Those were the days, eh?
I don’t where I first heard the collection of homes south of the
UMW Hall and to the left of U.S. 19 on your way to Swisher Hill called
Frogtown, but Leo Kubiet, Class of 1942, and Bob Kasper, Class of 1950, said
they never heard the term used to refer to their neighborhood.
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| Leo Kubiet, Evelyn Kasper Boggess, Bob Kasper |
Grandma Ursula Shipco had a major role in it. She had six lots
which she gave or sold to others.
Her children were John, Joe, George, Walter, Blanche and Mrs.
Lawrence Kasper, whose daughter, Evelyn Kasper Boggess, still lives in the
Willow Road home of her childhood with husband Okey Boggess.
Blanche, Walter (who married Helen) and Evelyn’s mom, plus
Grandma Ursula, lived there even as adults. They all lived on Willow Road as
children, although it didn’t have a name when they were growing up. That came
later.
I asked Leo, who retired 27 years ago as St. Petersburg Times
senior vice president in Florida, to help me picture which families lived where
on Willow. His reply:
“John, I'll try to answer your question about the so called Frog Town neighborhood. We did not call it Frog Town when I lived there.
“In order, from the top of the hill of Willow Road as it was known then and now, there were the Joe Greco, Tony Domico, Lawrence Kasper, Walter and Helen Shipco families.
“The Joe and Laura Kubiet and Layne families on the West side. On the East side were
another Shipco family (Blanche, I believe, and her mother). Then down at the
end, across the road from our home, was the Walter and Ivy Nichols family.
“Their daughters were Geraldine and Pauline. Pauline married Walter Gracy (of Fairmont
Wall Plaster). Geraldine married and subsequently moved to Clearwater, Florida.
I talked with her by phone a time or two several years ago.
“As you already know, my family was composed of brothers Joseph, Jr., William
"Buddy" and Francis Eugene “Sonny.” My sister, the middle one of the family, is
Marjorie Kubiet Whitehair. She and I are the only two surviving. She lives in
Dayton, Ohio, with her children living in that area.
“On a personal note, my wife, Mary Jean Metz Kubiet celebrated her 90th
birthday on September 12. We celebrated our 70th wedding anniversary on
Wednesday, September 14 last week. (Was not much of a celebration, though, since
she had just been discharged from the Largo Medical Center on Monday morning.)
“(Mary) Jean has been in the Memory Care Section at Brookdale Pincrest adult
living facility for 14 months with advancing Alzheimer's. Physically, she is well
but has a serious short-term memory condition.
“It is now 27 years since I retired as senior vice president of the St.
Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times after purchasing the Tampa Tribune
earlier this year).
“My residence is on the 8th floor of a 9-story building with an excellent view of the Pinecrest Golf Course, where I can watch many golfers make the same mistakes that I made for many years.”
Pinecrest is in Largo, Florida near St. Petersburg. Leo’s wife,
Jean, is a Fairmont East graduate.
I remember when Leo began his journalism career after graduation
from Fairmont State and went to the Detroit Free Press. My dad heard about
Leo’s salary and use of the company car and was happy when I chose journalism
for a career, seeing dollar signs in his eyes.
Alas, my first job after my
graduation from the WVU School of Journalism was for $55 a week as sports
editor of the Williamson Daily News. Things did improve enough in my 43-year newspaper career to let me afford traveling to 55 countries, 44 states and take 13 cruises after my 1996 retirement from the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal.
Larry and Jean’s son, Larry, passed away in 2009. He lived in
Wesley Chapel, Florida.
When I read Leo’s explanation of the families on Willow Road to
Bob Kasper, Class of 1950, Evelyn Boggess’ brother who lives in South Lyon and
Presque Isle (Grand Lake), Michigan, he confirmed most of Leo’s recalls but
added that the Jessie and Susie Sickles family also lived there, with a passel
of children, during the 1940s.
Charles and Mary Jackson
Layne also lived in that neighborhood with 12 children. One was daughter Judy Layne Alkire, widow of Charles Alkire. Another
daughter, Doris, married the guy next door, Joe Kubiet, Jr. and they live in
Monongah.
And they grew up playing with Evelyn Kasper Boggess, who still lives
in the Kasper home of her childhood with husband Otis Boggess, and Bob Kasper,
who has homes in South Lyon and Presque Isle (Grand Lake), Michigan.
Other
siblings are Carol Layne Elliott of Mill Fall, married to Ronald Elliott;
Shirley Layne Russell of Fairmont, married to Charles Russell; and JoAnne Layne
Snider of Monongah, married to William Snider; and, all deceased, Bradley,
Charles, David, Johnny and Robert Layne and Betty Layne Bowyer and Margaret
Layne Faber.
The sister of Evelyn Boggess and Bob Kasper was the late Helen
Kasper.
His address is
1159 8th
Avenue S.W.
Pinecrest Place
Unit #2817
Largo, FL 33770
