Memories of a frozen past

Every winter I am reminded of the winters from 1926 to 1940, from ages two to 16. I dreaded our frigid Northeastern Ohio winters. Why? Because my northwest corner bedroom of our home at 38 N. Jackson St. on Youngstown’s East Side, was frozen, not frigid. The water in my father’s spittoon would freeze and the large, window panes would provide us with beautiful frozen/frost works of art by the master painter Jack Frost. If I had a camera in those days, I would have liked to capture those images in black and white.

Gas heat

In 1940 we converted our coal furnace to gas and we found the reason for the “no heat” bedroom. The heating contractor removed the register and found that the original home owner had installed a round steel plate to act as a baffle, reducing the amount of heat that was being distributed. He had punched holes in the baffle with a spike, but they had become plugged with dust.

Hindsight is 20-20, and our family did not have the money or foresight to solve the problem. To keep warm, I wore “mutandes” (long johns in Italian) and my mother would heat a fire brick on our gas range, then wrap it in flannel and place it at the bottom of my feet. I probably should have slept with my clothes on, including a hat, gloves and socks.

I saved a Vindicator article where they quoted our East High School principal of long ago, John W. Smith. He had addressed East High’s Class of 1932 and said, “Tough times make you stronger.” As a Greatest Generation survivor, suffering through the Great Depression and World War II, as well as 14 frozen-butt years in our East Side ice box, I can attest to that.

Michael J. Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and inductee in The Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.