Living the Golden Dreams

By Theresa Philips Sirawsky

The sequel to my first novel, about my parents and their golden dreams, continues with their arrival to the town where they would live, have their children, and eventually die. They had very little money, no possessions, couldn't speak the language, and had no idea the difficulties they would encounter. Baba Anna came with them, and she proved to be a wonderful addition to the family. They joined St. Mary's RC church, and all the children of school age were enrolled in St. Mary's catholic school. The sisters of St. Agnes taught them and were very strict, but very effective in their strictness. There were quite a few Slovakian families in their small village, so they were able to continue to celebrate some of their customs, which helped them still enjoy what was familiar to them. They built a Slovak hall where their harvest festivals took place, with the songs, dancing, and crowning of the king and queen of the harvest. As the children grew and became adults, they never lost their love, respect, and closeness to their aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Our parents would be proud of their children for the love they have and share with each other. This is a tribute to them for what they taught them as they were growing up.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647015527

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Living the Golden Dreams

Theresa Philips Sirawsky

Copyright © 2020 Theresa Philips Sirawsky

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-64701-551-0 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-64701-552-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

In memory of my mother and father, Helen Golias Philip and Emery Charles Philip.

Foreword

This is a continuation of the journey, which began for Emery and Helen, to fulfill their dreams of a better life in America. The beginning of a new life in a new land that was foreign to them was definitely scary, but exciting. Emery had been working for a short while until Helen came, but there was still very little money to start with.

Their destination was a small coal-mining town called Nanty Glo in Pennsylvania, where Emery’s brother, Manuel, wife and family, Helen’s sister, Clara, husband and family lived. Manuel, wife, and family moved to Cleveland. Clara and husband, Steve, bought a farm in Belsano, which was not far from them. Eventually, Helen’s brother, Wendell, moved to the same town and worked in the mines as Emery did. The work was hard with long hours, little pay, and the danger of cave-ins. Emery endured all this while Helen took care of the family and did everything that was needed for the children, keeping the house in order and making a garden in the summer. At the end of summer she canned the vegetables that she had grown. She also had to make most of their clothing, plus outer wear.

They went through the trauma of three children’s death, Emery’s surgery from appendicitis. He went to work in the mines before he was healed and wasn’t able to fully walk straight the rest of his life. They lived through the depression, the second world war, and many traumatic things just living from year to year. Through all this, they never lost their faith and the love of God who helped them all their lives.

Chapter 1

Being together in the new world was a relief for Anna, Helen, and Imre. There were many, many adjustments to their living conditions and environment. They realized that the streets were not lined with gold, and, in fact, the streets were not as clean as they were in Dzravce. But they also realized that the opportunities for a better living were available, and if they had the love they needed and the patience that was required, they would make a good life for themselves and for the children God would give them.

After arriving in America, Imre took Anna and Helen to Ventland, Pennsylvania, where Wendell, Anna’s son and Helen’s brother, was living. Imre and Helen decided to stay with Wendell until Helen had the baby, since her delivery time was almost upon them. Anna stayed, also, but she planned to leave with them when they decided to move on to their true destination. While living in Ventland, Helen gave birth to her and Imre’s first child, a son. Because of not being familiar with the English language, when he was asked what the baby’s name would be, Imre said that it would be his name, so that’s what the person wrote. He was named Emery Stephen Phillip.

Their destination was a small coal-mining town called Nanty Glo, where Helen’s sister Clara and her husband, Steve Hurtack, lived. Also, Imre’s brother, Emanuel Philip, and his wife, Veronica, lived there. The town was named by the Welsh for a small mining town in Wales, which meant streams of coal. They also named one of the roads, Cardiff Road, which was a road in Nanty Glo, Wales.

Shortly afterward they migrated to Nanty Glo, where they moved into a company owned house. In fact, they soon found out that the coal company owned everything in town. Imre got a job in the mines, and when he told them his name, the person who wrote it down, interpreted it as Emery Philip since they wrote down what they thought they heard.

Together they had thirteen children, and after each baby was born, whoever wrote the name of the baby on the birth certificate spoke English; so after each of the babies were born, some got Philip, Philips, Phillip, or Phillips. My father didn’t know the difference because he didn’t know the English language.

The company built the row houses near the mines so that the men could walk to work, and they had to pay rent to the company. They also had a company store, where they had clothes for the miners and other necessities that they could purchase. When Helen bought anything from the store, whatever she bought was put on a slip and sent to the office, which was a little office built in the left-hand corner of the high-ceiling store. There was, what looked like, a two-way wire that held a small container that went either way. At the end of the month, all the purchases made, plus the rent was taken from their meager wages. What was left was their take-home pay. When Emery got paid, he came home with candy corn and would count out just so many into the outstretched hands of all the young ones. They would sit on the upstairs steps, waiting for their share and savoring all the little candy corns that they were dealt.

Twenty-four months later their second child was born. It was a girl, who they named Ann Barbara after her maternal and fraternal grandmothers. They were still living in the company house, which Mom described as dirty, with cockroaches, bedbugs—and disgusting. When Helen was expecting their third child, she and Emery talked the situation over and decided to borrow five hundred dollars from her sister, Clara, and her husband, Steve, to build a house.

Steve had purchased a farm a short distance from them, and he sold his milk, butter, eggs, and other things to all the neighboring towns. They had been in America quite a while before Emery and Helen. After they had come over, Steve would periodically go back to Slovakia to deposit money he had earned from the farm in the post office, which was the bank. The reason he did this was because he planned to go back, when he had enough money deposited, to live like a king in Slovakia and have a wonderful life for him, Clara, and the children.

The last time Steve went to Slovakia to deposit money was just before the first world war broke out. He found out that the government had taken out all his money to be used for the war. He had no idea they had done this, so he kept the money he had with him and went back to America. He still had some money, but he had to be careful with it. Steve and Emery talked it over, and Steve agreed to lend it to him, but he had to promise to pay it back in a year, or Steve could take the house away from him. Emery agreed to his terms because they were desperate to get out of the company house.

The house was almost built with the cellar, the frame, the first floor, and the two big rooms on the second floor done. The roof and chimney were up, but the inside was not finished. The weather was getting colder, and the snow began to show its stormy head, so they decided that they would have the builder put tar paper on the first-floor walls to keep out as much of the cold as possible and move in. During the severe winter that followed, there would be frost gathered on the walls. They had to put whatever warm clothing that