Carol Joan Cramer

The last of the 6 kids, I was born on June 6, 1943 in Lockport Memorial Hospital, New York. When I was born, Aunt Helen Rohrbaugh came to take care of the other five kids. A short time after she returned home, my parents asked her to come back to take care of the younger five as Bud ended up in the hospital with lock jaw from stepping on a rusty nail. That was the just the beginning of a bond between me and Helen that remains to this day. As a kid growing up in the country, my main entertainment was riding bike or climbing trees. I had one doll with a buggy that I played with. My parents had bought it at Karsten’s for me one Christmas. We had an apple orchard next to door to our property and one across the road. We had some apple, peach and pear trees on our property which were good climbing trees. I especially liked to climb the Queen Anne cherry tree in the front yard and sit there and eat cherries. Cousin, Judy Enyeart (Michaels) grew up in the city but spent many summers with us, so I had to teach her how to climb trees. She loved to eat the cherries also, but always ended up getting a stomach ache and I would get into trouble. It was her choice so I don't know why it I would get into trouble.

I loved riding bike and usually rode the boy's bike, up and down the road and on the side roads so fast I could beat my friend any day. Of course, there was not much traffic back then either so it was safe to ride out there. When I rode to either Reith's or Kirsten's country store, I would have to get going really fast so I could put my feet up while going past Haney's house. They had a mean dog that would run after you and try to bite you and I was scared of it.

Judy and I played outside most of the time and hardly ever watched TV. Judy and I loved rhubarb and we would pick some, strip the thin layer of skin off and put salt on it and eat it raw. It sure made you mouth pucker but we just kept eating. We also loved onion sandwiches with mustard on them and would pack lunch and go over to Chace's (Dawn's) and sit on the front steps and have a picnic. Mrs. Chace would give us a little juice glass of Vernon's ginger ale sometimes for a special treat. She also made yummy raisin cookies and would put a raisin on top of each of them. The story is told that I would go over when I was little and when she wasn't looking eat the raisins off all the cookies. I don't remember doing that!

As a teenager I would write letters to lots of people in the evenings and on the week-ends I would either have friends come over night or I would go to their house all week-end. (I had to clean the house each Friday before I was allowed to go away.) Each summer from the time I was 8 years old I went to camp for a week or two each summer and then as a teenager I worked the whole summer at camp. I remember picking sour cherries next door one year so I could have money to go to camp. I got paid 3-cents a pound. Do you realize how many cherries you would have to pick to have enough money to go to camp?.. Lots and oh, were they sticky! I hated sticky hands. I did manage to get enough that one year to go, but I don't think I did that any more.

When I graduated from high school, I worked at theNiagara Bible Conference for the summer and then babysat for different families in the fall - Dot, Aunt Alice, Arlene Class, Onalee Wilson and others. The following February, I began a job at Niagara Apparel in Buffalo where they made jackets for department stores such as the Hecht Company. I began on a commercial machine, doing one piece of the sleeve and you had to do so many in a day. After a short time the elevator operator left and I was asked if I would like the job. Of course I said yes, as I'm not big on sewing. I received a 10-cent raise for taking the job so I then got paid $1.20 an hour. It was a 6-story building and the elevator was an old fashioned one that you had to crank to get it level. I got to know all the wonderful people on every floor as I also delivered mail and ran errands for the boss. Most of the people were older Polish ladies and they were so kind. That fall, I quit my job to move temporarily to the DC area with my parents. When I left Niagara Apparel the people on every floor gave me gifts and cards and were as sad I was leaving them as I was them.

A week after I moved to Washington I began to work for a home mission board called International Students, Inc. (ISI) where I worked for 4 years. (My dad got a job in Connecticut just a few months after I went to DC, so I moved in with a girl friend and had several different room mates and lived in a couple different places during those years.) Once I left that job I took one with the Hecht Company at Tysons Corner for the Operations Manager, and then worked as the Guidance Secretary at George Mason Jr-Sr High School in Falls Church. During that time I was active in getting a singles group started at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church I was attending and it was there that I met Len Jones. After 2 or 3 years of dating on and off, Len and I were married at the church by our Pastor, Rich Brown. We bought a house at 2915 Brook Drive in Falls Church where we lived for 19 years. I began working as the Church secretary for one year until Matthew Robert came along. A few months later, Len, Matthew and I took off in our van and drove across country to live in California for 6 months while Len worked on a special project. Two and a half years later, Michael Aaron was born. I did not work for pay during their growing up years, but I began volunteering at our hospital on Friday evenings when Len got home and continued doing that for the next 12 years. During that time I was also very active on the PTA at the boy's schools. Once I did take a job for a few weeks, transporting a blind fellow to doctor appointments after being hit by a car and having a broken leg. Once the boys were in high school I took my paying job with Fairfax County Public Schools, where I still work. We moved to our present location at that end of Matthew's senior year in high school. Michael graduated 3 years later and that following year took off for Western New York, the place he has always loved, where he met Tonia. We have 3 wonderful grandchildren, Tiffany, Nicholas (Matthew's) and Tyler (Michael's), what more could we want, other than wishing we could live close to all of them.