Uncle Jack's Picnic

1957-1990

Compiled By A Bunch Of Nieces And Nephews
And A Couple Of Their Mothers

October, 1996

Part Four

1975- Kevin takes a break

At Bethpage one year, Bill and I crawled through the drainage tunnel that went under the entrance road. This is a wide, two-lane driveway, upon a kind of rise, with a grassy median down the middle, so we're talking a fairly long tunnel. It was concrete, rectangle or in shape, and maybe 3 feet wide by 2 feet high. It wasn't high enough to really crawl, cause I'd scrape my back on the top if I tried, so I had to kind of slither and pull myself along. There was lots of gravel along the bottom, and it was rough on the hands. It was a dopey stunt to pull, but I felt pretty exhilarated when I came out the other side. I'm sure Mom would've had a fit, but I think Dad even knew we were doing it.

-Bob

I don't think anyone will forget Kathy's run-in with the exploding toilet.

-Helen

I was trying to wash my hair with dishwashing detergent, and Aunt Helen kept taking pictures, and I was like, "Aunt Helen!"

-Kathy

The park in New Jersey had an aviary, or maybe it was a petting zoo. Anyway, Steven was real little, and Monica was pushing him by in a stroller, and suddenly one of the birds bombed him right on the head.

-Frannie Gene

There was one year Kevin, Mary Ellen, and I were horsing around. I was maybe 12 or 13. Uncle Ed joined in and suddenly somehow it was everybody against me. Uncle Ed picked me up and put me in a garbage can, much to Kevin and Mel's glee. Fortunately, the can was still pretty much empty. After I climbed out, he showed me how he did it, so I tried to pick Mel up and put her in the same can, but she wriggled away and various mothers told us all to cut it out.

-Bob

I know Bob and I won't forget the hug and squeeze Bob gave Dede breaking a couple of her ribs, and it was Billy and his "corn-rowed," braided hair.

-Helen

It was probably 1975, my senior year of high school.

Whatever possessed us, I don't know. It was just this thing it gradually developed. Cornrows were quite the height of fashion that year, especially among black women. We got this idea that I would put my hair in cornrows, and then I would stick close to Uncle Jack all day, and loudly address him as "Uncle Jack" as often as I could.

Mom and Patty and I stayed up real late the night before, putting my hair into about two dozen tight little Bo Derek braids. I slept on it very carefully, and the next day I put it all under a hat before we went to the picnic. Then I waited for the right moment, and took off on Uncle Jack would say.

All he could say was, "Oh my gosh. Oh my God." He kept saying it for a while.

-Bill

1975- Prancing Python ponies on a paved path

And there was Patty and the clown she was afraid of – "Uppy uppy, I see him!"

-Helen

That was at Bethpage. The clown kept tramping among the tables, with a big crowd of kids behind him. A lady at another table chewed him out because he was raising a cloud of dust with his big floppy feet, and told him to go someplace else. I think Patty would have gone along with that. She didn't want to have anything to do with him.

-Bob

We were all trying to stand between Patty and the clown, but suddenly, she got a peek at him in the distance, and she wanted to get picked up, right now. That's where "Uppy uppy I see him!" came from.

-Bill

The shirts? It started out with red hats – that was Jack's idea. Then he decided we should have shirts, so he commissioned Patty and me to come up with some kind of shirts for us to wear. We asked what sort he wanted, but he said we should just come up with something, so we decided on "Rogan's Raiders."

We made one everyone except Jack, the courses just said, "Rogan."

I bought the shirts and Patty stayed up late stenciling them. We made everyone T-shirts, except we gave the grown-up women sweatshirts. As people came and went, Patty made more shirts – I don't think Mike was around at first, or Marty.

-Helen

I remember with affection Aunt Rose pushing Patty's carriage at Eisenhower Park and I remember the family brawl at a nearby table, into the middle of which Big Bob jumped and Little Bob followed to "help his father."

-Helen

Darn right "Little Bob" ran over. "Little Bob" was 18 and bigger than "Big Bob" was. At first I just went over to see what was going on, but then Dad waded in to pull people apart. He only got involved after some lady tried to stop two guys from fighting and they knocked her on her butt. Anyway, once Dad got into the middle of things, I wasn't going to stand around with my thumb in my ear. Now here I am, about the same age Dad was at the time, and I do this kind of stuff at work. Weird.

-Bob

I don't remember all the things that contributed to our happy times. I know that when Billy was very little he wandered off at Heckscher to find Uncle Jack who was running the music program. I had hardly missed him when Jack brought him back to me. Billy had found Uncle Jack.

-Helen

There were the "Nature Walks" Bob took all the kids on. And can anyone forget the bees – how the bees haunted the open soda cans?

-Helen

The happiest part of the day for me was the nature walk with Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob knew trees and wildflowers and never left you behind if you were dawdling or still trying to figure out the best way to leap over the brook. He always made sure he came back to the picnic site with the same number of kids he left with.

-Monica

1987- attempting to raise the departed

In 1988, it rained, and we had the picnic in Kathy's back yard. We had a good time. Monica, Anthony, and Timmy came down that year. Mel and Ken came, plus Chris and Jane. Bill was there, but Bob and Sue were packing to go to Harpers Ferry. Mac went and got Aunt Rose at three o'clock and she went home at six o'clock. We thought she was too fragile for the whole day.

In 1989, the weather was iffy, but we all took a chance. It started to rain when we were having breakfast. Then it started to pour. We left at noon. We wound up that year having the pick pick at our house.

In 1990, Helen and Bob went to Mary Kate Magee's wedding, so they missed the picnic and we missed them. Annie came to this picnic, but not Aunt Rose, who may have been sick at that point. Marty was a newcomer that year, I think, and so was Matt. The McNamaras and Frannie left early in the afternoon.

-Fran

One of the last nights at Heckscher, Aunt Mary said to Billy, "Willie Jay, when are you leaving for Virginia?" And Billy replied, "When the wild geese fly south, Aunt Mary," and just then a vee-shaped formation of geese flew honking toward the bay and Aunt Mary said, "You'd better get going, Bill." I think of Mary and of Bill when I see and hear the geese fly over in autumn.

-Helen

When we got back from a walk with Uncle Bob, I would bother my mother one more time. "Can I get a soda?" But this time the man under the big tent would say, "Just ginger ale left!"

I'd run back to the picnic table and my mother and Aunt Helen and Aunt Fran would be taking sweaters and windbreakers out of bags. Putting on your sweater was a little like pulling the last sparkler out of the box. But we kept the fun going until the last minute, spreading our games out a little farther, now that the picnic tables around us had emptied.

-Monica

Then there was the late night departure. Having had the evening barbecue as daylight faded, we packed up the food and the utensils and folded the tablecloths and the chairs. We searched the area with flashlights, under the tables and around them and through the garbage into the trash cans. We lugged our junk to the side of the parking lot and the daddies drove the cars over to where we stood to load up the cars.

So we packed the cars, kissed around, and got into the cars driving along the parkways slowly, eyes peeled for deer. Check driving and froze home, McCarthys, Mary, Vogls, and Mackreths to Massapequa and Roosevelt or Commack. Home, where fathers unloaded the cars, mothers wrapped up the leftover food Jack had divided up, emptied freezer chests, tried to sell leftover lemonade or grape juice and washed out big Thermos jugs. Home, where we got into pajamas, or comfortable clothes, and settled in front of the TV to watch the Miss America contest, which also was always held on the second Saturday in September.

Happy Days! Happy Memories! Uncle Jack's Picnics!

-Helen

Nobody ever wanted to go home, and our parents and aunts and uncles would console us while we packed up for the walk to the parking lot. At least we could be sure of one thing. Uncle Jack's friends would throwhim the same great party for him next year!

-Monica

1987- and I wouldn't try that today!

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