The Brook

When I lived in Rivervale the neighborhood was very close community. There was Kathy Lee, Patty Martin, and a bunch of other kids. All the parents got together and built a dam of rocks on the Hackensack River which flowed through the area. One man got a severe case of poison ivy making a beach. He pulled it out by hand. We went swimming every day. Out the door and around the block in my bathing suit and in I went. Dad used to come home from work, after delivering mail all day and go for a dip. I remember he never bought a new bathing suit but always wore his old blue wool merchant marine trunks. It was such a neat way to grow up. I learned to love the water.