Dedication Page
I dedicate this book to you my Brothers & Sisters. I live in world now where it seems so different than the world we came from. Familys are smaller now and children have everything right at their finger tips. Sisters and Brothers are taught to be independent from one another. Our days were filled with each other and our imaginations. And our nights were filled with our imaginary Red car. There is no more outhouses, or Father, Son or Holy Ghost houses. I believe the struggle we shared made us so close to one another. I have everthing I need now, but I will miss you all everyday of my life. Thank You for loving me. Forever a ShoeShine Kid
Acknowledgments
A Special Thank You to the ShoeShine Kids.
When your mother passes and your father abandons you, I believe there is a feeling of not belonging to anyone. With this despair, I am amazed that my sisters and brothers had such love and empathy for one another. That is just one of the reasons I wanted to write this book. To me, they were truly amazing. I could never repay them for the repeated sacrifices they made to try and keep us together. To some, we were the orphans, but to each other, we were so much more than that. I wanted to complete this book to show the next generation how selfless you all were, and to show them how love can matter. To Lyda, Helen, Mark, Betty, Charlie, Margie and Joe, all of your children should be so proud. Years from now I hope your grandchildren, and their children, will see all the courage and dignity their family had, so many years ago, when they were only the ShoeShine Kids. I will love you forever.
Thank you to my daughter, Kimberly, for all of her help. She took my work and showed me how to continue.
To David, thank you for all of your love and support.
Thank you to Stephanie Spina for all of her help.
Thank you, Jennifer, for all of your help. You took time from your busy life whenever I needed you.
Thank you,Maryanne, for all your help; without you, my dream would never have come true.
To my boys: Shawn, Edward and Gerald, thanks for always being there for me and cheering me on.
To Nancy - You are always there for me whenever I need you.
It was my life-long dream to complete this book. Without the help of all of you, I would never have realized my dream was possible.
My husband, Jerry, I thank you for realizing what this meant to me. I love you so very much.
Introductory Helen
Helen was the oldest, and a complete lady of the family. She was very serious, and rarely smiled, but when she did, oh how the room lit up! She was the product of her environment: an alcoholic father and an absentee mother. She had the world on her shoulders, and more often than not, it showed. It wasn't until I was older that I learned why she did not have a lot of friends. She rarely went to school, therefore she did not know how to read, nor write. She told me that had held her back all of her life. She was always afraid people would find out, and she was ashamed that she was not educated. Helen and I were always close as sisters, but as we grew older, we built on our love for each other and became friends. I loved her with all my heart. She had three girls that were the light of her life, and a husband named Pete that she adored.
Introductory Mark
Mark was the only one who loved our father and he always felt guilty about it. He was also a momma’s boy. Mark would go singing with our father, from one bar to the next, and dance too. He put Bo Jangles to shame. Mark was very handsome when he was younger, and the girls loved him. He was not a macho man though; he had a childlike exuberance. I loved that about him. The littlest things made him happy, at least up until his divorce. He had two beautiful daughters. He adored his grandchildren, and most of his time was spent with them. He found his happiness in life's simple things, mainly golf and family. He would get so excited over them both. I loved him so much and enjoyed being with him. We spent the majority of our time together during the last 18 months of Mark’s life. He had a job picking up children for summer day camp. Since he was like Helen and could not read well, weeks before the job was to start we got a copy of his route. We ran over it again, and again, hoping they would not add anyone else to his schedule. We had so much fun during this time. This was before GPS, and I had no sense of direction, and he could not read. Needless to say, we made a great team!
Introductory Lyda
Lyda was amazing and the glue that kept our family together. She had it all; looks, brains and an unyielding integrity that I had never seen in a child. She was 4' 11" and in that little body she held the stature of a giant. She was caring and almost like our mother. If we were wrong, she wouldn't hesitate in letting us know. When we were hurt, she helped us through it. She was loved by us all. She was a strong believer, but did not preach. Helen and Lyda were determined to keep us together. I was so proud of her. Lyda had two daughters and two sons whom she adored. Her husband, Jim, meant the world to her. Lyda had a way of always making me feel like I was somebody, and strongly encouraged me to write this book. I know for sure, that without her, the ShoeShine Kids would never have stayed so closely knit. I wanted so badly to repay her. Lyda, I adored you.
Introductory Betty
Betty had a personality that was bigger than life. She was the fun one in our family. She kept us all in stitches, all the time. She always had a saying for everything, and always said them backwards. She had so many friends, people would just gravitate to her. She had jet-black hair and great big, brown eyes. My gram would call her Gypsy Rose Lee. She told one story after the other. Even the adults loved Betty. She was my friend, not just a sister. I was not open like her, so when she was around, her friends were my friends too. Even though Betty was older than me, it was easy to get her to do what you wanted. It seemed like she was the younger sister. Betty will always be my best friend. Love is not enough to describe our Betty. She was divorced and had four children, two boys and two girls. They had it rough when they were young, but Betty loved them with all her heart.
Introductory Charlie
Charlie was the most adventurous of us all, and it always got him in trouble. He never stayed in the house when he was younger. He did whatever it took to get out, including climbing out of the second floor window. As an attempt to keep him in, my grandmother put a dress on him. He still went outside. The next time, she took all of his pants, put a dress on him, and again, he went outside. No shame in his game. He would not be cooped up! Charlie did not like to share his ShoeShine money with gram, and it caused a lot of problems for him. Adults in the family did not like him. Out of all the kids, he was an outsider; a true rebel. He would get a beating, then go out. He was the ShoeShine chief, and taught us all well. We all loved him. Charlie grew up, got married and had two children; a boy and a girl. He started drinking at a young age, and wound up separated from his wife. He was
