By Louis A. Zona
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – When I was a kid and when television was in its infancy, we were lucky if our TV antenna was powerful enough to reach stations as far away as Akron.
Our Sears Roebuck Silvertone television was strong enough to bring in The Dumont Television Network, where such programs as “Captain Video,” “The Tonight Show starring Steve Allen,” and “Milton Berle” would entertain us nightly. And one of my favorite – and one of the earliest – situation comedies that kept my family laughing for several years, “Mrs. Goldberg,” who introduced every show by leaning from her New York apartment’s open window and shouting, “Yoo hoo… Mrs. Goldberg.” As I recall, we only heard Mrs. Goldberg but never saw her as she would dish out advice to her neighbors.
In many ways, Mrs. Goldberg was very much like my dear mother, Katie. I can’t begin to tell you how many marriages mom saved. Mom went only to the fourth grade, but she always seemed to be the smartest person in the room. Wisdom defined her as did kindness and common sense. Her advice always appeared to be right on!
But Mom, like most moms, would go to the end of the earth for her children, Clara, Christina, Jerry, Mary Katherine (who passed away during infancy) and me – who was definitely a “momma’s boy” to say the least. I of course loved my dad, but it was Mom that captured most of my attention.
Mom seemed almost obsessed by the welfare of her children and frankly, we needed to keep some things to ourselves… like the day that I severely twisted my ankle while running around the bases during a high school baseball game. The ankle hurt so bad that I fainted right there in the middle of the infield.
Never would I, or frankly could I, share the baseball injury with Mom. I decided to hide the ankle by basically crawling around the house when Mom was in another room. My hiding the ankle worked for a day or so until I had to come clean. From that game onward, Mom begged me not to go near the ball field. But she knew that baseball was the one sport that I was halfway good at, and that injury was rare in the sport. She ultimately gave in to family pressure and I lived to run the bases once again.
Mom was a highly religious person who often spoke of her love of the nuns. She’d often say that the reason that God does not destroy the earth is because of the nuns and their holy ways. But my dear mother would not have had the same feeling toward a certain order of sisters had she been aware how mean Sister Irma was toward her students.
I think back on those days when classes were combined, and two or three grades were taught in a single classroom. Those nuns were remarkable in teaching so many students in a single classroom located in the basement of the church. Those nuns were proud of what they would achieve given the circumstances.
Mom often told me about her affection for “The Infant of Prague.” According to Mom, a statue of a young Jesus was displayed in the cathedral at Prague. The cathedral was heavily bombed during the Second World War. When the bombing ended, apparently the only statue not touched by the bombs was the statue of The Infant of Prague. I remember that a friend of the family discovered a plaster copy of the Infant. Mom loved that statue and over time even acquired clothing for that plaster copy as a way of celebrating colors representing Catholic holidays. I believe that my niece Beverly inherited Mom’s statue of the Infant of Prague.
I often wonder what would have happened had Mom known of Sister Irma’s need to apply a little tough love in the classroom. Let’s put it this way, Sister would have had her hands full if she would have dealt with Mom’s ire.
Despite Mom’s devotion to faith, she would on occasion show her superstitious side. She, for example, would never open an umbrella in the house. Nor would Mom ever walk under a ladder or walk with two people with a pole between them since that would mean that your fellow walker would never return.
Mom was definitely a stay-at-home person and seldom went anywhere with my dad. One time Dad took Mom to a high school football game. It was pretty chilly that night and Mom was fairly cold for a fall evening. Finally, Mom asked my father “When are we going inside?” Dad answered with “There’ is no inside.” Mom responded, “Do you mean we have to sit outside in the cold?” Dad never again took Mom to a football game, which was perfectly fine with Mom.
Mom was loveable but a fairly serious person. One Halloween evening she was handing out candy to the kids in the neighborhood. Two neighbor ladies decided to have a little fun with her. They dressed in crazy outfits and covered their faces completely. The two ladies began chasing Mom around the kitchen and Mom headed right toward the kitchen utensils to defend herself. At that the ladies began shouting “Katie, it’s only us Anna and Charlette. It was only when they pulled off their masks did Mom calm down. She was shaking almost to the point of collapse and never quite forgave those neighbors and frankly never again enjoyed Halloween.