A House in Monroeton

This picture was taken in 2008. This is the house in Pennsylvania where we lived from the time we were married in 1963 until we moved to Maine in 1965. It cost us $70.00 a month to rent it and we had to pay our light bill and telephone bill.

When we lived in this house, it was white. The door at the right side of the porch went into the livingroom of our apartment.

In the downstairs, our livingroom, kitchen, and bathroom actually used to be a doctor's office at one time. It was a very pretty apartment with hardwood floors. We loved the old, clawfoot bathtub and the back porch.

When we first moved there, we didn't have much furniture -- almost none. Grandma and Grandpa Buza gave us an electric stove -- our own stove! The land lord loaned us a very warped dining table and a couple of chairs. We had no refrigerator, so we went to the store across the street to buy just enough food for each meal but we kept a few canned things in our broom closet. As the summer turned to fall, we found that milk kept ok overnight when we stored it between our kitchen door and the screen door going out onto our back porch. A refrigerator was our first major purchase, and it was a GREAT day when it arrived.

We bought an old black and white TV in a wooden cabinet. It had a round screen. Grandpa gave us his desk -- a huge, homemade one. We bought an over-stuffed chair at an auction. THAT was our livingroom furniture! I used to sit on Gramp's lap in our funky, green-colored chair to watch tv sometimes.

In our bedroom, we had a brass bed that we borrowed from some family friends -- and we bought a used mattress for it (I think $5). Our clothing was kept in the closet and in a clothes basket. Our other bedroom was empty for about 1 1/2 years -- and then we had to buy a crib for a certain beautiful baby girl that God sent to us! (Can you guess her name?)

But we didn't feel at all deprived in our almost empty house! (At least we weren't in debt). We were very happy and enjoyed our new life together in the beautiful Endless Mountains region of Pennsylvania, near the banks of the meandering Susquehanna River. God was (and always has been) good to us!

Grampie worked in the laboratory at Memorial Hospital in Towanda. I'm forgetting what he made, but it was under $100 a week. At first, I didn't have a job. But in a few weeks, the hospital hired me and trained me to be assistant to the dietician. It was interesting work, helping to make up patient meal trays, prepare menus, talk to patients about their special diets, and serve employees in the hospital dining room. I think the pay was 80 cents an hour! But we could buy enough groceries for a whole week for about $13.00 and gas was cheap -- less than 50 cents a gallon.

During our evenings, we drank waaaay too much Coke and ate waaaay too many chips with onion dip. We watched our little black and white tv, read books, and took walks. We didn't have enough money to do too much else, but once in awhile we would drive over to the nearest A&W and buy a root beer apiece, served in a frosty mug! And sometimes we would ride through some AWFUL back roads, just to see the deer and enjoy the wonderful scenery. You could ALWAYS see deer -- sometimes dozens of them at a time.