Nephew Recalls Some Stories Of Old Canarsie From Late Aunt

Elizabeth Locke — Remembering the old days.

Stories of old Canarsie similar to those told by late historian John Denton in his column in this newspaper were nostalgically brought to mind recently when another old-timer, Elizabeth Locke, passed away at the age of 89. Her nephew, Steve Henaghan, said she died at his home in Long Island last October, only a month after she moved there from her home at 1204 East 92nd Street, after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Except for a three-year span in the 60s when her house was sold and she went to live with Henaghan, she lived here all her life.

“When she was a young child, her house, which was over 100 years old then, didn’t even have indoor plumbing and they used an outhouse in the back yard. Her property went from East 92nd through to East 91st and in the rear of the property they had a small farm,” said Henaghan, who also lived his childhood years in the same home.

“She loved Canarsie and missed it, so she moved back, setting up another home on Avenue L, where she lived for the next 36 years,” he added.

Her family settled in Canarsie in 1910 at the East 92nd Street home and all but two of her seven brothers and sisters who lived to adulthood were born in the house.

“Betty was a wonderful person,” said her Avenue L neighbor, Claire Bermudez, “Everybody who knew her loved her.” Sadly, most of the folks she knew throughout her life here, including all her brothers and sisters in Canarsie are gone.

Henaghan said she had wonderful stories about Golden City Park and riding the trolleys and the American Movie Theater where silent movies were shown and a piano player played background music; going to P.S. 114 and her favorite teacher Mrs. Weeks (who was one of the first African-Americans to teach in at the school).

“I remember my Aunt Betty telling me about the first supermarket in Canarsie, although back then they were referred to as ‘chain stores’ and how when they were kids they would go sleigh-riding down the big hill on Church Lane (off East 92nd Street) or going to the ice cream shop that was just off the corner near Flatlands Avenue, where part of Guarino’s parking lot is, where the proprietor would have birthday parties for his son and all the kids would get ice cream made into different shapes,” he said.

“She would tell me of her best friend Ida Lorenzen who’s father owned the delicatessen on East 92nd (that would later become Grubbie’s Deli and after that Henry Frudenthal’s Deli) and how Ida’s father would sell all the kids the broken candy for a penny,” he added. “My aunt was young at heart her entire life and she always took pride in her appearance. She worked a F.W. Woolworth’s in New York as a bookkeeper for 39 years and retired in 1981. Every Friday, she would religiously have her hair done by her beautician, Marty, a tradition that continued up until a month before she died.

“Before she passed away, I asked her to move out to my house on Long Island and she agreed, but wanted to keep up with the events in Canarsie by reading the Courier,” said her nephew.

Betty was petite, “She was only 4’8”, but to me she stood head and shoulders above the rest of the world. She and her late sister Francie Locke, (who died in 1964), raised me after my mother, their sister, Patricia died when I was two years old.

“A part of Old Canarsie slipped away when she died, she was truly a treasure,” he said.

Aside from her nephew and his life partner John Roarty, Betty is survived by her niece, (and one time Canarsie resident) Frances Wilson Kammerdener, great nephew Thomas Kammerdener, great niece Patricia Scardino and great great nephews Ryan and Cody Kammerdener and great great niece Brittany Scardino.

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