A new batch of old photos turned up recently (6/03), when my cousin May saw this web site and sent me an envelope filled with yellowed and fading snapshots of the family from the 30's.

Let's see. How is May related? Her father, Joe Clayman, was a cousin to my grandmother, Yetta Sherman. So, that made Joe a cousin once removed to my mother? Well, anyway, the Claymans and the Shermans were pretty tight and I grew up calling them Uncle Joe and Aunt Anna. They had one child, a daughter named May who was a few years older than I. They lived in Hempstead, as did we. Uncle Joe owned a dry cleaning and tailor shop on Main Street right in the village. In fact, I remember that the Long Island Railroad tracks ran right behind his shop and as a kid, I used to enjoy standing in his rear door watching the trains come into the station. In the 30's and 40's the station was located several blocks to the south of its present location. And, the trains were pulled by honest to God real live coal burning steam engines. I really enjoyed watching those steam belching, smelly, noisy machines as they rolled past the shop door.

The Claymans had a maid. Hazel was a young African-American teenaged girl, who knocked at their door, looking for work. May was an infant and they were happy to have some one to help look after her. Over the years Hazel became a beloved member of their family and she extended that love and compassion to all of the rest of us.

Now, let's look at these old photos.