Even a front fender from an old car

As I read through the many stories and looked at the pictures of Lopez, especially the fire, I remember all the good times of growing up in such a peaceful, loving and beautiful town. This brought tears to my eyes that most is gone, but will never be forgotten.
I remember as a kid playing down the creek all day on the rocks or swimming till dark.  That filled our days and we weren’t bored like kids today are.
I remember the snow storms we used to get and waiting for the school bus in the post office trying to keep warm in the minus 45 degree temperature.  We would play all day in the snow, digging tunnels, building snowmen and sleigh riding down the cemetery, over the road, and then again down Washington’s hill.  We weren’t deprived because we did not have new sleds, or snow mobiles.  We used old carpets, cardboard boxes, innertubes, and even a front fender from an old car that many of us piled into. Boy was that hard pulling back up the hill!  But we had such closeness with friends and cousins that it did not seem to matter.
Winters were hard. A lot of us only had coal stoves to heat our houses and I can remember opening the oven door many times to get dry and warm from coming in from the winter fun.
Summers were great.  We always had something to do. I can remember picking huckleberries and selling them at the crossing up Jackson Hill for my grandmother for 50 cents a quart.  Every nickel I seemed to get I took down to Ann McGee’s to get an ice cream or play the juke box or pin ball machine.  That was our hang out.  I can remember running to Ortlieb’s for bananas for Ann and then she would let me make my own banana split. We carved our initials in the booths and they got painted over and somehow always found their way back again.  That was the best place for penny candy too.
We always had woods to hike in and it was always nice to go up in Stone Quarry to look out over the beautiful town, peaceful and quiet.  Never worried about getting hurt or a bear coming at you.  These things never crossed our minds, because we knew this was a safe little town.
We could hardly wait to leave and find something better, but there will never be a place better in my heart than Lopez.
I will always remember the kind and friendly home I came from and always will go back to visit. I am thankful for the way we were brought up, which seemed hard at times then, but we have to thank our parents because it made us better people that appreciate our past and all that we have now. We did not know, but we were so rich then with everything we had or did.
It might be known for being the Ice Box of Pennsylvania, but for me I will always remember the people there who were the most important part of the town, a lot of them gone now, but never from my heart.

by   Irene (Huray) Pequignot