we had the Endicotts, Bob and Berthelda (Butch). They had a daughter, Pat, about the same age as Ruth. They were playmates. They also had two boys, Richard, who had Downes Syndrome, and ________. Richard was so loving and gentle. They were a lovely family.
We joined the Methodist Church in Bel Air, and I became a Cub Scout Den Mother for Philip. Ruth was the Mascot. We had a good group of boys. Bernie became an assistant Troup Leader. Philip went on to Webelos and then lost interest. The Webelos leader started out as a good leader and then things fell apart during a camp-out. Philip gave up and didn't want to continue in Scouts.
We were still not too far from New York, and made trips to see the Jacobson Grandparents often. Bernie's friend Sam Musicant visited one summer with his family.
One March, when Ruth was about two and a half, Bernie had an assignment at the Climate Control Lab (or whatever it's called) at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. It would keep him there for three months. He went by himself first, and then arranged for us to join him for a few weeks. We took school work for the boys and drove down. It was cold, but we did just fine. We stayed at a very nice motel, and made side trips to New Orleans and Sea World, and so on. It was so chilly that Spring that right after we left New Orleans, a storm froze over and closed the causeways in and out of the city! We came back to our motel to find laundromats with frozen pipes!
In New Orleans, we took a ferry ride and that was cold. We had beignets, visited Bourbon Street, and other places everyone wants to see when they go there. It was a lovely weekend trip.
Another time while living in Bel Air, we made a visit to Huntsville, Alabama, where a friend of Bernie's had transferred and was working for NASA. We stayed with Jerry and Cie Chaikin for a few days checking out the job situation. We took Ruth with us and left Philip and Daniel at home, with the neighbors keeping an eye on them. Ruth had a great time with Jaimie Chaikin. Their son Stewart was too young for the girls to play with.
The move to Huntsville came in January of 1963.