James Laird - "Settling in at Lark Ellen Home for Boys" - Page 5

The matron for our dorm had a big radio and we would sit on the floor in front of it and listen to kid's programs. Also we had special ones like the fight between Jimmy Braddock and Max Schmeling or Joe Louis when he became world champ. One very special one, the coronation of the current Queen of England's fathers brother who later gave up the throne.

What can you say about a very special place that filled a need for so many boys and do it so well. You did not have a father around or your mother there with you, but people who cared like Mom Cassidy. She deserved every bit of the title MOM. The matrons were there with love and understanding plus a lot of brothers big and small that you could trust. The coaches as well as Pop Cassidy added a male presence. I never had anything taken or broken in the six years I lived there and I bet I could not say that with two smaller brother if I were living in a normal home.

And we sure got to do a lot more extra things living there than we would have living at home. That was during the middle part of the great depression and most families had very little. We had a warm bed, clothes, and all the food we could eat, hot showers with a very large safe place to play and good medical attention as needed. And people who cared watching over us with the ability to do most anything any other boy would do.

James Laird