In Where the Hell Is Turtle Creek? author Barrie Bartulski presents his honest and sometimes humorous memoir of his childhood in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania. He paints a portrait of a happy, unique childhood complete with mean teachers and close buddies. These stories capture the adventures of a group of children, from mixed ethnic and religious backgrounds, growing up in the 1940s and '50s in Turtle Creek, a small town in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Most of the stories take place around Turtle Creek's Saint Colman's Catholic elementary school and the public junior and senior high school. The discipline administered by a few of the Sisters of Mercy at Saint Colman's School was overly aggressive and would not happen today with the special training that teachers now receive. Bartulski shares it to illustrate an area that was much on the minds of children in those days. The Catholic Church has since banned all paddling-wonderful news but a little late for him and his pals. He has lovingly captured a lost time, the time when a boy could be carefree and be mostly concerned about what games he and his pals were going to play that day. They are memories to be cherished and experienced time and time again, winningly recounted in Where the Hell is Turtle Creek?

Where the Hell Is Turtle Creek?

A Memoir of Days Gone ByBy Barrie C. Bartulski

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Barrie C. Bartulski
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-4109-1

Contents

Preface.................................................................ixAcknowledgments.........................................................xxiI Shall Not Pass This Way Again.........................................xxiiiSpecial Thanks..........................................................xxvHistory Of Saint Colman's School........................................xxviiHistory Of Saint Colman's Church........................................xxxThe Public Schools......................................................xxxivCHAPTER 1: A Day At School..............................................4CHAPTER 2: Going To Confession..........................................22CHAPTER 3: The Cloakroom................................................40CHAPTER 4: Town Flooding................................................55CHAPTER 5: Playing In The Woods.........................................68CHAPTER 6: Ethnic Food Feast/Separate Play Facility.....................89CHAPTER 7: The School Yard And Games....................................95CHAPTER 8: Ice Hockey...................................................110CHAPTER 9: Christmas Turkey Raffle......................................126CHAPTER 10: Great Sled Race.............................................153CHAPTER 11: Getting To The Show.........................................201CHAPTER 12: The Poolroom................................................225CHAPTER 13: The Safe....................................................254CHAPTER 14: National Cash Register......................................274Author's Note...........................................................285

Chapter One

A DAY AT SCHOOL

It was a beautiful summer day when the dismissal bell rang out loud like a fire alarm on a Friday afternoon at Saint Colman's two-story, stone-and-brick Catholic elementary school. The early morning regimentation of children waking up, having a quick bowl of oatmeal, a cup of hot chocolate or Ovaltine, and a piece of hard crusty toast taken off the oven rack and smothered with Oleo and jelly would stop after today's school day.

Soon there would be two days they would not have to wake up early, dash off to school, get to the classroom, and remove loose clothing to hang up in the cloakroom. Hanging up their clothing was just a starter before saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and kneeling down on the hardwood oak floors to begin reciting their morning prayers.

Grades one and two would be learning how to say the Our Father and Hail Mary prayers, practicing their numbers and the alphabet and doing block printing, reading, and spelling in the morning. In the afternoon after lunch, it would be more prayers and saying the rosary, simple adding and subtracting of numbers, English sentence structure, and Palmer cursive writing practice. Catechism study, first Holy Communion preparation (which included learning how to make a confession to the priest), and a good "act of contrition" would soon follow.

Catechism instruction was aimed at presenting the essential and fundamental contents of Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals. A precursor to these teachings is for every Catholic child to have been baptized, which is one of the seven sacraments of the church. Many descriptions of baptism can be found in the Bible, but simply put, it is necessary for salvation and assures entry into eternal beatitude.

By being baptized, all sins are forgiven, such as original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for such sins. The church has done away with the belief that Catholics are born with original sin due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve to God's command. The remaining six sacraments are confirmation, the Eucharist (Communion), penance, the anointing of the sick, holy orders, and matrimony.

The next big thing in a Catholic child's life was to frequently receive Holy Communion, where one believes they swallow the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Early church doctrine would not allow Catholic children under the age of twelve to receive Communion. This rule has been done away with, and today the sacrament is generally provided for in the second grade of school. Also, Communion could only be administered by an ordained priest! This too has changed, and today many lay personnel, including women and known as Eucharistic ministers, are allowed to administer Communion. These individuals must be recommended by a priest and take two classes of theology (Catholic teachings) and one class of practicum for the teaching of such administration.

During my early Catholic teachings about receiving Holy Communion, some of us children were led to believe that if an individual regurgitated the Communion wafer, the priest had to pick it up and swallow it! I sincerely doubt that this act ever did or would take place anywhere Communion was being served. I know that procedures are in place within the church to see that any Communion wafers dropped on the floor are disposed of in the most holy manner.

Prior to receiving Communion, if children believed they had sinned, they would confess such sins to a priest. This act would be the sacrament of penance, also known as confession. After the confessing of sins, each child would tell the priest, through their "act of contrition," how sorry they were for offending God. They would go on to tell the priest about detesting their sins, dreading the loss of heaven, and fearing the pains of hell, and they would promise to do penance and amend their lives. "Amen."

The sacrament of anointing of the sick, also known as extreme unction or the last rites is when a priest is called to anoint and pray for a critically injured person. Family members and the ecclesial community may be invited to surround the sick in a special way through their prayers.

The ordination of a priest is the sacrament of holy orders, whereby the priest is enabled to act in the name of Jesus Christ. The priest also takes a vow of celibacy, devotes his life to God and men, and serves as Christ's instrument for his church.

Grades three through eight would also be saying their prayers and rosaries at different times during the day and in the morning working on their multiplication tables, percentages, fractions, decimals, and geometry, history, and geography lessons. In the afternoon, it would be more English sentence structure and Palmer cursive writing lessons, reading, catechism lessons, and confirmation study.

Confirmation is a renewal of baptismal promises and the act of reaffirming one's faith at a later age. Adults can, after taking the required studies, receive both baptism and confirmation at the same time.

In each class, an individual would be selected by Sister to approach the front of the classroom and talk about homework, or go to the blackboard and begin writing down a problem, religious question, or other parts of the homework assignment and explain it to Sister and the class.

This would go on for a while until several children had taken their place in front of the class, including those who obviously had not completed their homework assignment. Sister would deal with these children later!

Some of the boys called to take their position and stand by the blackboard would look for a new piece of white chalk lying on the ledge. The longer the better, since there...