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FALL 2008 ISSUE

Jan Napoli
Age:53
Favorite Hobby: Scrapbooking
Home Life: Married with two children in Mechanicsburg, PA

What is the best memory you have from your childhood?
Around 1965, we lived in the rural area of Dillsburg and there was a big snowstorm. We were literally snowed in. I remember the snow being way over my head. My Dad and his friend, Carl Heller, skillfully devised a sledding hill by shoveling a huge pile of snow at the end of our carport. My five siblings and I rode our sleds from the top of the hill, down off the carport, around a corner that sloped sideways and across our backyard. It was a lot of fun.    

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a hairdresser. I would play with dolls for hours on end. I would cut, set and style their hair until there was no hair left to cut, set and style. My mother’s cousin, Betty, was our next door neighbor. One time, Betty washed her hair and came over to our house. She let me set her hair with rollers. That was just the coolest thing. 

What was the funniest thing you and a childhood friend ever did?
In the late 1960’s, we moved uptown to a huge house. There was talk it was haunted. My father was a self-employed contractor and he would work his regular jobs during the day and spent his evening hours remodeling the house. He told us many stories about the unusual things that had happened while he was working in the evenings. So, of course, after we moved in, we would purposely scare each other any way we could think of. My mother had an old dressmaker form and we dressed it, put Mom’s wig on it and would strategically place it in each others’ bedrooms to scare the pants off of any unsuspecting sibling. We never knew where that thing was going to show up next.

Who was your best childhood friend? Do you still keep in touch?
My very best friend in 5th and 6th grade was Mary Lou Jones. Back in 1965, elementary education was through 6th grade. When she and I reached high school in the 7th grade, we weren’t in the same classes. We still saw each other, but eventually grew apart. She dropped out of school in the tenth grade and I lost track of her. Ironically, her parents were divorced and, in later years, her father married my Aunt Mary. It was then that I learned she lived in Arkansas and had a son with an older man. Mary Lou passed away in 2000 from bone cancer. 

What is your fondest memory from elementary school (grades K - 8)?
My fourth grade teacher, Miss Greta Eichelberger, would read a chapter or two to us at the end of the day while we were waiting for our bus numbers to be called.  We could do anything we wanted to do while she was reading (homework or just sit and listen), but we had to stay at our desks and be quiet. When she read Charlotte’s Web to us, I remember looking over at Barry Friedline. He had his hands folded on top of his books with his chin resting on his hands. What I remember most was the look of pure enjoyment on his face as she was reading to us from that particular book. I think about it often.

Where was the best vacation spot you remember going to as a kid?
We didn’t go on regular vacations, but when I was very young, my parents allowed my older brother and me to go with my grandparents and my aunt (who was the same age as my brother) to West Virginia, my grandmother’s home state. We stayed with my grandmother’s different relatives whom she hadn’t seen in a while.  I remember coming to the breakfast table one morning; there was food from one end of the table to the other. It was the first time I ever saw scrambled eggs served in a bowl with a spoon.     

What was your favorite outdoor childhood game?
We lived on a dirt road and played in the woods. There was a stream down the road that had a rickety old wooden bridge across it. We would wade in the stream with the snakes and crayfish. When I think about that now, my only thought is “eeewww.”  

What or who was on your lunchbox?
We bought our lunches – they were somewhere around 15-20¢.

What did you do on a hot summer day?
I don’t remember that we did anything in particular on a hot summer day. We rode our bikes, played in the stream, walked to my grandmother’s house, whatever suited our fancies on any given day. Every other week, though, we looked forward to the arrival of my grandfather’s ice cream truck. Back then, ice cream was delivered straight to your door. He delivered ice cream for Wenger’s (later sold to Rakestraw’s). As soon as we saw Pappy’s ice cream truck, we would run to it and form a line. At that time, he had over 20 grandchildren and couldn’t possibly remember all their names so he referred to all the boys as “Johnny” and all the girls as “Susie.” My favorite ice cream was a root beer twincicle. I remember my Dad getting his wallet out to pay Pappy after we had all made our selections. 

What was your most special holiday tradition as a child? Did you carry that on with your family?
I remember each child receiving a small box of candy and an orange at church during the Christmas Holidays.  My favorite was the chocolate covered orange cream.  Even still, every time I bite into one, I always say “ummm, tastes like Christmas.”

What was your favorite holiday dish?
Turkey stuffing! One year, my mother was making sandwiches out of Thanksgiving leftovers and asked what we wanted on our sandwich. I told her I wanted a stuffing sandwich. . .   Well!  There was nothing but laughter from my mother and my siblings. I still hear about it to this day.

What was the thriftiest meal your mother served for supper?
Mom would mix a pound of browned hamburger, a can of pork ‘n beans, a pound of elbow macaroni and a jar of homemade canned tomatoes. We called it goulash although I’ve since learned that goulash does not have pork ‘n beans in it. We lived on the main street in Dillsburg and I remember my mother gave me a dollar to walk to Karns’ Food Store for hamburger that cost 59¢ a lb.  Incidentally, Karns’ Food Store originated in Dillsburg.

What was the first thing you remember buying with money from “your own paycheck”?
We received 25¢ a week for our allowance. Every week we would all pile in the car and head for York. There was a Woolworth’s Five & Dime on Main Street that had the coveted notebook that I thought I just had to have. It was black with a zipper the whole way around it and it had retractable handles. I would admire that notebook every week until I had enough money to buy it.

What was the best advice your parent/s ever gave you?
I don’t know about the best advice, but the most familiar were – “The more you give, the more you have” (my mother) and “You do what you think is right, but if the Lord came today, would you want Him to find you there?” (my father).

I could tell you the many things my Dad would tell us over and over (and still does). “Did you know that you can survive on potatoes? Mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, boiled potatoes, baked potatoes, potato soup, potato pancakes, potato casserole, potato this, potato that.” This line was popular in our family long before Forest Gump’s friend Bubba said it about shrimp.

What did you have as a kid that you wish you had today?
I didn’t know it at the time, but realize now that what I had then was a virtually carefree life. I wasn’t aware that we didn’t have as much as other families, but we had enough. Our family has a strong foundation that is built on their belief and faith in God. As my Dad often reminds us still, “You have a roof over your head, you’re warm and dry, you’re clothed and you have plenty to eat. What more could you ask for.” And he is right.

If you had made a time capsule when you were a kid, you would open it now and find (what) inside.
Baby dolls, Barbie dolls, paper dolls. . . . .

What are you most proud of?
The person I have become. I have made mistakes in my life – everyone does. But I have also made good choices that led me to where I am today. I have a wonderful husband, good kids, and absolutely beautiful grandchildren. As my father would say, what more could you ask for.

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