Saying goodbye to a children's home

Home for the holidays:
Former residents of Summit County Children's Home look back on Christmas past
Price, Mark J. Akron Beacon Journal, Dec. 25, 2006, pg. E1.

Beneath twinkling lights and glittering tinsel, a simple gift was the greatest treasure.

The Christmas present wasn't expensive or extravagant.

Half the time, it wasn't even wrapped.

Yet boys and girls were so happy to receive that one little item. They never forgot the gift -- or the kindness of strangers.

The Summit County Children's Home always tried to make the holidays special for its young residents.

The red-brick complex at 264 S. Arlington St. in Akron was decorated in colorful lights, pine roping and silver bells.

Children rehearsed carols for the yuletide program. Christmas trees sparkled with handmade decorations. Santa Claus packed treats for a jolly appearance. The kitchen staff prepared a feast for hundreds.

Former residents have pleasant memories of Christmas at the old county orphanage, which stood from 1910 to 1997. To this day, they are thankful for what they received.

"It was a nice place to be when you didn't have anybody else to help you out," said Akron resident Arvilla Blair, 66, who entered the home at 2 weeks old in 1940 and lived there until age 14 in 1954. "They helped you out a lot. We always had good Christmases."

She recalls Marines taking children to department stores to buy a single gift for Christmas and then treating the youngsters to breakfast and lunch at restaurants.

"They would take us to Federman's and Polsky's and O'Neil's in downtown Akron," she said. "I picked out a dress I liked. It was a pretty blue dress."

In other years, Blair remembers choosing a doll and a nightgown. "We had a great time," she said.

For children who were especially well-behaved, there was a little financial incentive.

"You had to be good for a whole year to get a nickel for Christmas," Blair said.

Barberton resident Jim Wells Sr., 76, who lived at the children's home from 1932 to 1951, associates the Christmas of his youth with apples and oranges.

"A custodian dressed up like Santa Claus," he said. "That's where we would get the fruit. It was in a mesh stocking -- an apple and maybe a candy cane and two or three pieces of hard candy. Everybody would get one."

He remembers tall Christmas trees in the dining room and auditorium, two common areas in a building where young girls and boys lived in separate sections: Curly Top and Acorn.

"We made homemade ornaments and everything," Wells said. "We'd make them out of papier-mache. We'd make them out of Popsicle sticks. We'd make a cross and put people's names on it and hang it on there."

Special doll recalled
Akron resident Pauline Rodriguez, 65, who lived at the children's home from age 10 to 15, recalls the Christmas present that meant the most to her.

"I always wanted a black doll baby," she said.

After years of hoping, she had just about given up, but the gift arrived one Christmas.

There was no box, no bag, no wrapping paper. Just a plain doll staring up at her.

"It wasn't modern," she said. "It was one of these dolls from a long time ago. It had the big eyes, and hair on the head."

But she loved it just the same.

"It was a nice Christmas," she said.

Polite youngsters crowded the dining room for a traditional feast every holiday.

"We always had a special Christmas dinner," Wells said. "I mean, you ate high on the hog. We'd have either a roast or ham for Christmas dinner. We'd have all the specialties."

Some children, such as Blair, enjoyed an extra-special gift: a visit from a parent.

"My mother visited me there on Christmas," she said.

Over the decades, the institution housed thousands of children. About 400 youngsters resided there at its peak.

The place built character. Its residents were expected to do chores when they came home from school.

Some of the nicest presents they ever received were service projects from local groups.

The Akron Jaycees Wives, who sponsored Christmas parties at the home, earned high praise for generosity. One year, the women transformed a vacant space over the laundry into a recreation room.

"We had a jukebox, which every kid wanted in those days, and a pool table and pingpong table," Wells said.

Another year, the Akron City Club helped convert a large dormitory into separate rooms.

"They took plywood, and they made these cubicles," he said. "We had four boys to each room. Two sets of bunk beds. We had our own clothes closet. And we had a radio."

Retired Akron police detective Capt. Jerry Foys, 63, who lived at the home from 1946 to 1948, said his fondness for the home extends well beyond Christmas.

"I have good memories of the whole time that I was there," he said. "I have good memories of everybody loving me, feeding me well, treating me well, holding me."

Blair said she was treated with respect in her 14 years at the home, and really liked living there.

"If I had to do it all over as a child, I would want to do it again," she said.

Everyone was family there and looked out for one another, Wells agreed.

"I didn't know the difference between a white person and a black person," he said. "We were all brothers and sisters there. That's the way we were raised."

Beginning of home's end
During the 1950s, the children's home began to transfer youths out of the larger institution into smaller group homes. The modern preference was to place children in foster homes instead of a central location.

The children's home eventually converted into offices and changed its name to the Summit County Children Services Board in 1969. The South Arlington building was demolished in 1997 to make room for a $13 million headquarters.

Children's home alumni were given bricks from the building and souvenir platters.

Wells could barely look as the wrecking crew tore down his old home, filled with great memories of youth.

"I watched a little bit, and I said that's enough," he said.

Growing up there was a positive experience that helped him throughout life, Wells said.

"I think this world would be a totally different place if everybody had to live like that," he said.

"It was a great place," Foys said. "It really was."

"I did like it there at Christmas," Blair said. "It taught me to be thankful for everything I ever grew up to be."

Summit County Children's Home residents (from left) Dick, Nate, Bernard and Floyd decorate a Christmas tree in 1947 for the complex at 264 S. Arlington St., Akron. Below, carolers rehearse for the children's home's annual Christmas program in 1950.