My mother, Helen Martha Haddock, was born in Billingsport, New Jersey on November 2, 1924, at home. As a matter of fact, all eighteen of my grandmother's children were born at home. Billingsport lies along the Delaware River across from Philadelphia, PA. She attended area schools and graduated from Paulsboro High School. As the eldest of eighteen I'm sure she had plenty of experience raising her siblings.
My mother and father met on the #47 Public Service Bus. She was working in Woodbury, NJ at the Belber Trunk Factory, and he was stationed at the DOD Army Base near Pedricktown, NJ. They were married in June of 1944, and had their first appartment on Delaware Street in Paulsboro,NJ. They lived in Ordmont, which was military housing, for a while before buying the house in Churchtown. I don't know when my father was diagnosed with cancer, but it took his life in March of 1950. My mother took a job at Fen's Diner in Pennsville and tried hard to keep the house, but she just couldn't keep ahead of the bills. She didn't drive at the time so she was limited to where she could look for work. She walked to work at Fen's diner in Pennsville from Churchtown. Determined to make it on her own we moved back to Billingsport to a converted boat house along the river and then to Paulsboro to an appartment over Fitzgerald's Bar. My mother took what work she could, I remember her working in Emma Googe's bakery. She finally got back into Socony Vacuum where she had worked briefly before starting her family. Wanting the best for me and fearing she couldn't provide it, my mother sent me to Girard College, a home for orphaned boys, in Philadelphia, PA. She worked hard all her life and remained single until 1968 when she married Ben Heister from Gloucester, NJ.
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