I was three years old when we moved to Silver Spring, Maryland; this picture was probably taken a few months later, in the spring of 1955.
All the houses in the neighborhood were brand new. All the families in them were young like ours, and the houses were financed with GI mortgages; all the fathers had fought in World War II. There were so many kids that the new school they built just for us was overcrowded the day it opened, and we kindergartners took turns being absent from school on purpose, to reduce class size; my "drop day" was Wednesday.
In the house just behind us in the picture lived a family named Clark, and they had six children, the oldest of whom was Kent Clark. This was confusing to me, because Superman was Clark Kent. In the other house visible in the background of this picture lived a family named Lane, whose children included Peggy and Skippy, but oddly, no Lois. When my mother went back to school at the University of Maryland, Peggy Lane used to babysit for me and my brother and sister, and our family shared a lawn mower with them
In 1961, we moved to a larger house in another neighborhood . Last summer, my parents and I returned to Benson Terrace to look around. The houses were well cared for, and many had been added onto over the years. There were large shade trees. All the "parking strips" had been paved over to make driveways. Most of the homeowners now are Vietnamese, and the nearby shopping centers feature stores and restaurants with signs in Vietnamese.
The neighborhood school has been closed for years; enrollment plummeted after we baby boomers grew up, and these houses were never again so densely packed with kids.
All the houses in the neighborhood were brand new. All the families in them were young like ours, and the houses were financed with GI mortgages; all the fathers had fought in World War II. There were so many kids that the new school they built just for us was overcrowded the day it opened, and we kindergartners took turns being absent from school on purpose, to reduce class size; my "drop day" was Wednesday.
In the house just behind us in the picture lived a family named Clark, and they had six children, the oldest of whom was Kent Clark. This was confusing to me, because Superman was Clark Kent. In the other house visible in the background of this picture lived a family named Lane, whose children included Peggy and Skippy, but oddly, no Lois. When my mother went back to school at the University of Maryland, Peggy Lane used to babysit for me and my brother and sister, and our family shared a lawn mower with them
In 1961, we moved to a larger house in another neighborhood . Last summer, my parents and I returned to Benson Terrace to look around. The houses were well cared for, and many had been added onto over the years. There were large shade trees. All the "parking strips" had been paved over to make driveways. Most of the homeowners now are Vietnamese, and the nearby shopping centers feature stores and restaurants with signs in Vietnamese.
The neighborhood school has been closed for years; enrollment plummeted after we baby boomers grew up, and these houses were never again so densely packed with kids.
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