HOMES FROM WINTER’S PAST 

GRANDMA DOROTHY: 41ST & NASH

With my new job I spend a lot of time driving in the city of Milwaukee.  A few weeks back I pulled to the side of the road to look up a client’s address and then by chance looked to my right and saw my Grandma Dorothy’s old house.  I had been concentrating on the exact address, that I had not even notice where I was.  I grew up in the city of Milwaukee and I find that this new job has me driving by all these old houses filled with memories from decades ago.  It was only a few years ago that my father sold my Grandma Dorothy’s house, after my Uncle passed away.  The house had been his childhood home for the majority of his youth.  He had built the fence that still in the backyard with his own father many years ago, one summer.  I can almost see my Grandpa Bill and my dad, the eldest of three sons, working together in the warm summer sun and the smell of freshly cut wood in the air. I myself had spent many Christmas Eve’s in that house, with my Grandma’s small blue lighted Christmas tree in the front window. 

GRANDMA JUNE: 44TH & CENTER

Then I can drive about 2 miles away to 44^th and Center and see the childhood home of my mother.  The duplex my Grandma June lived in when I was really little  I recall having my first lemonade stand there with my cousins Sheri and Sarah our table positioned across from track and field of Washington High School, which was on the opposite side of the street.  On that day some neighborhood kid stole some lemonade without paying for it, the injustice.  My Grandma June lived on the second floor of the duplex and many family members took turns living on the first floor.  Originally my Great-Grandma Rose lived there and when I was in my first years of life my parent’s and I lived there.  Years later after the lemonade stand I recall the bottom of the duplex was empty for the moment and Sheri, Sarah, and I used an empty room to start a New Kids on the Block Club, which we denied access to of our two younger cousins, Niki and Jessica.  Niki and Jessica informed Grandma of this and she came down the stairs with a wooden spoon and informed us that the little two kids we're in the club, as we all hid in the empty closets.

THE MCKINNEY FAMILY: 49TH & WRIGHT

Now if you were to drive about 4 blocks up and two over you would hit 49^th and Wright, which is the home I spent the majority of my childhood.  In this duplex my parents and I lived and rented the bottom part.  Whenever Ashley complains about our present home being too cold, I think to myself that she would have never made it in that old drafty place on 49^th Street.  We had a space heater in the living room and I recall sitting next to for warmth, like it was a fire place.  Whenever I drive by this place I am always amazed with that pine tree right in front of it and how tall it has gotten.  I could be wrong, but I remember being a child and being able to touch the top of that tree.  There is photo somewhere of my mom sitting on that front porch steps in the summer, with a book and glass of ice-tea and our amazing dog, Roxy, sitting a few steps below her.  These places are occupied with new families, but just viewing them brings back all of the good moments I have had in this city.