INTRODUCTION

Although for four long years they lived only a few moments away from each other, they never actually met. That was back in the early 1950s! Now - over 50 years later, a web site has brought these two "boys" together for the most enjoyable purpose of traveling back to those glorious days of yesteryear enabling them to relive their childhoods through shared memories of a Far Rockaway town existing over half a century ago.

Ben Budick and Matthew Bashie were able to connect thanks to an article Ben submitted to the Far Rockaway High School Online Alumni Association website early last year. Matt saw the article Ben had posted and decided to write to him and relay some of his own thoughts and remembrances of areas in which they had lived and in which they had played as children.

The following nineteen eMails were written and dispatched over a two-month period - March and April of 2008 and although it is impossible to be certain that every missive was saved during that two-way written conversation, it is hoped and believed that the majority of the material has been preserved and it is our pleasure to present it to you now in the form of "The Budick/Bashie Dialogues."

When reading this material, it should be kept in mind that when this correspondence was written it was not meant for publication and indeed, it was not intended for public display; it amounted to private thoughts and personal memories each of the writers were sharing only with each other. Some references might be a bit "fuzzy" and some of the material might seem to be incomplete. It is also possible some of the information dispensed might be inaccurate at times and certain facts might be missing due to the very nature of this correspondence. We must also admit that a certain amount of editing and re-writing has gone into this particular project. Embarrassing references have been deleted and anything even remotely libelous has been omitted.

All in all, it is interesting reading. Try to take some time to go through this material and then perhaps it might serve to conjure up some of your own thoughts and memories. We would love to hear what you might have to add to this project. Please be certain to add your comments (especially your own personal memories) to our web site guest book.