Tuesday, January 21, 2014
I was 8 years old when I came to live with Walter & Freida Smith. I was chosen from dozens of children living in the NYC area to be part of the NYC Fresh Air Fund where an inner city child is chosen to live 1-2 weeks with a family "in the country". My parents wanted me to experience a life outside the project housing we lived in Brooklyn, NY. I rode the railway the long 8 hours to meet the Smith family in a city I had never heard of named Cazenovia, NY. I had never been out of the city so I didn't know what to expect. I am of Puerto Rican descent so living with a White family for the first time was new and foreign to me but the Smith family welcomed me with love and understanding. I made my first real friend in their eldest daughter Roselinda and her siblings Sandra, Suellen, Daniel and later came AnneMarie. I learned to milk a cow, ride a horse and learned to ride a bicycle for the very first time. I learned to swim in a lake which was unheard of in Brooklyn. While there I met and befriended their grandparents who owned a farm and Freida's littlest sister Joanne who also became my friend for 1-2 weeks every summer. I stayed with the Smith family 1-2 weeks every summer until I was 16 years old, no longer eligible to partake in the NYC Fresh Air program. We wrote letters a few years after that but lost touch.
I tried on several occasions in the past to contact the Smith family to tell them I still remember them and how much they changed my life. I hurts me to know that Mrs. Smith was called home before I could tell her how very important she was to me.
If any of the family members of the Smith or Koennecke families should read this please let them know "Mindy" will always remember them and Freida Smith.
In His name,
Melinda (Mindy)
