This is a picture taken on July 4, 1952. That date was the 11th birthday of my brother Thomas. Missing in the picture are my father, who was taking the picture, my Uncle Eddie and my grandfather, Stanley Lichota. This picture contains along with the missing almost everyone who was and would be important in my life. The man in uniform is my paternal cousin Joseph Speare and his Japanese wife. Joe had returned from service in the Korean War. He had suffered a leg wound that left a huge purple spot in his leg that has not left my memory to this day. Beginning at the bottom left and going clockwise at the small table is Mary Ann Wittner, Claudia Lichota, Kathy Wittner and I. Going to the right of Joe is Thomas, Stanley and his father Stanley Lichota Jr, and the man with the great smile, George Wittner whose birthday is July 11th. In the back row right to left are Barbara Lichota and her mom Bernice, then grandma Lichota followed my Julia Wittner and my mom Anna. Looking at the plates, it looks like sandwiches’ were on the menu. Barbecuing was something that had not come to my family. I am sure there was coleslaw and potato salad in there, as well. Later there would be birthday cake and surely scrumptious treats that my aunts and mom had baked. I noticed my parents were ahead of fashion with the Adirondack chairs that are now so popular
This picture was taken on the side of my parent’s house on sixteen mile rd. where we met almost every July 4th to celebrate the birth of Tom, the USA and perhaps more importantly being together as a family. While as a family we saw each other frequently this was one of two other occasions that we got together en masse. The other two were the AmVets picnic held at the long gone Green Glen picnic grounds near Utica and then my own birthday in October. What fun all of these get together’s were.
So what took place at these picnics? There often was a trek down to the nearby creek usually to throw rocks in and see who could make the biggest splash or occasionally collect minnows or crayfish to put in a mason jar (we were easily entertained back then). The adults would sit around chatting and we cousins would play baseball, badminton, or just run about in the backyard. Fortunately, my father preserved some of these memories on film. The links are shown below. I hope my cousins enjoy the memories and our children see their parents and grandparents in their youth and use this as incentive to create their own memories.
Michael E Speare