A Cousin’s Passing

I found out earlier this month that one of my cousins passed away in Oregon on July 15th. If you know me, or read my posts, you know that I am the Keep of All Things Family so I wanted to share my memories and thoughts on him.

My cousin, Malcolm James Bellafronto Jr, was born in October of 1942. He was the son of my Aunt Judy, my mother’s next older sibling and her husband, Mal. He was nicknamed Butch (I don’t know how he got that name). They lived on North Orchard Street when he was born.

When he was a year old, my Uncle Mal went into the Navy and my Aunt Judy and Butch moved in with my grandmother, grandfather, Aunt Tootsie, and my mother. He was a big little kid! He shared a few stories with me and although he doesn’t recall much of living on Clifton Street, he did remember this story:

During the war my mother and I lived with Gram when my father was in the Navy.  I don’t have any specific memories of that period.  I do have some vague recollections of Grandpa P. 

     There was one incident that my mother told me about later.  Apparently, I used to spend time out in back with Grandpa.  You remember how big the garden was.  There was a gate leading into the garden that you had to lift up to get in and out.  Well I wandered into the house one time and everyone wanted to know how I got out of the garden.  So I showed them, lifting the gate with a loud grunt.  Evidently, Grandpa always grunted when he lifted the gate. Mal was 18 months old at the time of that video!

He was the center of attention while living on Clifton Street!

In 1945, while his dad was on leave, the three of them drove cross country to California where his ship was docked. Aunt Judy and Butch were planning on staying with her Tante Lizzie and Uncle Ben while Mal was out to sea but he got back on board ship and was told he fulfilled his service and so was done and they came back home to Connecticut.

His brother Bob was born four years later and they eventually moved around the corner from us on Lincoln Drive in a home that Uncle Mal built with help from the students in the Wilcox Tech carpentry program where he was an automotive teacher.

The majority of males in our family attended Notre Dame High School in West Haven, CT. He played football there and relayed the following story to me:

“For the 3 summers of my high school years I would live with Gram for the two weeks before school started.  My dad had August off and the family would stay at the lake in Moodus.  I started early for football, 3 a day drills.  Walk to the train station in the morning, train to New Haven then 2 buses to West Haven.  We were on the field by 8 and finished up around 4.  Then buses, train and walk to Gram’s.  What I remember was how long her hair was and how she would brush it every night while we watched TV.  And she was an absolute fanatic about wrestling, pounding the couch and yelling at the TV. For the 3 summers of my high school years I would live with Gram for the two weeks before school started”

Also – “But the main memory is of Gram’s cooking.  The pastries she made on holidays.  Her cheesecake was out of this world.  Tootsie got the cheese part right but could never get the crust.  As far as regular meals, I remember everything being overcooked and pretty well tasteless.”

He also told me that when they were building the stairs for the cottage in Colchester, he was the free labor! He said it was a lot of hard work and it kept him in shape for football.

He also told this story about staying at Gram’s house during the summer and the trains that passed along the side of the house going from the steel mill to the main railroad tracks:

“I also remember picking up coal that the engineer would throw into the yard when they stopped at the street.  You remember the train tracks going to the steel mill behind the house.

    I slept in the front bdrm by the tracks.  I distinctly remember one night when I was staying there for football waking up in the middle of the night to the most god-awful noise and most brilliant white light filling the room.  Had no idea where I was and what was happening.

     When I finally came around enough to look out the window,  I saw that the commotion was a very large steam engine stopping at the street with its carbon arc front light shining in the window. Scared the hell out of me.”

I hope you don’t mind if I end this here. After graduation from Notre Dame High School, Mal was heading to the Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland.

To Be Continued….