Ashtabula Ohio

When people think about Ohio, it’s; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Youngstown and even Dayton.

No dis to the fine people of Dayton. So, why Ashtabula? A part of my Dad’s childhood was in Ashtabula.

We had no plans for the first day in Cleveland. We drove along Lake Erie and then I wanted to see Cleveland Heights. My Dad (Jerry Pressler) said the it was where the rich people lived. He even had a high school girlfriend who lived in Cleveland Heights.

I think that the rich people moved to the suburbs. Cleveland Heights looks like an old middle class neighborhood with some overgrown landscaping and lots that are nice. But the houses are a lot smaller than I had envisioned. He said the rich folks lived there and I was a little kid with an imagination.

Then I remembered that Dad was in High School circa 1944, incomes, expectations, and how people lived was very different. I’m sure that Cleveland Heights looking down onto an industrial Cleveland made it an exclusive area.

After a couple of texts to my brothers, I was reminded of Ashtabula. Driving there from Cleveland is a little more than an hour and everything along the road is green with a plethora of trees.

Entering Ashtabula you see. Nice homes with very large yards. The outskirts are rural and just what I think of when I think of rural America.

The highway took us to the old downtown of Ashtabula. One of the first things you see is a mural on one of the first buildings. Although It looks like many small downtowns, very neglected.

I stood downtown Ashtabula and thought of how my Dad would maybe go to see the Memorial Day parade with his friends. Mom; Grandma Ceil, might have had Jerry ride his bike to the store for sugar forgotten in her last trip to the market.

In a neighborhood, I wondered, is this the home Dad lived in? It’s great to go off and fantasize a childhood that I don’t know that much about. Dad was born and raised in Ohio.

He was discharged from the Navy in WWII in Southern California. He had an Aunt and Uncle there. Uncle Sandy and Aunt Ned. He said I will never go back to Ohio and stayed in California the rest of his life.

I had no inkling that this trip to Ohio would bring back memories of Dad. He lived a full life and as a College Professor he changed lives.

It all started in Ashtabula Ohio.