When I was a child I used to pester my aunts to tell me a story.

"What about?" they asked.

"How it was when you were a child." I'd say.

To the first generation Americans the past had no relevance to the present. It was the future they thought about. They couldn't know that they would become a part of the history of N. Tonawanda.

Aunt Mary Plewinski owned the North Side Gift Shop. She began her career as a florist in a tiny shop across from OLC church and called it the Flower Basket. When she moved to a larger building, next to Millers drug store on the corner of Miller & Oliver she changed the name to the North Side Florist. She said the former name was too cute.

My uncles Ted and Joe worked at Wurlitzer and my Aunt Irene was the dental hygienist for the first Dr. Merrick Hayes in Tonawanda .

My Aunt Francis was the story teller, radio personality and organist. She took four lessons and fudged her way into becoming a church organist while the family lived in Buffalo . She was an actress and, I believe, an announcer on the Polish language radio station in Buffalo .

When the family moved to N. Tonawanda because of Aunt Mary's business, Aunt Francis not only became her assistant floral designer but a substitute organist at Ascension church and at OLC. church. Polish was still spoken and sung at OLC church. Before she died she gave me the hymnals she'd… as she put it, "stole' over the years. The one that I treasure the most is a Polish hymnal, published in 1901. There are no English translations to the words. Aunt Francis taught me and I wrote the words phonetically, the Christmas carols that I sang and she played for at the Pallotine Fathers Goundry St. chapel.

I don't speak or understand Polish. Although my Mother's family spoke beautiful, pure and unaccented Polish, it was not considered politically correct in those days to pass on the language to the next generations. More's the pity. I've heard Christmas music in many languages but this music sung in this language surpasses most of them. I only know 4 carols, which I should call hymns, so it seems appropriate that I donate this book to the N. Tonawanda Historical Society in case there is someone waiting to discover this rich treasure of song.

This is a brief background to the folk tale I'm showing you tonight. Aunt Francis wrote the words and the translation down and suggested that I illustrate it. This was several decades ago. Finally I have, because the McLaughlin Center Art Exhibit seemed a good place to begin my search for the music that goes with the story. I'm hoping that someone will remember it, I'll write it down and maybe we'll get a picture book made.

Photo: Melo Kolbe presenting her program on October 19, 2004, for the North Tonawanda History Museum's 1st Ethnic Heritage Night.