Danny and Me: Growing up in South Camden, N.J.

By Joe Silva

This book is about me and my brother, Danny, growing up in Camden, NJ circa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532041846

Joe Silva

Joe Silva is an energetic person who loves being a woodworker. He made and still makes many wood products in his great woodshop. he loves to be around family and friends. He also loves fishing with his life long buddy & friend Rick. After graduating in Burlington Senior High School, he joined General Motors in West Trenton, NJ. As a tool and diemaker apprentice, after 38 years, He retired as the " General Supervisor" of the reliability testing laboratory, at 53 years of age. He then worked with his brother Dan, "Roofing and siding" for another eight years, When his brother Dan retired, Joe continued as a local repair man for about 10 more years and the retired for good. August 2010 at 71. Life and God were good to me! It is currently April, 2016 and Joe is now 77 years old and healthy!

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Copyright © 2018 joe silva.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

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except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author

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publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-4183-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-4184-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018903053

iUniverse rev. date:  03/07/2018

CONTENTS

About The Cover

Prologue

Chapter 1     Murtosa, Portugal

Chapter 2     Mom, Dan, me and the Upper Darby Park

Chapter 3     Danny and me in South Camden, NJ

Chapter 4     Shining shoes at the train station and the local bar

Chapter 5     Dan and I were soul mates

Chapter 6     Going to the movies

Chapter 7     The young organizer and Danny and Al Passerella

Chapter 8     Bond Bread

Chapter 9     Catholic School- 3rd Grade

Chapter 10   The Abduction

Chapter 11   Picking string beans and tomatoes at the local farms

Chapter 12   Mr. Stigliano- Local Bodega

Chapter 13   Street Games

Chapter 14   Sorting the ashes

Chapter 15   Burrough’s Jr. High School

Chapter 16   Danny, his hideout and Friends

Chapter 17   Our neighborhood hangout and The Mob

Chapter 18   Garden State Race Track

Chapter 19   Christmas Shopping Bags

Chapter 20   Sex and the inexperienced young man and my first car

Chapter 21   Burlington Senior High School and Woodshop

Chapter 22   Roofing,Retirement and Dad’s Passing

Short Stories   About the author- Fishing

Short Stories   Furniture Fair - 5th and Berkely Streets

Short Stories   Newton Creek

Short Stories   A Headstrong Story

Short Stories   Making inexpensive china

Short Stories   Cardboard in Collingswood

Short Stories   The Popsee Incident

Short Stories   Lola Sings at USO Delaware Naval Air Station

Short Stories   (circa 1950)

Short Stories   Car Snow Sledding with Dodah

Short Stories   Beauty Contests

Epilogue Update

Closing Comments

ABOUT THE COVER

O n the cover is Danny and me in my grandmother’s flower garden, where she lived in Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey. I was four years old and Danny was six. Grandmom had a big home and a very large yard, both in the front and in the back. We had plenty of room to play as long as we didn't bother her flower gardens or else there would be hell to pay!

PROLOGUE

D an saved my life on more than one occasion, he came to my rescue in gang fights. Dan, against all odds, came out of it successfully. Dan was the thrust of this whole book. He was the leader and I was the follower, which sometimes got me into hot water. You will see when you read this book that Dan had two responsibilities, one was from mom and dad to keep me straight and out of trouble and the other was totally Danny’s rule, to get away from me as often as he could. But I was determined and really became his little pain in the ass brother!

This book is about being alert and avoiding gangs and trouble when you could. Dan, being two years older than me, had his own friends and ideas. In spite of that, we did many things together.

Mostly, in sports and school, we had white, colored and Puerto Rican friends. After getting to know them, the color of their skin and where they were born faded away. They were just friends, some good and some not so good.

Note: The author recommends that children under the age of sixteen have full parental consent due to certain topics of an adult nature. Please use discretion. The names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.

CHAPTER

ONE

MURTOSA, PORTUGAL

M y father was born in Murtosa in Northern Portugal, November 21, 1907. He was one of nine children with eight brothers and one sister. Over the years the sister stayed with her parents. All of the brothers including my dad Joao (John) had the taste in their mouths to come to the land of plenty, The United States. Some ended up in Jamaica, New York, but the rest joined the already large Portuguese settlements in Newark, New Jersey. My folks settled in Philadelphia, PA. In Newark there were stores where the Portuguese could buy all of the items they grew up eating such as olives, olive oil, salted codfish, large fresh sardines, squid, wines, five star brandy, breads, pastries and so many more items. They were proud to be here in the states in order to make a better life for their kids, my brothers, sisters and cousins. It was like Portugal in America only better.

In Portugal my paternal grandfather operated a small fishing river bark (boat) business and on occasion he would also move cargo with all eight sons, of which my dad was one of the the youngest. It was a small maritime bark (boat), moving cargo during certain times of the year and fishing almost everyday. My dad was young and it was hard for him to keep up, but he always did his best. As a result of him being one of the youngest, he went to third grade and then was put on the boat with grandpop. I don’t believe that his brothers had any formal education, and all that they learned was entirely from being on the boat. So dad took orders from six captains, including his father. God forbid if any of them screwed up. There would be hell to pay, like having your head and face submerged into the cold river water. One night heading home my grandfather lined-up his oldest son Manuel to stay at the helm. Reminding him what to look out for and to follow stars that would guide him. Well, halfway home Manuel wasn’t paying attention and ran the boat, or bark as they called it, onto a sandbar. The boat stopped abruptly and my grandfather was awakened and angry. Manuel, already sensing his father’s rage, jumped overboard so his father would have time to settle down. Dad never told me what happened to Manuel, but I can only imagine. After years of practice Manuel became a pretty good captain and always had control of the boat from that time forward. One night on their way home grandpop took the whole crew for drinks at the local Taverna. After about an hour or so, a drunken Manuel started to brag that he could handle and direct the boat better than his father. Unfortunately, grandpop was sitting right next to Manuel. With one hard backhand grandpop knocked Manuel completely off his barstool. That was the end of that