buba

before I describe my grandparents home and numerous plants, trees and flowers, i feel I should back track a little. "Buba's house was on the corner of what is now Stieren Avenue and Hathaway street, which was originally Steiren Avenue.  It was a hill connecting Brackenridge or second avenue with what was then Nelson Street. It was a tar, chip stone, and lots of oil, street When we has a good snow fall in the winter, the town would block the top and bottom off with saw horses for us kids to sled ride. They put fresh gravel at the bottom to stop the sled from going into the path of the cross street.  About a block and a half started the beginning of Allegheny Ludlum Steel Mill, which then ran along the river for about a mile.  What is interesting, my mom's dad laid out the entire side walk with cement, by hand,  The mill connected the towns of Brackenridge and Natrona. is

they developed a type of metal like stainles steel, but was so strong, it was difficult to cut or weld with a torch. For those who read, "Atlas Shrugged," it reminds me today of Rearden Metal.  Her house consisted of an old style brick building that sat right on the corner; the lower level was her grocery store, with living quarters above. attached in an "L" shape was a white board wood house with green trim and a small yard hedged in from the road. Julia(buba) and Nicholas Potocni( pronounced poooa  Touch knee), I found a picture from when they were probably first married and she was a beautiful woman and he a handsome man who was into all kinds of healthful living.  I only knew buba and when she was probably in her 60's. Nicholas worked at the steel mill; buba worked the little grocery store, 7 AM to & PM, 7 days a week.  She had 3 often used expressions: " boy, boy. boy." "I give you good smack!" and she would belt anyone trying to steel from her, especially little kids(and teenagers) who would reach around and slide open the penny candy counter-the front was glass, wood sides. and finially, she always said that there was no hell; that hell was on earth.  Why? see if you can see: her young husband hurt his arm and it got gangrene.  He refused to have it amputated at the elbow.  Buba got the doctor to lie and said they would operate and save it.  as soon as he was "under" buba signed the papers to have his arm removed.  after that he just diddn't feel like a "whole" man, gave up the will to live and died. there was no medical reason for his death.  While he was still around, buba wanted to make and bottle "moonshine" during prohibition.  he firmly would not let her. Cheeze, we could be rich like the Kennedy's who made a profit on every bottle of scotch bottled-domestic or local.  of course they ended up with three dead sons and a daughter who they had given a frontal lobotomy and was a vegetable all her adult life, lived in a home till the day she died. She was only mildly retarded, but the thought of the mighty Kennedy clan having a less than perfect kid was more than the old man wanted-to him, it was a disgrace. Back to the Potocni's a Slovak name and Buba would curse or belt you if you ever refereed to her as a Czech, or Slovenian. In between were born a set of twins, who cried non stop in their cribs, then died. to proceed the other child:  the grocery store had the old, unfinished, wood plank floors or perhaps linoleum (not modern vinyl) a large metal bucket was filled with boiling water to mop it down.  the other middle child fell backwards into the bucket; Buba grabbed him, ran cold water while holding him in the large, single tub, porcelain, sink.  my grandma, a child yet, was sent running to the only family on the block who had a phone, to have the doctor come a running with his bag.  My grandma still remembers the two of them puling the cooked flesh from his bottom and upper legs, etc., but it was too late. he was dead. Grandma said that once in awhile, in the evening, she would see her mom stare off, her eyes tearing up, and she just knew she was thinking of her losses: her husband and three kids who never made it to probably 3 years of age or so.  Hell on earth?.......There was no such thing as "the good old days.' By the way, she rented out one full size bed to 9 steel workers-3 men per shift.  Anyway, the attached white house was where my grandparents lived until they had enough or was given the down payment for a house, I know my dad was already born. Next, great uncle Steve lived there with Helen, his wife;same play: they had 2 girls then a boy, Richie.  When he was old enough to work in the mill, the house was his.  Buba favored boys. She bought Richie(her favorite) a new car every few years,  It was estimated she gave away about 50,00.00 from working that little grocery store, which would be considerable in today's dollars.  Although my grandma was very smart and her brother was not, no matter how she pleaded with her mom to let her go to college, it was a firm "NO"  Higher education was only for boys and girls were to get married and have babies and clean house.  One more tidbit and then I got to rest awhile: when Grandma went into labor with her first of three sons(my dad), Buba told her to"go into the bedroom and suffer, till the baby comes."  So much for pain meds or an epidural! Also: the Mill ran a mile and connected the town of Brackenridge with Natrona.  A cement sidewalk ran the entire distance and my mom's dad(Grandpap) did the whole thing himself-and all by hand! Later- and I hope one of my children is saving this for a family history book-feel free to correct any minor spelling errors!