While I was playing games on my computer I happened to think of some old friends of my parents. I wondered what had happened to their son and I went to bing.com and found him in Downers Grove. I guess some of us never wander far from our next. He does home improvements, siding, gutters etc. I had heard years ago that he was some how involved in one of the office companies or in computers but never looked for him them. I thought that I was through with my memories of growing up in Hinsdale and i keep remembering little things. It is a strange thing how our brains work. I sometimes can't remember where I laid things down a few minutes before but will remember many things when I was growing up.

My parents hung around with The Pleshars who lived in Westmont. George Pleshar was a pharmasist and owned the drug store in town. In fact he gave me my first job which will be discussed later on in the blogs. George and Helen had a nice home build for them in Westmont. In the 50s it was a really neat house. But when I was living in Hinsdale they lived in a building with two apartments in it. George's brother Al lived on one floor with his family and George and Helen lived on the other floor. I remember Al having a lot of kids and I would occassionally play with them but never knew them well. George Pleshar also from what I had heard had gambling done above the drug store. Apparently they owned the whole building. My father used to fix the slot machines that were up there. Dad would fix them so they wouldn't hit the jackpot. As I got older George and Helen had a son which they called Georgie. Georgie is the one that I looked up this morning. Georgie was quite a bit younger that I was. From the story that I heard, George ended up getting into alot of debt and started taking drugs. He eventually killed himself in the basement of the store. Helen eventually moved from the house they had to one of Rose's apartments and lived into her 90s from what I had heard. None of this may be true but this is what I had heard.

My parents also hung around with Paul and Toots Frayer. I am not sure of the spelling of the last name. Paul was also in underground gambling and I heard that at one time he was in hiding as he had told on mobsters and they were looking for him. He moved his family to Punta Gorda, Florida. Paul and Toots had a daughter named Sharon but she was much younger that I was also.

They also hung around with Al and Vi Martini. Al's nickname was pony was he liked to gamble on the horses. I remember Pony always having pistachios in his pocket. Vi was such a nice person. Vi was 6' tall or so it seemed to me. I know that she was taller than Pony. Vi and Pony never had kids and eventually moved to California. Pony died of emphesema in his 90s. I remember having lunch with Vi but not sure if it was before Mom passed away or after. Vi had a niece in Lisle and she would come in to visit her.

I believe my parents hung around with these people as they were gamblers and my Dad was a gambler also. My dad was the greatest Gin Rummy player. He knew every card that went out of the deck and could almost always tell what you had in your hand. My dad also liked the horse races and the dog track. It was part of his life but I don't believe that my dad ever used up all of our money. When he won he always game my Mom extra money. We never did without because of his gambling although I do remember my Mom getting really mad at him for not being around and she would be left taking care of the business and he would blow off a job to go to the track or play cards.

Mom and Dad did a lot with the above couples. They would have New Year's Eve parties and they would go downtown for pizza. In those days, downtown was the only place you could get pizza. I remember many a card game going on around the kitchen table as I got older. I wonder how many arguments my parents had because of my dad's gambling.