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    Emma Street
    Emma Street
    Emma Street
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    Emma Street

    By Cliff McDuffie

    ()

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    About this ebook

    About this Book

    Emma Street does exist and for some twenty years was the

    home of the McDuffie family in Tampa, Florida.

    The house was on an oak lined street, paved with asphalt

    bricks and sidewalks on either side. It had a large rock formation in

    the side yard in the shape of an M, with spaces for flowers to be

    planted.

    Not a wealthy family but we didnt really know we were poor either

    as we always had food on the table, a fairly warm place to sleep and

    clothes on our back.

    Six children being raised by a widowed mother so we had chores to do and

    helped out with small jobs over the years to make ends

    meet.

    The time of this writing covers my memories between 1938

    through 1952.

    I shall always be indebted to my Mother, Louise, for the

    love and guidance given to me and my siblings as we grew

    to adulthood.

    Not in any chronological order, written as memory allowed.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateSep 24, 2012
    ISBN9781477210741
    Emma Street
    Author

    Cliff McDuffie

    About the author Welbourne Clifton McDuffie, Jr.”Cliff” Raised in Florida during WWII. Served with the US Army Security Agency at NSA, Ft. Meade, MD. An A.V.Pres. of Exchange National Bank of Tampa. Employed at the Tampa Chamber of Commerce for some 20 years then Executive director of the Zephyrhills, FL. Chamber of Commerce for 7 years. Elected Mayor of Zephyrhills in 2002 and retired in 2012. Two sons, “Trey” and Michael, three adorable grandchildren, Cassidy, Julian and Olive and daughter–in-law Wendy. Married to Joyce Burton Hatfield in 2001 and consider her sons, Mike and Roger and their wives Karen and Nena also as my own. A published poet and award winning photographer and enjoy wood working and carving. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed the remembering.

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      Book preview

      Emma Street - Cliff McDuffie

      CONTENTS

      EMMA STREET PREVIEW

      DEDICATION

      FIRST SIGHT

      BEFORE EMMA STREET

      A REAL BLAST

      CUBAN INFLUENCE

      CATCHING SANTA

      THE HEDGES OF EMMA STREET

      HEDGES ON LEGS

      THE PLAY BOX

      BACKYARD ANTICS

      BATTLES GALORE

      BROTHERLY LOVE

      LITTLE SISTER

      DAD’S GONE

      BIKE IN THE ATTIC

      GUAVA WARS

      SCHOOL, FIRST GRADE

      RECESS

      MEASLES

      OUR HAUNTED HOUSE

      MR. MURRAY

      NATURE CLASS

      SOD PITCHERS

      LITTLE FIGHTER

      KRAZY KIDS

      I SCREAM YOU SCREAM

      ICE MAN

      WWII AGAIN

      AIR RAIDS AND RATIONS

      WASH BOARDS AND TUBS

      LOST MONEY

      NEIGHBORHOOD WITCH

      BROKEN NOSE

      HOMEMADE TOYS

      GO FLY A KITE

      FROGS FROM HEAVEN

      GRAND PARENTS

      AUNTS AND UNCLES

      GEORGIA CLAN

      GIRLS

      EGGNOG

      SECRET SPACES

      GAS AND FIRE

      FIRST JOB

      MAY DAY

      SAFETY PATROL

      YBOR SCHOOL

      BULLY BOY

      MATH BLOCK

      MOM

      HAZING JR. HI.

      PRE SCHOOL ANTICS

      PHYSED

      LIBRARY

      TEACHERS

      DIRTY TRICK

      MORE GIRLS

      NEW STUFF

      STARS

      SNEAKING LUNCH

      CHANGE

      AFTER SCHOOL

      BUFFALO AVE. DRUG STORE

      SPORTS

      MORE GIRLS

      HIGH JINKS

      EXTRA CURRICULAR

      HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS

      FRIENDS

      R.O.T.C.

      SENIOR PROM

      GRADUATION

      HILLSBOROUGH HIGH SCHOOL

      NORTHTOWN THEATRE

      CUSCADEN SWIMMING POOL

      THE OAK TREE MARKET

      EMMA STREET PREVIEW

      The year is 1939 and the family of five children and two adults have moved to a rental property until Dad can find a suitable house to put his family in. The house he finds is on East Emma Street.

      A big (to me, later not big enough) house painted an ugly brown sitting on a beautifully shaded street in a middle class section of a small, growing town in west central Florida called Tampa.

      DEDICATION

      I am dedicating this to my two remaining siblings,

      John McDuffie and Rev. Ermalou Roller.

      To my sons, Trey and Mike ( Wendy ) and to my Grandchildren,

      Cassidy, Julian and Olive McDuffie.

      To my step-sons, Michael and Roger (Nena ) Hatfield, and daughter-in-law, Karen.

      Especially to my wife Joyce for putting up with me as I struggled to finish this.

      FIRST SIGHT

      The year is 1939 and the family of five children and two adults have moved to a rental property until Dad can find a suitable house to put his family in. The house he finds is on East Emma Street.

      A big (to me, later not big enough) house painted an ugly brown sitting on a beautifully shaded street in a middle class section of a small, growing town in west central Florida called Tampa.

      The street is paved with asphalt bricks, as are many streets of that era and there is a canopy of large Oak trees covering the street to make a kind of tunnel as you walked down the sidewalk. Yes there was a sidewalk; not all areas in this town had a sidewalk yet so this must be a fairly good neighborhood. At least we certainly thought so.

      My first impression of the new house was a good one as it had a great big Oak tree in the back of the lot just made for boys of five to climb up. There are also orange, tangerine and grapefruit trees.

      We have really struck it rich!

      As this was the spring of the year there was also a yard full of Oak leaves to be raked up by one five year old.

      My second impression of the Emma St. House, as it was to be fondly called in years to come, was one of horror.

      As we entered the house to begin cleaning there must have been ten thousand roaches scurrying about! Let me quickly explain that roaches in this part of Florida are the two-inch Palmetto Bugs that love to fly at you if disturbed. Apparently the house had not been occupied in some time and as these bugs are prone to do, they came in and occupied the house waiting to antagonize its occupants forever. They certainly did an excellent job of that over the next twenty years.

      I really have a difficult time remembering exactly how Mom and Dad divided us kids up to sleep as there were three boys and two girls. The girls were both older by two and four years so they probably demanded some separation but in a two bedroom house. I, for the life of me, can not recall where we slept. I do know that the boys had the back bedroom with the bunk beds in it. I was five, then there was three year old John, and Ralph, just one.

      Ralph, for the record was called Cougar as he was just as quick and elusive at that age as any kid you would ever see!

      The girls, Joan (we always had to call her JoAnne) and Clarice were so much older, eight and six respectively, that we boys just kind of ignored them most of this time.

      BEFORE EMMA STREET

      I do not have much of a recollection of the first house I was aware of on Robeson St in North Tampa about 3 blocks from the Hillsborough River and the community of Sulphur Springs. Mom tells on me about my not ever walking, just getting up and running, everywhere. She could not even keep me in the house. At one time she locked the screen door, we all had screen doors then, but I just got the broom and slipped that latch right out and down the street I went.

      Screen doors then had a small hook like lock that slipped into an eye in the door frame. It was not really hard to open I just wasn’t tall enough to reach it.

      Now this house was only about a block from Nebraska Avenue, which even then, was a relative busy street.

      The reason I headed that way was due to the small store there and I would slip in and steal candy bars. I got caught. Yep, a good spanking went with that.

      We soon moved to New Orleans Avenue a little closer to town and this was where I can really say that I began to remember things that happened to me and my family.

      Now this was what is referred to as a bungalow. It had a porch all the way across the front of the house, an attic and a porte-cochere (that’s French for carport) for you to park your car under.

      It was here that I associated with my two older siblings in a neighborhood newspaper. I was the sports editor (copies are still available if you are interested and if I can find them again) and we had conned our cousin who was at college to type the paper up for us.

      We later learned that our little paper had been sent all over the world as just the cutest thing. It was during this time that my sister, Clarice, enticed me to eat a dirt sandwich. Now I know that not everyone has had the pleasure of dining at midday on two pieces of bread with a healthy packing of loose Florida soil. Quite frankly, I can to this

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