18

Mary Zurko interviewed by Denis Mercier -11- 8/21/72
Tape 12-1

MZ: Oh, God, Dennis, I couldn't tell you.
DM: Well, you know, within maybe ten years. Just take a rough stab.
MZ: You know I think that was in the thirties.
DM: In the thirties sometime? And, you know what they did? I don't know whether you know this or not, but I was looking at it - they have just hung fancy wallpaper on that church. That's all they did. There was, I see the way the church was decorated and painted before, that was done right on the walls, then over that they put what amounted to cloth wallpaper. Heavy cloth wallpaper. And now all that's falling down.
MZ: Oh, yeah, it's blistering a long time. You could see it blistering on the wall. You know, when we went to Mass there, it wasn't too safe when we went to Mass there, because it used to fall down, you know?
DM: Oh, really, that stuff used to fall?
MZ: Yeah. I mean, it wasn't heavy or anything, you know. I mean, it was gettin' that it had to be re-done and that was it. But then when the priests were transferring to Freeland there, then, you know, they got, it was, some Sundays it didn't pay them to come over here, really. If the Sunday was bad, people would go to Mas sup here, other classes, you know. But, if the Sunday was nice, everyone took off to their own churches. So there wasn't too many Irish people here, you see?
DM: Was this considered primarily an Irish church up here?
MZ: Oh, yeah, that was all Irish Catholics, yeah. Well, it was open to everybody, you know, you wanted to go to Mass, it was open, you know.
DM: But I mean, Irish Catholics...
MZ: That's right, but I mean who gave the original parish, you know. But you know, years back, too, now like, there's a lot of Polish, and now buried in St. Ann's, you know, and there were a lot of Polish that were christened up in this church up here, but there wasn't convenience to take them to Freeland or whatever. I'll bethcha Mr., did Mr. Solkowsky give you's any information, Joe?
DM: He talked to me about woods lore, I talked to him about gardening.
MZ: Oh, he could give you a lot of information, because he's pretty old. Joe is. Yeah. He'd be the only one. Bruno should know a little but, don't he?
DM: Isn't he Protestant?
MZ: Bruno? Laganosky? No!
DM: Oh! I though they were Protestants.
MZ: No! Bruno is Polish!
DM: Well, I though they were, you know, I didn't know they were Catholics.
MZ: Oh, yeah, Bruno is Polish.
DM: He never mentions going to church. Does he still go to church?
MZ: Oh, yes, he goes to church every Sunday morning. Yes he go, when he goes to Mass on Sunday mornings, he goes to his daughter Carrie's, you know.
DM: Well, he's the kind of guy who doesn't volunteer information. You have to ask him a question. He's very open, and he'll talk to you and tell you any thing you want to know, but you have to ask him. He won't volunteer anything. So he never told me about that.
MZ: See, his daughter, she just became a widow about two years ago, you know. She's a lovely girl, Carolyn is. She has one boy.
DM: Um-hm. I met his son Tom.
MZ: Oh, yes, and Stanley. Stanley's down, he's in the FBI.
DM: Yeah, I know who he is, but I don't know, I didn't meet him, I met Tom.
MZ: I don't know, is Tom a graduate from Scranton U?
DM: He's a foreman at some plant isn't he?
MZ: RCA. I don't know where Tom granduated from. But Stanley is a Scranton U.