My brother Bob was born with a club foot, and my mother was always concerned about him. But Bob was a great athlete; I think he was a better athlete than I was. He really overcame his physical challenges: he was a good softball player, played hardball and tennis, and he also swam.
He had to go to Peebles Corner to get special shoes because his feet were different sizes. Later in life I think he just started buying two pairs – it was cheaper – and he’d throw away one of each.
Bob put up with me, but we would also get into fights, and Mother would have to intervene. I would get on one side of the dining room table, and he got on the other, and I used that table as a barrier till protection came. I remember one time I kicked him, and I actually broke my foot! We used to play dodge ball, after we moved to Bond Hill – we played with tennis balls, in front of the garage door, and he let me have it with the tennis ball when he was throwing. He had a strong arm! That’s what it was like.
Bob and I used to get a can of Hershey’s syrup and go up to the Alber’s Grocery Store on Reading Road and get a quart of chocolate ice cream. We took it home, took a knife and cut it in half, and used the syrup and put it away for one evening’s snack. It would be nothing for the two of us to go through a loaf of bread and a dozen eggs for breakfast in the morning. We were both pretty active, so we had good appetites.
Bob worked for Irv in his senior year of high school. He went to school in the mornings and went to work for Irv in the afternoon. He had been to summer school to get enough credits to do that. Bob put himself through college in that way.
The Felson Family 