I NEVER THOUGHT THE BOY WOULD BE A GIRL
I’m not a man to brag about myself,
Or about the noble thaings that I have done.
I’m satisfied that I have strength and health
And pleased with the debates that I have won.
I’m always in the right, I’m never wrong;
I prophecy the many things that pass;
Though your mother often said that I was gone,
That I counted up my chickens rather fast.
Then I heard I was a granddad, oh what joy!
And to your Uncle Jim I broke the news
That you were the daddy of a bouncing baby boy.
But your uncle said, “You’re wrong, my buck-a-loo.”
You know yourself - I never miss my guess.
I foresaw the airplane and the permanent curl.
I prohesied depression and the rest
But I never thought the boy would be a girl.
I was positive the child would be a boy.
But Loretta said, “You’re talking through your hat!
We don’t want another little Faunt-le-roy
And neither do want a Mike or Pat”.
“I would love a little girl,” said sister Gert,
“to bless the home of James and Coyle>”
Then said, “Your disappointment sure will hurt
For the little girl is bound to be a boy.”
Margaret said, “We’ll name the darling Marguerite”,
And everyone they seemed quite satisfied.
Then Denny said, “Ah, call the kid Denise,”
So you see, I haven’t anyone on my side.
Well, I can’t imagine how I slipped a cog
When the truth was learned, my brain was in a whirl.
But still I felt so pleased I danced a clog
And was satisfied the boy had been a girl.
Dennis P. Coyle Wilkes Barre, PA October 17, 1932
The first vacation at the Harvey's Lake
Denny
Many growing seasons ago our parents took us to Harvey's Lake for the first time. Spot had bought 3 cottages from the
remaining Devlin heir
who at one time owned the whole hill. I can still remember the long drive from Baltimore. We took the 6 hour trip up Rt 11 because
Rt 81 hadn't been built yet. The trip seemed even longer because we were all excited about seeing the lake, spending time with our cousins,
and meeting our new cousins. The trip back then was beautiful. Rt 11 followed the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg to Wilkes-
Barre. Back then, you got to see many places where the river had cut it's way through the mountains. Don't bother taking the
scenic route now though because they have put bypasses in that go around the scenic areas, and haven't marked the old road
well at all. In '65, the road was horribly slow because every mile or so you would hit 25mph speed trap areas where two or
three houses were designated as "towns". I remember having to stop several times to clear the windshield of the bugs that were swarming
near the river bank.
Eventually around 1 o'clock we made it to the lake. Dad didn't know where the road was to the cottage,
so we parked down by the boat dock and began our treck up the hill. We might never have found the place, but Dad saw Spot and
Uncle Joe working on the steps that went up the side of the hill. Spot seemed like a great guy. Uncle Joe was great too, but I recall
that his only having 2 or 3 teeth took a bit of getting used to. Eventually we made it to the top of the hill. As we hit the top, I spotted Pat
O'Donnell passing by lugging a cinder block in each hand. At that point, I was sure I was going to like it there.
Before long, Aunt Gert arrived with her crew. That year we were all staying in the white 6 bedroom cottage that had been
converted to a large house from a duplex. We filled it up pretty
well! As I recall, the first year up there, it was just the Coyles and the Mulherins in the white cottage, and the O'Donnells were living in
( and rebuilding) the green cottage next door. The red cottage was still uninhabitable. I believe it was the second year there that the
whole clan showed up! We had one little bathroom for 15 of us plus a baby or two. We were lucky - - the O'Donnells
had to use an outhouse! The inside of the cottage was set up perfectly for our needs, as the whole front of the house was one big room.
Between us, and the O'Donnells, and our visitors, the Mc'Dermotts, and the Callahans, and a few nuns, we needed a pretty big room
to gather in.
Kathy (then Kathleen) and I spent most of our time there hanging out with Pat and Renie O'Donnell. Every night we would link hands
and try to make it down the hill to the casino in pitch darkness. Between the lack of street lights and the dense canopy of pine trees,
we couldn't see a thing till we were almost off the hill. I recall Kathy livening things up a bit by telling us about "Sewing bugs" that were
huge 5 inch fly like critters that were supposed to sew your eyes, nose, and lips shut. We actually saw some of them! Looking back, I'm sure what we
saw were only helgrimites, but they concerned us a little bit at the time. On one of those first trips to the Casino we wandered into Joe's Pizza.
It was there that my cousins shamed me into eating my first slice of pizza. It was pretty good. Today, Joe has spread out a bit, and the
same delicious pizza can be found in Rehobeth at Grotto Pizza.
Our days were filled with walking around the lake, helping Spot with rebuilding his cottage, horseback riding, swimming,
fishing, and boating.
Our boating was done in a little 12 ft wooden runabout that Spot had outfitted with a 25 horsepower motor. The smaller of us were able to
water ski behind it, but the big guys weren't so fortunate. I can still remember Spot trying to pull Tom Jones or Mike out of the water.
The boat just about stood on end, the transom nearly broke lose, and poor Mike or Tom just about got his arms pulled out of their
sockets while being dragged slowly behind the boat. Since they couldn't ski, Mike and Tom decided to use the boat one morning to
go fishing. I was really flattered that they asked me, a little kid, to go along with them. 'Course little did I know what they had in mind for
me! Mike told me to be sure to wake him and Tom up at 5:30am on the big day, and not to let them sleep in. Well, I was there at 5:30,
but neither one of them wanted to get out of bed. I had a devil of a time waking them, especially since quarters were cramped and I had to keep it pretty low key.
. Eventually, Lill and Maureen got tired of the pots banging, water throwing and screaming, and tossed the fishermen out of bed.
The way those two fussed on the way to the boat, you'd have thought they hadn't slept for weeks. Actually, they'd been sacked out
since 3am, so I don't know what their problem was.
Once we got into the boat, every one was wide awake and ready to go catch breakfast. It was chilly on the water at dawn. The water
was perfectly still, and there patches of low lying fog around the lake that swirled as we motored through them. Mike knew right where
to go to catch the big fish, and I was really excited about our big fishing trip. After about a 10 minute trip, Mike cut the motor and
announced that we were in the exact spot to catch the biggest fish in the lake. Apparently, nobody told the fish though, because after
an hour nobody had gotten a nibble. Tom suggested that we try another spot, so mike pulled the cord to start the engine. It didn't
start right up like it did before, so Mike and Tom took turns pulling the cord for about an hour. They didn't want to let me pull the cord,
so I kept fishing. Eventually I noticed that I was ankle deep in water that was leaking through the bottom of the boat. I suggested to the
captain that we might be sinking, and would you believe he made me stop fishing and bail water? After bailing the boat out by myself,
I went back to fishing - - - at least till our captain peed overboard. After that, I didn't think I wanted to eat those fish anyway. About then,
the wind started to kick up, and we began to drift further out into the lake. Next thing I knew I was paddling with my one hand, and bailing
with the other. 4 hours after we left the dock we got back to shore. - - - half way around the lake. Eventually we got back to the cottage
rounded up Spot and took him back to that miserable boat. He pulled the chord one time and it started right up. Said it's all in the wrist.
Would you believe, that as much help as I was on that trip, Mike never wanted to go fishing with me again? What is a "Jonah" anyway?
We kids found Lill a lot easier to get along with. Lill always did like her horses. I think we were just there a day when Lill found the local
riding stable and took a bunch of us with her to go riding. I told her that I'd been riding before, but naturally I didn't mention that my riding
experience was confined to ponys that belonged to photographers. My horse was named Star. We got along great until someone
decided to start galloping. At first I resisted the temptation to hold onto the saddlehorn. After I landed on it though I decided it wasn't that
important to look like I knew what I was doing. Now I know why cowboy singers have high voices, anyway. That day I said the best prayer
of my young life. - - - - and said my first cuss word. I think I may have learned that from one of my cousins!
One of the things we liked to do was explore our new terrritory. Since none of my group could drive, we had to satisfy ourselves with
a rather limited area. There were two houses that someone suggested were haunted. One was the lodge right there on the
hill that Spot eventually bought and rebuilt. A bunch of us went over to check it out. Eventually we found out way into this long
abandoned dwelling and managed to scare the wits out of each other. The house hadn't been occupied for over 30 years, but it
looked as if someone had just gone out to the store and never made it back. All of the old massive victorian furnature was there, the clothes, the
newspapers, everything. On more than a few occasions, someone would think they saw something move, let out a scream and scare us all
pretty good. We were very careful to lock up behind us better than it was on the way in, because we didn't want this grand house to be
damaged by those trespassers less considerate than ourselves. I guess it's a good thing we didn't do any damage, because after
Spot bought it, it probably would have been us who made the repairs!
Another real clear memory I have involves Kathy and a bunch of spoons. We used to play a card game where if you got certain cards you
would yell "Spoons", and everyone would grab a spoon. There was one less spoon than there were players. The person who didn't
get a spoon would get the letter "S". you would keep playing until some unfortunate soul would get the letters to spell SPOONS. That
person was the loser, and would have to perform some horrible deed determined by those who didn't lose. The rules were thatthe winners
would come up with three penalties, of which the looser would have to pick one to perform. Kathy and I used to play
that game a lot at home, and we introduced it to them at the lake. At home, Kathy usually took care of me. There were usually two awful
penalties and one that was humiliating, but bearable, such as kissing some girl on the lips. (Kathy had some nice friends to choose from too!)
At the lake, however, she showed no mercy. The two times I remember losing, I had to eat a dog bisket, and run around the lake behind someones car at
10 at night. (remember, these were the EASY penalties!)
It was on that trip that many of us met our second cousins for the first time. Spot told all of Dad's relatives that we would be spending two weeks at
the lake, and a whole slew of them came out to visit. In addittion to Spots kids, we met Billy Mc'Dermott's bunch one day, and Honey Callahan's
on another. The neat thing was that everyone seemed to like each other. We also took some trips into Wilkes-Barre and visited a bunch of relatives at
their homes. On several evenings everyone came out to visit us at the lake at the same time. We must have had 50 people in and about
the cottage talking and singing till around 3 or 4 in the morning when everyone left to go make the 15 to 45 mile drives through
the mountains to get home
( note to generation X and younger) These "old" folks could party!
.
Email Denny
Here's a page where we can put some stories. Many of the younger of the 18 never had the pleasure of meeting our grandparents.
I'm hoping we can convince some of our more traveled cousins to share their memories of relatives we've never met. This would
also be a good spot to remember some fun times we've had together, like the times out parents rented all of Spot's cottages for our
unoficial reunions. - - or Christmas at Aunt Loll's. Some things we all remember, and can share our different takes. Other things
perhaps impressed one of us more than others.