Remembering Johnny

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A childhood friend lives forever.
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I haven't seen Johnny Marquart in at least 30 years and probably closer to 35.

I was six when I first moved into the housing project. Johnny and Bobby lived across the street on the circle with their mother Pearl, there little brother Bunker, and their sisters Cathy and Flossie and little sister Maryanne. I don't remember the first time I met them. I believe Johnny was a little older than me, he was kinda the leader in the little group of friends I hung around then. I remember he had blond hair and an infectious smile and that his eyes were always exploring. I don't remember if they were blue or green or brown but they were bright and full of life and that Johnny was our leader. He was the bond that kept us together. His word was the finial approval on what we did that day or didn't do. He kept us out of trouble, he was fair and resolved our differences. He was the link between us and the older boys who were becoming teenagers in a housing project full of kids without fathers. The older boys respected him too. Johnny was smart and caring and brave and full of life.

There were four or five of us who hung together everyday. There was Johnny, Keith Norwickie, Karl "Krazy Karl " KInchie (sometimes just Kraz), Karl's brother Joey, Johnny's brother Bobby (a year younger than me), and myself. I remember building tree forts together, and climbing trees to put up swings, and stealing fruit from the trees of the wealthy in the neighborhood on the other side of Bullen's Lane across from the project. I remember throwing the fruit at the cars on Bullen's Lane and the day we hit the car with the 4 teenagers who stopped immediately, they all piled out and chased us through the neighborhood and through the woods. They were mad and would have killed us if they had caught us. Johnny told us to lose our shirts as we came along some friends of ours and some of the older kids playing a baseball game with a tennis ball. He yelled at me to go into the field as we joined the game with the other ten kids playing. Johnny grabbed a bat and acted like he was next up. Bobby jumped into a place between 2nd and third base. I don't remember where the others faded into the field. But I do remember the teenagers chasing us looking around the field and everyone stopping to look at them and then going back to the game as the teenagers ran back into the woods still looking for us. No one on the field said a word until we were sure they were gone. Then all the kids already playing asked what happened and we all cracked up as each of us told there own story. We finished the game, "Kraz" hit a couple of home runs over the roof of the cinderblock row of houses with completed center field. I think he ended up with over a hundred and 10 HR that summer. Karl is gone now too. I heard about Johnny passing yesterday, his funeral is on Saturday.

I remember the time we were building a fort in the woods, digging a hole into the ground, finding some plywood to cover it and then piling weeds and leaves on top to hide it. We thought we were golden, invisible to the rest of the world, hidden, safe, just in ever case we had to run like that again and there wasn't a tennis ball baseball game to join. That was until two of the toughest, older teenagers from the project found it. We thought that they were gonna wreak it, but when they found out it was Johanna's fort they came back with some shovels and dug the fort deeper for us and wedged the plywood up with old 2 by 4's and then covered it with sod. I remember us all laughing together as the older boys drank there beers and told us stories about girls and sports. Danny Moore was the best all around athlete in the project. Danny Buelly was the fastest. They were both heroes to me at the time and in a way they still are.

I always loved Cathy and Flossie Marquart. They were much more than Johanna's and Bobby's sisters to me. They were my friends too. I had a crush on both of them, especially Flossie. Cathy had long dark hair and dark sparkling eyes which sparkled with mischief. Flossie was a little bit quieter, with lighter eyes and long light brown hair which blew through the winds of my dreams. Both of them sat me down one day and gave me a lecture on sex. They told me what a "boner" was. How men and women were different and the whys and the what's of the whole thing. I couldn't believe it. I was only 7 or 8 at the time. I had my first girl naked when I was 6 but I didn't know any of this stuff. I went to sleep that night with a greater appreciation of life and the wonder of it all. I'll never forget that I had my first lesson about the birds and the bees from two sisters who I thought were really hot. I remember they told me because we were friends, I also remember they told me because Johnny asked them too.


Bobby Marquart was closer to my age and more of my playmate one on one then with the rest of the gang. He was dark and sometimes broody and we were pretty competitive when the other guys were around for attention (especially from Johnny). Bobby had straight dark hair and a big smile and dark brown eyes. He looked up to Johnny like the rest of us, and Johnny looked after him. Bunker and Maryann Marquart were two young to hang with us but they were everyone's little brother and sister. Like all the younger kids were to us. One thing about growing up in a housing project with hundreds of kids without dads. We all became kinda family to each other. The mothers all watched over everyone and kept tabs over the other kids.

I remember the time during one Halloween when I showed up at their house determined not to let anyone know who I was through my costume. I didn't say a word through the frenzy of the group I was with at the door as Pearl started to guess who we were. She looked at my eyes through the heavy mask that I wore and said immediately,

" I know who this is," and she started laughing, She put her hands on my shoulders and said, "This is Jimmie Williams, You could never fool me with those eyes." I was amazed.

One day, Johnny and Bobby both came rushing over to me. They had been accepted at Girard College, which is not a college but was a private school for boys without fathers. They were excited, as they told me they were leaving the next week and would only be home for school brakes and some weeks during the summer. I remember feeling really sad realizing that I was going to miss them an awful lot. I was going to miss their friendship and companionship and especially Johnny's guidance. I remember saying good-bye the day before they left. I knew something was lost. And it was. They did come back from time to time and those times too were timeless and we played like nothing had changed until one day the whole family moved to Collingdale about 10 miles away. But when your a kid ten miles is the same as a thousand. And we did lose touch and moved on. But we will always have that time we shared and out adventures. I always will have the memories and the blessing of knowing Johnny and his family. I know they must miss him an awful lot. I still do today.

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