History tells us the Thanksgiving holiday, as it is celebrated
in America, dates back to colonial times, when English settlers
broke bread with American Indians, shared in their harvests, gave
thanks to their respective gods and celebrated peace and
brotherhood.

While many things have changed since our first Thanksgiving,
what hasn’t changed is the tradition of taking time to think about
what we are truly thankful for. It’s a time for family and friends
to get together, have a meal together and say thanks together.

Several area residents and former residents responded to The
Era’s call for memorable Thanksgiving stories – their best and
their worst – with the following.

Marlene Ash Dixon in Maryland, formerly of Bradford, wrote about
traveling the steep Bradford streets with a car full of
Thanksgiving dinner, and how it all works out anyway when you have
an Italian mom doing the cooking.

“Back in the early 1980s, I was home from Maryland for
Thanksgiving and staying with my mom and dad on Rochester Street.
We were having dinner at my sister, Toni Frontino’s, house on North
Center Street,” Dixon wrote. “My mom did most of the cooking of the
side dishes at her own house, so Toni picked me up to help her get
the food to her house. The sides were in casserole dishes, which we
put on the back floor of Toni’s Jeep. As we went down Elm Street,
all of the dishes came forward and we had gravy, stuffing and
mashed potatoes all over the floor!

“Toni and I laughed so hard, I don’t know how she could even
drive. Then we had to go back and tell our mother what happened.
That good Italian mom of ours, of course, had made enough food to
feed an army and just refilled all the bowls again, put them in a
box and sent us on our way back to Toni’s. Needless to say, Toni
drove very slowly down Elm Street the second time, and a great
Thanksgiving dinner was held with lots of laughter over our
story.”

Debbie Timblin of Hazel Hurst called The Era to talk about her
most memorable Thanksgiving 10 years ago, when a large fire
destroyed several buildings on Main Street in Smethport, she
said.

“It was Thanksgiving day, November of 1996,” Timblin recalled,
saying her daughter, her daughter’s fianc_, her stepdaughter, her
stepdaughter’s boyfriend and their children all joined she and her
husband for the Thanksgiving meal that year.

Her stepdaughter’s boyfriend, who is now her son-in-law, Timblin
said, Bill Gallup, had been complaining all day that he was
starving and could hardly wait for the dinner. As the family was
sitting down to the table, about to dig into their Thanksgiving
feast, a fire alarm went out and Gallup, who was then the chief of
the Smethport Fire Department, had to forego dinner and leave
immediately.

“He never even got a bite,” Timblin said. “He got his
Thanksgiving dinner three days later.”

Perhaps the most touching response The Era received about
Thanksgiving memories was that of Staff Sgt. Ronald S. Worden, a
World War II veteran who served with the 17th Airborne Division of
the Airborne Infantry.

Worden, a resident of Bell Run Road, Shinglehouse, wrote:

“After serving almost three years in the Airborne Infantry
during World War II, I got my honorable discharge at Fort Dix at
midnight before Thanksgiving … in 1945. Traveling by train from New
York City to Buffalo, N.Y., took most of the day. I had a
three-hour layover in Buffalo. While waiting for the train to Olean
(N.Y.), a couple of USO ladies offered me a cot to take a nap. They
said they would wake me in time to catch the train … they also gave
me a big turkey sandwich and some coffee.

“When I got to Olean, I hitch-hiked to my parents’ home on Bell
Run Road,” Worden wrote. “Sure, I missed Thanksgiving dinner, but
it was a wonderful feeling, having my discharge after serving in
France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. I was thankful to be
alive.”