Tallman Audrey (Benkert)

I was born in Central Park on February 27, 1931. My father and both my brothers were also born in Central Park. My faternal grandfather, George Benkert, came to America from Germany in the 1890's and became a businessman in town. He owned a coal yard, farm implement business and was post master at one time. My faternal grandmother, Katy's family were farmers and lived on Hempstead Turnpike near the present site of Route 135. My grandparents home was the stucco house across the street from our house on Baldwin Place. My aunt and uncle, Hans and Mamie Benkert, lived on Park Avenue. Some of my earliest memories include the Central Park Cider Mill owned by my father, Fred Benkert, and my grandfather before him. It was great fun to be there when the farmers brought their apples for pressing and we would push them down the chute to be ground up and then placed into the press to make the cider. The juice would run out of the press and into a concrete trough. It was then put into barrels and bottles. The Cider Mill was located on Stewart Avenue where the municipal parking field now stands by the railroad station. For the changing of the name of Central Park to Bethpage the town had a parade and my father built a big apple out of wood and put it on the back of his truck. My friend Lois (Seitz) Smith and I wore costumes and rode on the truck as part of the festivities.

An old school house stood on our property which was located on the corner of Baldwin Place and Park Avenue. Our house faced Baldwin Place and the school house faced Park Avenue. Stored in the old school house was an old touring car that belonged to my grandfather. It could have been either a Packard, Cadillac or LaSalle. My friends and I spent many hours "driving" that car. In the car were stacks of "funny papers" (today we call them comic strips) and we would read them over and over. During WWII my Uncle Hans contributed the car for scrap metal for the war effort.

At the age of five I entered the first grade at the Powell Avenue School. At the time it was the one and only school in town. We had no kindergarten. I remember I was not a happy camper and did my share of crying those first days. I had many friends and classmates, among them were Charlotte Damm, Lois Seitz, Alice Grossman, June and Barbara Ludwig, Dolores DeFanis, Harriet Amendola, Jennie Procida, Joan Stolz, Aileen Kramer, Antoinette Mignone, Marilyn Noble, Janet Nelson, Elaine Eklund, Joan Hopgood, Adrienne Johnson, Patricia Wilson, Mary Edith Gerhard, Helen Okula, Betty Jean Norman, Margaret Carriere and Rosalie Gagliardo. We spent third grade in the "Annex". Teachers I recall are Mrs. Lacker, Miss Risley, Mrs. Terry, Mr. O'Brien, Miss Spamer, Miss Bonk, Mrs. Rockhill, Mr. Galvin, Mr. Kinny, Mr. LiCausi, Miss Callahan, Miss Hartz, and Mrs. Dunton. We attended "auditorium" every week and who can forget the box of hard candy and orange for each student at Christmas. At my eight grade graduation I played a piano duet of "The Tales from the Vienna Woods" with Lorene Sloane. I was a basket case but I got through it. High School was a big transition as we had to take the bus to Farmingdale. Our bus stop was the corner of Baldwin Place and Broadway where the Post Office was located. Mr. Harry Stolz, the Postmaster wasn't very fond of our waiting inside when the weather was bad. WWII was still being fought then and my mother, Mildred Benkert and my aunt Amelia Blume drove the buses while the men were off fighting the war. My aunt Mamie and uncle Hans Benkert owned the buses. Prior to that Mr. Lousi Maggi owned the school buses.

I recall the hurricane of 1938 and watching the storm rage from the window of my grandparents apartment. The apartment faced the railroad station and downstairs from the apartment my aunt Gladys Leidinger had a Beauty Parlor. In later years the store became the "Sugar Bowl" I can still visualize the permanent wave machines with the wires hanging down with the curlers. What torture! My father had a motor boat which he kept moored at Laurel Hollow and after the storm all he found of it were little pieces. It had crashed to smitereeens on the rocks. Speaking of Laurel Hollow, in the summer after church services at St. Paul's Lutheran Church the Benkert's, Damm's, Seitz's and Sengstacken's would head for the beach. The parking at the beach was very limited, so the driver would drop off his passengers and park back on the road and climb on the running board of the next car coming down to the beach. I don't think anyone ever got stuck without a ride. There was a free running fresh water spring near the beach which gave us the greatest cold drink of water anyone would ever want. In the winter the same bunch of families would head for Bethpage State Park for some sleigh riding. We had the greatest time on the eight seater Flexible Flyer my father owned. We would enjoy going up and down the hills wheather it was day or night.

Our "just kids" sleigh riding was done on the bumpity bumps on Central Avenue where the old Motor Parkway bridge ran and ice skating was at the triangle pond on Central Avenue near Bethpage Park. When we got older we would also skate at the Brick Yard on Round Swamp Road in Farmingdale and if we were lucky enough we would go to Belmont Park in Babylon. My father sharpened many a pair of ice skates for kids in Bethpage.

Each morning on the way to school, several of us would meet at the Bethpage Printing Press which was owned by Bill DeFanis. Dolores would join us and off we'd go. Mr. Jarvis owned the big corner house at the end of Powell Avenue and Broadway. There were no crossing guards so I guess he kept an eye on us. The local police on duty would be there when we were dismissed. Dr. Lutge's house was just opposite Mr. Jarvis' house. Living close to the school I would have lunch at home and Dolores Defanis and I would usually have an ice cream cone (double decker) before heading back for the afternoon. In the eighth grade I was the leader of the Safety Patrol. I also belonged to the 4H club. My mother and Mrs. Gifford were leaders of the troop.

I took piano lessons from Mrs. Mildrd Morselli. Her house sat back off Stewart Avenue and I would walk through the wooded area from Burkhardt Avenue (there were no houses there or on Brenner Avenue at that time) without a care in the world. I also took organ lessons and got as far as playing the church organ for the St. Paul's Sunday School. I was also a Sunday School teacher and sang in the Junior Choir. The teenagers were kept busy with the Walther League where we would visit other Lutheran churches, put on plays, and go roller skating in Mineola and go on hayrides. St. Paul's also brings to mind the annual Strawberry Festival, annual Apple Pie Sale enjoyed by the people of Bethpage and best of all, my wedding day April 9, 1950 when Charles Tallman and I got married.

My father worked for Godfrey's Farm Supply on Central Avenue, between Stewart and Park Avenues. He was at work in the Quonset Hut on the Park Avenue side of the property when a Grumman plane piloted by Bobby McReynolds crashed in the yards of Elmer Henn and the Zoellers on Park Avenue, just missing the Quonset Hut. Along with that crash I recall the crash of the training plane just west of the Bethpage Park. Both men in that plane were killed also. In the same general area there was an Army camp during WWII. I don't remember very much about it since we weren't allowed near it. Also in that area Francis Fox lost his life saving the Okula boy who fell into the stream that ran through it. The air raid drills used to frighten me because of the pitch black all around us. On December 7, 1941 my parents and my older brother were attending an open house at Grumman. My brothers both served during WWII. Fred was a 2nd Lt. in the 8th Air Force serving in England as a bombardier. George was a Ltjg. in the Navy in the Pacific where he was Boat Officer of a landing craft. Both came home safe. I was very proud of them. I helped the ladies fold bandages at the American Legion Hall. We shopped for groceries and ration stamps at such stores as Tony's Meat Market. All the cars and trucks had designated stickers used for purchasing gasoline and each vehicle had to have the top half of the headlights painted black. I had Savings Stamps books in which I saved 25 cents stamps. When the books were filled up there was enough to purchase a Savings Bond for $18.75 (worth $25.00 at maturity).

When my brother George (Bud) returned home from WWII he and my father owned the Sunoco Gas Station on Baldwin across the street from our home. George later moved to PA. and my brother Fred joined my father in the business. The old timers will remember my father Fred, Sr. He was a very kind man and well liked besides being a top-notch mechanic. He was very active in the fire department and was chief in 1930. He was the driver of the department race car used in tournaments. My father was an avid deer hunter and while doing what he loved, he suffered a fatal heart attach in the woods in Bath, N. Y. on November 28, 1955 at the age of 54.

The Sengstackens had a very large piece of land on the corner of Broadway and Central Avenue (it's now the St. Martin's convent and school). They had a cherry tree orchard and they would have an annual cherry picking party. Lots of fun. Dorothy and Eddie Sengstacken were my Godparents. Eugene Sengstacken had a vast collection of comic books and I remember spending many hours on their porch reading them. Eugene also had a great model train collection set up in his basement. To this day he is still involved in model railroading.

Friday night was choir practice with a gathering afterwards at Deubel's for late night hamburgers (the juiciest and best anyone ever tasted) and the coldest beer anywhere. Godfrey's was directly across the street from Deubel's and for a short time in the mid 50's it became a super market. Other stores that I remember were Bogner's Candy Store, Klingelhoffer's Butcher Shop, Russo's Department Store, Felice's Dry Cleaning, Sanitary Barber shop, Cava's Drug Store, Bethpage Hardware, Fortch Brothers Market, Tony's and Weyman's Delicatessen. Later, we had Geffken's Delicatessen (with the best potato salad in the world), Bethpage Bake Shop, Gilgar's Gift Shop, Mertz's Butcher Shop. Woops!, I left out Defanis's Printing Shop and Bob Purcell's Electronics, Mr. Maggi's Shoe Repair, Ralston's, Colonial Inn, Sengstacken & Schaaf Lumber, Nash Car Dealer, Five Corner's Restaurant, Weber's General Store in McCordville and the Grange Hall, Anderson's Greenhouses and Jens Florist. It was fun going to Bogner's with a penny and trying topick a pink filled chocolate candy out of a box of white filled chocolates. If you were lucky to find a pink candy you won a nickel candy bar.

The Library was located in the double store at the corner of Broadway and Railroad Avenue. Mrs. Matilda Fredericks was the Librarian for many years. Charlotte (Damm) Hansen was her assistant. I was told that my maternal Grandmother opened a restaurant in that location for a short time prior to it becoming the Library. Our town had adult baseball teams, no Little League. The games were played in the lot next to the American Legion clubhouse. They even had donkey baseball games where the players rode donkeys around the bases. There was an occasional carnival there also, with fireworks. During my early teens, my friend, Charlotte Damm and I would take the train to Hicksville and go to the movies. After the show we would stop in Van Ankens Luncheonette for our favorite hot fudge or marshmallow sundae, then head for the railroad station. Usually the train for Bethpage was sitting in the station but not in a hurry to move. We'd go on board and wait for the train to head for Bethpage. Sometime we could sit there for as much as an hour. Even though we were the only ones there a conductor was usually somewhere closeby. We had no fear about being there alone. One day during WWII my father and I took a bus to Hicksville to go to the movies. When we came out of the theatre it was to late for one bus and an hour to early for the next. He suggested we walk home to Bethpage - we did - and the bus from Hicksville passed us just as we reached the railroad tracks on Stewart Avenue. Never did that again! As many children did at the time, my friend and I would stand outside the Pentacostal Church located on Stewart Avenue on Friday nights and listen to all the Hallelujahs and Amens that came through their open doors. It was all very strange to us.

Our house on Baldwin Place was diagonally in back of the firehouse, when it was located on Stewart Avenue, and the fire siren "knocked" us out of bed at night. My father and Mr. Baldwin were ususally the first ones at the firehouse. We were also often awakened by "headlights" coming into our bedroom windows when airplanes were landing at Grumman at night.

I met Charlie Tallman on December 27. 1947. That was the big blizzard of 1947-1948. He and his father had a pickup truck that got stuck in the snow in front of my father's gas station. Along with my father, I helped them get back on the road. What a romantic way to start a relationship! I started dating a War Hero and I was only 16. Charlie lived only two blocks away from my house, however, he always drove his father's car to my house when he visited me. There it sat in front of the house while his parents remained car-less. My uncle, Walter Koller, was the cop on the beat and would always check on us when we came home from a date. Charlie took flying lessons from George Fleury at Grumman and after he became licensed I was his first passenger. We flew in a two seater Aeronca. We flew over the flats of Jones Beach and when I thought we were going to land, Charlie decided to practice takeoffs and landings. It was quite an experience. We became engaged on my 18th birthday in 1949 and were married at St. Paul's Lutheran Church on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1950.

When I graduated from Farmingdale High School in 1948 I worked for LILCO for two months and earned $23.50 per week. I wondered what I was going to do with all that money. I was fortunate enough to take a civil service test given by the Navy and became employed in the office of the U. S. Naval Warehouse, Grumman Plant #3. There I was hired at $48.00 per week. Our job, at the time, was to ship out all the machinery from WWII that was stored at the warehouse for use during the Korean War. Eventually we worked ourselves right out of a job in that location.

I was very happy when asked to join the Central Park Historical Society. So many wonderful memories came to mind, sad ones too. The death of my father at such a young age; my borther Fred's death at the age 56 in 1978. He had moved to Florida in 1960. My mother died in 1989 at the age of 88. After my father's death she moved to Hicksville to her own apartment in our house and lived there for 34 years. My brother George resides in Florida.

Through the untimely illness of Al Procida, I was asked to accept the position of Treasurer of the Central Park Historical Society. Charlie and I have made many friends in the society and treasure their friendship very much.

Information from the CPHS NEWSLETTERS November and December 1999