Mom would be 99 in this year of 2017 but she was 17 in 1935 when Hoppy was born.

Mom was a Manhattan girl and in high school on W. 18th Street at Straubenmuller Textile High School. She graduated in 1936.

While Hoppy was in his cotton nappies my mother had a part-time job in a Woolworth's by Times Square 82 years ago for fifteen cents an hour plus tips.

One day she served soup, coffee, and a cheese sandwich to a man for the fifteen-cent special.

Back at the counter she found a dime, a nickel and a shiny silver half-dollar. She went to get the guy but he told her that the tip was for her as he left. That was more than 3-hour's pay and my mother never forgot that man's kindness.

1935 was a Depression year and I missed it but I do know that some great people were breathing during it.