By Dr. Bruce Smith ——Bio and Archives--March 29, 2025

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We grow up with certain things that we come to assume are givens in the world.

It was the most natural thing in the world that my mother made dinner for us every night, and I mean every night. There was no place to eat in the kitchen, so all meals were had at the maple drop leaf table.

For years I thought everyone had their evening meal like this, with parents at each end of the table and us kids along the sides in between. I believed this because the houses I visited were just like ours only some were nicer

There were five in our family. I was the youngest of three brothers. My oldest brother had been born in ’44 during the war, our first contribution to the baby boom. My middle brother came along after my dad’s return from service in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). He was born in ’47. I arrived a few years later, a surprise according to my mom, but welcomed and loved just as much as the others. Sometimes I think I was a little more special, being the baby, but I digress. As long as we lived in New Castle my mom was a stay-at-home mom. When my dad and my brothers were out for the day, I stayed at........

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