| Dear
Matt,
I Just finished reading your latest chapter of "The
Rockaway I Knew" and I must tell you I really enjoyed my trip back
to Far Rockaway.
It's so wonderful to be able to go back in time with
each issue to relive my hometown memories. I found your article fascinating
and quite absorbing about your encounter of finding a dead body at the
beach near Wavecrest. I was only 9 at the time and don't remember my parents
discussing the incident. I don't remember a local Far Rockaway newspaper,
only the New York Post that my father carried home each week night from
the city after work.
It must have been truly horrifying for you at such a
young age to find this poor, dead woman on the beach. I'm sure I would
have spent many restless and sleepless nights after this inicident.
Thanks so much for sharing a slice of 1955 that most
of us in Far Rockaway never knew.
Cindy Lefkof Feeney
August 1, 2010
Good Morning Cindy,
Thanks for taking the time to write.
What you are currently reading in my autobio (as it appears on the rockaway
memorieswebsite) was actually written many years ago. Back at the end
of year 2000, I suffered a major illness which kept me homebound for almost
six long months and it was during that time it was suggested to me that
I write up some sort of personal history. Having nothing better to do
and to while away the hours of my convalescence I wrote about 500 pages
of my life up to that point in time. Of course Rockaway was only a part
of my experience; I had lived other places and had many other experiences.
Back on my feet, I put the manuscript away and moved on with my life.
Several years ago I happened upon Martin Nislick. At that time, Marty
was a contributor to another website, a website that was apparently not
moving rapidly ahead, at least not moving fast enough for him. I don't
remember the actual incident that brought the two of us together but within
a short period of time I connected with Marty and I agreed to supply him
with some of my own personal experiences from my youth, mainly the years
in which I attended the local schools and had lived (naturally) in that
area. So I appealed to a writer-friend-of-mine to take my original life-history
and to "pull out" just those sections which applied to the Rockaway
area and to perhaps do some sort of a re-write to make it interesting
and appealing to readers of the website. What is now being presented on
the website page are actually excerpts or selections from my original
written work. I wrote this material so long ago that I find myself reading
it now and sometimes I think I am actually experiencing it for the very
first time, even though I lived through it so many many years ago.
If you ever find yourself with some "free time" you might want
to jot down some of your own personal thoughts and your own personal experiences.
I am confident that your childhood and your own valuable memories would
make for some very interesting and informative reading!
Take care and please do keep in touch!!
Matt
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