It was a great luncheon and an even better afternoon sharing stories with Bill Ptak. Florida resident up in his native Highlands for a few days and catching up with the memories and great people that made growing up in Highlands so much fun in the 1960s and 70s.
Bill is the oldest of the 11 youngsters of Ben and Gerry Ptak, the affable, always smiling, always working, always helping others, couple who raised their kids in the family home at the corner of Valley and Highland avenues.
There was some 20 years or so between Bill, the oldest of the clan, and the youngest, so just about every family knew or went to school with at least one of the Ptaks.
And all were there for the funeral of the family’s second oldest, Tommy, the brave young man who went to Vietnam and did not come back, the only soldier from Highlands who was killed in the Vietnam War.
Bill still remembers that tragic time, and admits he still misses the brother who was only one year younger than he.
It was Bill who captured the hearts of all of Highlands when he climbed up on the roof of the family home after the family was notified of Tommy’s death. It was Bill who spent one day painting the chimney the highest point on the house, with the American flag. Over the years, residents gazed up at the flag, seeing it as a memorial to their native son, and perhaps saying an extra prayer for the family, or chuckling over some joke or fun they shared with Tommy.
Bill remembers painting the flag, but doesn’t recall the exact day. He did it, he said, because it was Vietnam, it was a time for Hippies, and everyone was painting things here, there and everywhere. “Why not be patriotic, why not paint the American flag where it could be seen?” the good looking septuagenarian said this week, in talking about that past.
Bill was also the family member who started the beehives at the Ptak house. He had to select a project for his Boy Scout merit badge, he said, and raising bees seemed like a good idea. He did it, he earned his merit badge, and the hive lasted, later being taken care of by Bill’s father, Ben. Bill also said that even after he moved to Florida he had a couple of hives, but has given that up at least temporarily after a swarm of killer insects invade the territory and forced the bees to move on.
Now in his second career field…Bill worked in physical therapy before his current work which is in manufacturing with a specialty firm in construction, he’s as creative and curious as ever, always willing to try new avenues of adventure. He made the trip from Jacksonville where he lives to New Jersey by Amtrak, and enjoyed the experience enough to think about more travel .
But it’s the memories of those growing up years, those large families along Highland and Valley avenues, and all the kids playing, working, and going to school together that brought the most smiles to the hometown visitor during this visit.
Of course there were the Ryans on the corner of Highland and Miller, the cousins, the sons of Hubie and Rose, Bill’s aunt and uncle, the Dempseys…and there were several families of them, Earl and Mary and their brood not quite as large as the Ptaks, but close, Roland and Joan Dempsey with their youngsters, the Gills….it’s Bryan and his family Bill is visiting while up here, and of course the Giovencos, the Bordens, later the Dominguez’ and us, the Smiths, to name a few.
Bill shared the good news with me that the Giovenco clans now living in Kentucky are far removed from the devastating floods they are experiencing in the eastern part of the state now, and he’s been in touch with both John and Lynn.
The cycling Highlands tourist has a lot of plans over the next few days, checking out the Twin Lights, accepting the warning he’ll be surprised by where the new Highlands Borough Hall is being built, going over to spend time with one of his brothers now at one of the great B&Bs on Sandy Hook, and simply cycling through town to see the changes. He thinks 1 Willow St. is a great restaurant, not only for the food and service, but the great view as well, both of the Shrewsbury River, the bay and the Coast Guard buildings on Sandy Hook. He likes the look of the new condos on Willow Street and has already noticed the changes in town from his growing up years to the present. Think of it, he mused, after talking about the clam depuration plant, the number of clammers in town, the casual restaurants and the more casual atmosphere and outdoor dining at the town’s oldest restaurant, Bahrs. He laughed and said he knew he was talking to “a young person” when he called for reservations at One Willow and asked for directions, trying to use Conners as a focus point. The young lady didn’t know where he was talking about.
He’s enjoying his stay eager to cram in as much as he can, see as many old friends as he can, and simply recalling the joys and experiences of growing up in Highlands. “Even the names,” he noted, “we’ve come from The Clam Hut to One Willow,” an indication the population as changed as well.
But sadly Bill won’t see that American flag on the roof of the former Ptak home he painted to honor his brother. The chimney…and the red, white and blue, are gone, replaced with more modern equipment.
