My brother, Charlie, was the firstborn child of Rita (O'Donnell) and Charles A. Fries. Charles A. Fries, Jr. was born on February 16, 1943 at Evangelical Deaconess Hospital (627 or 629 Chauncey Street, Brooklyn, NY in Photo Above ) The doctor who delivered all of the Fries family children was William Carrington who for many years had an office on Clarendon Rd in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.) My Dad brought his mother, Elizabeth (Daniel) Fries with him to the hospital and on the way there they stopped at 1017 Putnam Ave. in Brooklyn to pick up Charlie's maternal grandma, Margaret (Coleman) O'Donnell. My brother, Charlie, was the first grandchild on both sides of the family (Fries and O'Donnell), and his birth was welcomed with great joy. My father said, "I parked on Broadway and went into the Hospital with two Grandmas. We asked to see the newborn babies and were told to wait. A little while later the nurse stepped out of the elevator with Charlie and we could look him over but we couldn't hold him’. In my father's words, " I experienced an absolute, pure joy that I never had before or after that time".
"As soon as we got him home, your mother oiled him every single
night." My father described having a nice photograph with Anne holding him
and one with Gerard holding him. I'm not sure if I ever saw the photos he was referring to.
Here are some other random memories shared by my father that same day. These notes were found scribbled quickly on an old piece of paper and I wanted to save them before discarding the paper.
The year after they were married (DOM: October 19, 1940) my parents moved from their first apartment at 1492 Bushwich Avenue to a first floor apartment at 58 Interboro Parkway. My father which my father described as having a semi-finished cellar allowing you to step out under the front porch. Bunny and Frank Scardiville ( ?) lived on the second floor. As a young baby, my brother, Charlie, was placed in a carriage, under the pear tree in the backyard, directly next to my father’s window. Knowing my father and his intense need to make sure his family was safe, this does not surprise me. This two- family house (# 58) was next to a one family home (# 62 Interboro Pkwy) which my parents purchased in 1945 and where I grew up. My family owned # 62 Interboro Parkway, Brooklyn, 7, NY, phone, # TA 7-6873 - TA, i.e., Taylor) for 50 years. The house was sold in 1995, dirt cheap, (approximately $50,000) because it was in such ill repair. Another thing about me Dad was that he did not think appearances mattered. As long as something was functional, it didn’t matter what it looked like. This came back to bite him when it came to the value of his real estate property. My father's parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Fries owned the house next door, # 64 Interboro Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY and my father was born in the front bedroom of this house on November 2, 1915 when it was known as # 8 Vermont St. (The Interboro Parkway was constructed across the street in the late 1930’s at which point the name was changed from Vermont Street to Interboro Parkway. Eventually the name of the Parkway was changed to the Jackie Robinson Parkway after the famous Brooklyn Dodger’s (# 42) who broke the color barrier in major league baseball in 1947. My father always loved being close to home although we finally coaxed him (not an easy task) to buy a house in Albany, NY (Colonie) when the street we lived on in the old neighborhood became an “illegal drug drop-off” zone.
On one occasion, while my brother, Charlie, was still an infant, he developed a case of the hiccups. My father said because his newborn son was so precious to him and the hiccups went on for quite awhile, he brought baby Charlie to his Grandmother Margaret O’Donnell’s apartment for a “consult”. Grandma O’Donnell was not home at the time so my parents brought Charlie one flight upstairs to the third floor apartment in the same building to see Great Aunt Nellie (Cotter) O’Donnell who lived there with her family (her husband, Frank O’Donnell, brother of TJ O’Donnell had already died of gastrointestinal problem in 1939).
More random facts: My parents were married at my mother’s home parish, Our Lady of Good Counsel Church located at 915 Putnam Ave. in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, NY 11221. At the time of her marriage my mother lived in her family’s apartment at 1017 Putnam Ave. She worked at the Mohegan Company in Manhattan for a short time until she started having her children in 1943. Charlie, Jr was born at Evangelical Deaconess Hospital on Chauncey Street in Brooklyn. Mary Beth, Marty, Meg, and Joseph were all born at Midwood Hospital at 19 Winthrop Street in Brooklyn (near Prospect Park). Dr. William Carrington was an interesting, larger than life character. I always considered him an excellent doctor even though he sometimes overstepped the conventional boundaries of practice. My parents liked to get the last appointment of the evening and my entire family would sit in the crowded waiting room as one family after another was called into the inner chambers. Finally our names would be called and we would be ushered into a tiny examining room by his smiling nurse. She was dressed all in white with a nursing cap securely on her head. I was filled with anxiety as I waited to hear if I needed the dreaded injection. IM Penicillin injections were a typical treatment for us given the fact that my father and my brother, Charlie, both had Rheumatic Fever and I was quite susceptible to Strep Throat. On some occasions, Dr. Carrington gave my father extra penicillin in pre-filled glass cartridge syringes with attached sterile needles and a reusable stainless steel holder (tubex), so he could administer follow-up dosages to us at home. My father was a physicist at Queens College and knew more about Anatomy and Physiology that I have ever known but he was not a trained doctor or nurse, and administer IM injections of Penicillin to his children and even some nieces and nephews was very likely completely illegal and dangerous.
After many of our evening office visits, we were invited into Dr. Carrington’s house behind and attached to his office and I remember standing in the dining room as my parents would share a toast, a friendly chat, and a special alcoholic beverage with Dr. Carrington. Dr. Carrington was an old-fashioned General Practitioner and a “Jack of All Trades”. He treated adults and children, young and old, delivered and cared for babies. He performed all types of surgeries very competently and he was an excellent diagnostician. He was aware when a referral was needed and didn’t hesitate to call in a specialist when he felt it was in his patient’s best interest. They don’t make doctors like him nowadays. Throughout my lifetime, I have measured and gauged every other doctor against the Dr. Carrington “standard “. And, although, I have come across some pretty good doctors over the years, Dr. Carrington – my point of reference - was the epitome. Besides everything else, he had a damn good sense of humor. As a young boy, my brother, Marty, needed an emergency appendectomy and Dr. Carrington came into his hospital room to see him shortly before his surgery. Marty said, “Dr. Carrington, do a good job and don’t make any mistakes”. Without missing a beat, Carrington replied, “Don’t worry, Marty, It’ll be alright, I bury my mistakes!” On another occasion, just as I was approaching womanhood, my mother accompanied me to a visit to Dr. Carrington’s office. The appointment was necessitated because I was experiencing a “female problem” and I was feeling a bit shy and embarrassed. My status had only recently changed from little girl to young woman and I was feeling awkward as hell. Dr. Carrington opened the door from the examining room area and stands in the doorway to the waiting room. When he sees my Mother and me sitting there patiently but with a bit of an anxious look on my face, he announces rather loudly, “Which Witch has the Itch?” I remember it clearly, but truthfully I don’t remember feeling offended. Dr. Carrington had a way about him that made it seem okay. We trusted him with our lives and he never let us down.
