John J. Rooney: Ancient History from Just Yesterday
[John J. Rooney is a professor emeritus and the director of the master's program in clinical counseling at La Salle University. He can be reached at rooney@lasalle.edu.]
Before World War II, there were seven of us who palled around together. We met mostly in front of or inside Salvatore's family grocery store, on Fox Street below Hunting Park, fooling around and figuring out what to do for some fun that evening.
During the war, like most guys our age, we joined up: Phil, Frank, Salvatore, and Joe with the Army, Jimmy and I with the Navy, and Bill with the Marines.
After the war, I went back to college. The others returned to old jobs or found new ones. We married, bought homes, and raised families. We didn't get together much during those years; we were all so busy.
About 20 years ago, after the funeral luncheon for Frank's wife at Kelly's on Welsh Road, the four of us who remained from the original group decided to get together once a month for lunch. We called ourselves the Four Romeos - Retired Old Men Eating Out - and the name stuck.
My wife asks, "What do you talk about with the Romeos?" I say, "Anything that comes into our heads." We talk about the old Swampoodle neighborhood where we grew up, the "cinder bowl" where we played football, the big-band music we danced to, our old girlfriends, what the grandkids are up to, and, of course, the war....
Read entire article at Philadelphia Inquirer
Before World War II, there were seven of us who palled around together. We met mostly in front of or inside Salvatore's family grocery store, on Fox Street below Hunting Park, fooling around and figuring out what to do for some fun that evening.
During the war, like most guys our age, we joined up: Phil, Frank, Salvatore, and Joe with the Army, Jimmy and I with the Navy, and Bill with the Marines.
After the war, I went back to college. The others returned to old jobs or found new ones. We married, bought homes, and raised families. We didn't get together much during those years; we were all so busy.
About 20 years ago, after the funeral luncheon for Frank's wife at Kelly's on Welsh Road, the four of us who remained from the original group decided to get together once a month for lunch. We called ourselves the Four Romeos - Retired Old Men Eating Out - and the name stuck.
My wife asks, "What do you talk about with the Romeos?" I say, "Anything that comes into our heads." We talk about the old Swampoodle neighborhood where we grew up, the "cinder bowl" where we played football, the big-band music we danced to, our old girlfriends, what the grandkids are up to, and, of course, the war....