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Sunday, November 23, 2003

Pancake residents revel in neighborhoods of yesteryear

By Denise Bachman

Christie Mitchell calls Pancake the best-kept secret in Washington County.

And it has its residents - both past and present - to thank for that.

The village in South Strabane Township, just east of downtown Washington, was a place where neighbors went the extra mile for each other and longtime friendships were forged.

"In this day and age, when most people do not even know their neighbors, we take pride in the friendships that have come about because of this Pancake community," Mitchell said.

To that end, residents hold a reunion each year so that memories too precious and tales too amusing to be forgotten can be passed from generation to generation.

"It was truly magical. It sounds like a fantasy, but it's true," Jean Evans said.

The 64-year-old Pancake native was among eight current and former residents who were only too happy to regale a newspaper reporter with their favorite anecdotes of bygone days.

One of Evans' favorite stories involves Bob Burns, whose buddy in the service wanted to write him a letter. He knew Burns lived in a town with a flat-sounding name, so he addressed the letter to Bob Burns in Flapjack, PA.

"It came to the house with five cancellations," Evans said.

Pancake was founded in 1822 by George Pancake, a tavern keeper, and was home to the first medical laboratory on the National Road. It is only about 4 square miles.

Leeman Johnson, a 79-year-old Missouri native, moved to Pancake three months after he and his wife, Edna, married 57 years ago.

"This is my home. I was homesick," said Mrs. Johnson, 77, noting the couple now lives in Lone Pine.

Johnson, who previously owned and operated the Amoco station at McCoy Lane and East Maiden Street, also has his share of memorable stories. Once, when he caught a few girls smoking behind the station, he grabbed a bucket of water and poured it out the window, drenching the girls.

"I thought the place was on fire," he said, trying to suppress a smile.

"It was the bus stop. A lot of us hung out there whether he wanted us to or not," said Gary Johnson, a 60-year-old Pancake native who told plenty of stories about how he and his buddies would "terrorize" the neighborhood with harmless pranks and tomfoolery.

The only problem was, it was impossible to escape punishment. Everybody knew their neighbors, and many of the teachers at Laboratory School lived in the community. In fact, some teachers were related to the students.

"Everybody is more like family," Evans said. "Even now, the girls I grew up with still get together. We all talk about what a neat childhood we had. Everybody was close. We still are."

In fact, Gary Johnson, who is Evans' brother, said others are "envious of how close we are."

"It's just that kind of family," he said.

He and Sue Gregg, for example, were members of the last eighth-grade class to graduate from Laboratory School in 1957. They still hold reunions and, Gregg said, a higher percentage of people attend the eighth-grade reunion than most of their high school reunions.

Gregg, 59, also was among 45 women who gathered for a 60th birthday party. Five women even traveled from out of state.

"We all grew up together in the early 1960s," she said. "One girl even left her sophomore year, and she came. It's amazing."

Chuck Derrow, 52, jokingly known as the mayor of Pancake, recalled the old-fashioned scavenger hunts, when kids "would walk into a neighbor's house for a safety pin or a thimble."

Or, he said, how about Halloween, when neighbors made homemade popcorn balls and tried, sometimes in vain, to guess who was in the costume?

Rick Morris was born and raised in Pancake, too. After moving across town, he has returned to the family homestead on Morris Street.

"It was just a great neighborhood," he said.

Morris is a musician who has performed with Jimmy Beaumont and the Skyliners and Shades of Time, and he had a band that rehearsed in the basement. He remembers kids plastering their faces against the windows to get a glimpse.

He also has fond memories of the neighborhood school. The 51-year-old is one of those students, like everyone in Pancake, who was "lucky enough" to walk to school and come home for lunch.

"It was a special occasion if you could convince your mom to let you eat lunch at school," he said.

Mitchell said the church has always been the hub of the community, with the fire hall running a close second. Even though she moved out of Pancake, she still attends Laboratory Presbyterian Church, where she is the leader of the youth group.

"We're pulling in a lot of kids from the outside," she said. "We clean up litter on Vance Station Road to show them to have respect for the community.

"When you contribute to the community, you feel like a part of it. You may not have roots like we have, but É"

That's how Mitchell, who at 44 was the youngest of the group to gather on this fall evening at the church, developed such fond memories of her childhood.

When she mowed the grass, she continued on to her aunts, uncles and grandparents. When she went to the store, she asked people along the way if they needed anything.

That's just the way it was in Pancake.

"My dad was a coal miner. Leeman let us run a tab," said Mitchell, referring to Johnson's Amoco station.

"But we couldn't charge candy. That didn't go on Dad's bill," said Derrow, who is Mitchell's brother.

Leeman Johnson's generosity didn't stop there, however.

"He always took care of you. He fixed the kids' bikes in the neighborhood," said Mitchell, noting he also "indirectly" got into the lawn mower business by fixing those as well.

"It was nothing to have 40 there at one time," she said.

Mitchell was one of three people to organize the annual Pancake reunion three years ago. As the word spreads, the interest continues to grow, with former residents traveling from Ohio and West Virginia to attend.

Next year's reunion is Sept. 11 at Billy Bell Park.

"We do it out of respect for our parents and grandparents," Mitchell said.

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