Ben Ritter

Sienna and Aiden

Retirement is not on the horizon

My father died when I was 10. My mother moved our family from Towanda, Pennsylvania back to Montclair to live with her parents on Lorraine Avenue. We lived in a tiny carriage house behind Granddad's house until Mom evenutally purchased a home on Wildwood Avenue - Mom, me, my brother Sheldon, and my sister, Lynn. I attended Montclair Academy and transferred to MHS.

Memories - I remember helping Michael Pecherer rebuild the engine of his '52 Ford; Weekend evening drives with buddies to Greenwich Village to hear newbie's perform at the Bitter End Coffee House: Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, Jose Feliciano, The Tarriers, Bill Cosby and others; Bowling at 3:00 a.m downhill on Eagle Rock Drive with David and a few nutsy gutsy buddies - David let fly a ball that we never recovered; Guitar lessons starting at the age of 14 with Bob Wilson in Upper Montclair - he taught me well; Jam sessions in the basement rec room of my mother's house on Wildwood Avenue; Driving my granddad's neat '48 stick shift Packard; Alice Bubriski - my favorite teacher. And, of course, drinking those Awful-Awful milkshakes with buddies at Bonds! A lot of bonds were formed at Bonds! ~