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.

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.

Leo’s phone number is (727) 400-4249 and his email address is leokubiet@tampabay.rr.com  

His address is

1159 8^th Avenue S.W.

Pinecrest Place

Unit #2817

Largo, FL 33770