Our little neighborhood was pretty typical of post-war middle-class suburbia.  Next door to the South were the Rudnicks. Mr. Rudnick was a pharmacist and owned a drug store in the neighboring town of Bellmawr. They had two boys. Alan was about a year younger than me and more of a scholar than an athlete. Alan’s Bar Mitzvah was my first experience with a Jewish synagogue.

Larry was maybe three years younger than me but we had more in common and often played ball in their side yard. Their house had a lower level walkout onto a flat space that had a little stream running through it (since piped in). We would frequently play one-on-one baseball using imaginary fielders and baserunners and had lively debates about whether an imaginary shortstop would have fielded the ball or started a double play. Due to the proximity of nearby houses and their windows, we typically played with a sponge rubber baseball (about 25 cents at a local store), which earned us the distain of Mr. McMillan, who lived across the street from our play area and encouraged us to use a real baseball.

On the other side of our house from the Rudnicks were the Sandones. Mr. Sandone had been a baker in the Navy and was employed in some kind of manufacturing job. I didn’t get along very well with their son, who was a year or so younger than me, but I do remember that he had a pretty cool baseball glove that had only three fingers instead of four. 

Across the street were the Schwartz’s. Mr. Schwartz (Frank) was an executive at NAPA and Mrs. Schwartz (Millie) was a good friend of my mother’s and thy kept in touch for many years after they moved away. Their daughter Linda taught me to play Jacks on our front steps. There were two older sons, Frank Jr. and Mickey. Frank’s time was mostly taken up with the care and grooming of his car, of which he was inordinately proud and protective. Years later Mickey (by this time preferring to be called Mike) went to Washington and stood in line for many hours to pay respects to President Kennedy after his assassination in 1963