Ida by Olympia Simonetti Normandy -11-Frank was a big gambler though. He once gambled a house on
Grand Street. $24,000 in one day. He went to the track and gambled the whole house away. Her in-laws thought Frank had left a lot of money, but he didn't. My poor sister, Jennie, had to go from so rich to so poor. She went out scrubbing and cleaning to raise those six children.Jennie believed in psychic things and decided to go see Anna. She said she could show Jennie the face of the party who did her wrong. At that time she didn't know that it was her own sister-in-law. Anna said she had to go at midnight for it to work. In a pail of water, Jennie swore that she saw the face of her sister-in-law. She believed it till the day she died. Jennie had the hardest life you can imagine. She was the one who should have written her life story before she died.
My mother-in-law did mystical things. She did "the eyes." It was practically a business with her. People paid her with bags of fruit, chickens, and so forth. She learned this healing technique in Europe. She could only teach it to someone else on Christmas Eve at midnight or on her deathbed. Most people were too busy on Christmas Eve to come over and learn it.
People used to go to Jennie, as they called Giovannini, with articles of clothing from their sick babies. She would say some prayers and make some signs over it and pretty soon she would start yawning and tell the people to go home, that their babies were well. It was very secretive so I can't really tell you the details of how it worked. There were a lot of old superstitions then.
My sister, Jennie, used to put water in a dish and then put a drop of oil in it and if it makes an eye it means you are being overlooked. That one I didn't go for at all.
My sisters all spoke very good English. In fact, my baby sister, Susie, who died recently, was the smartest of all. She really got smart through her daughters who went to college. She really learned more from her children than from school.
When we lived in the front house on Maujer Street we had a Kalamazoo stove. On a very cold day everything froze. My father felt sorry for the people that were moving in and wanted to light the stove for them. When he put a match to it, it exploded. Glass flew into the air as it blasted. My father almost got killed. He said he would never forget to light a candle to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel for saving him. It happened on a Wednesday. We never could get parts to fix the stove. We had to wait so long that those tenants nearly froze. Dad put a little gas stove in there to help out. That was the only heat in the house.
At 37 Conselyea Street we had a stove that was first a wood stove, then coal. I remember that house well because that's were I lived when I went to the hospital with my first bad attack of sciatica and arthritis.
I had been hospitalized before, in the early thirties. I had such bad adhesions that I used to crawl on the floor with pain. I called Millie DeAndrea from the window and she called the ambulance and they took me to St. Catherine's Hospital. I had so many adhesions across my stomach that when I got those pains I used to scream blue murder. They really didn't want to remove any organs yet because I was still young.
Jean had to take care of little Priscilla. That was the time that Mrs.
Sementini had to rush over because Priscilla put her hand on the heater and got burned. When they told me I didn't want to stay in the hospital any more. I had been there ten days already. It took years to get over that operation between that and the arthritis. I always had arthritis, just like my mother.Only Dr. Monteleone said he was determined to get me out of bed. I laid there for seven months and had a housekeeper. When I was in the hospital I told them I didn't have anyone to take care of my baby when I got home so they sent me this woman, Nashla. The city paid her $40 a month. I wasn't on welfare or anything, but the city paid for her.
Dr. Monteleone came to see me every day to try to get me out of bed. I
couldn't move because of arthritis. They had to carry me. One day, he gave me an injection, picked me up and said, "Walk!" Whatever was in that shot, it worked and from that day I started to walk again a little at a time. He never came back again.Aunt Jennie and Uncle Sam Tuorto had a colored maid, Mrs. Williams, who used to help them out. She was one of those sophisticated nurses that would come wearing one of these high white collars. She only worked for rich people. I met her when I was pregnant with my son, Buddy. I asked Aunt Jennie if she thought this lady could come to my house when I had the baby. In those days, you had a woman to take care of the baby and mother. I belonged to the Metropolitan Insurance and they used to send someone to bathe the baby, take care of the mother andeverything.
When we had our fruit and vegetable store, the same colored woman would come and buy all our specked fruits and vegetables to make jams and put up. I never dreamed she would take care of me one day. I calledher up when my time was getting near to see if she would consider
taking care of me. She said, "Mrs. Normandy? Did you know that all
those times I came into your store and bought all the specked fruits
your husband never once charged me for them? He helped me out so much so now I will help you out."Mrs. Williams was supposed to stay for ten days for $100.00. My husband, at that time, caught pneumonia and she put him in a separate room and wouldn't let him near me or the baby. She was a nurse and just told him he couldn't be near the baby. He got so mad because he was shut up in the parlor alone.
We had a gas range then and she used to fix sausages and mashed
potatoes. My father-in-law, Michael Normandia, was so tickled to death because a boy was born, another Michael Normandy was born. He was so crazy about the baby, and so was Jack's brother, Albie. They gave Mrs. Williams tips and she ended up with about $125, but she didn't want the money. She said, "I don't want money. You don't know the money I made with the free fruit and vegetables your husband gave me. And all the material you gave me, all those pants, I cut down for my boys."Her boys went to college. She was a wonderful woman and came every day with a white uniform and that stiff collar. People would say, "Well,
the Normandys have a maid now, they must be doing all right." That was across the street from 37 Conselyea. That was the story of Mrs.
Williams.
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Now Playing: "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Bridge Over Troubled WaterWhen you're weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all
I'm on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me downWhen you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evenings fall so hard
I will comfort you
I'll take your part
When darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me downSail on silvergirl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Copyright 1997-2013 Priscilla Normandy Greenwood