Resident Reflections: Ice Cream Memories by Tom Barker

When I attended Saint Margaret Mary’s Grammar School in Irondequoit, a Skippy’s Truck frequented the parking lot at noon and offered popsicle treats for five cents. Skippy also had creamsicles (an orange popsicle with a vanilla ice cream center) and Skippy’s ice cream on a stick – coated in chocolate. These last two cost 10 cents, but came with a wood burned stick saying, “Skippy.” When you saved up 10 Skippy Sticks, you got a free treat. The popsicle had two sticks and could be broken in half so sharing with a friend was possible. We noticed that some of the 8th grade guys often shared their popsicle with a girlfriend. But, the lowly 3rd graders did not share at all.

Later when we lived on Lake Point Drive in Webster, the Skippy Truck came down the street and played bells calling the kids. However, the driver was a rather beautiful young woman and the fathers ran after the truck to see her and buy confections, which cost a lot more than those I got back in 1951.

I was reminded about this today when an ice cream truck appeared in the parking lot at Brickstone. While there were no popsicles or other long-ago items on the truck, it was still the thought, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!”

 

Tom Barker lives at Brickstone by St. John’s and is part of the Brickstone Writing Group.