I drove my 89-year-old mother through our old Pittsburgh neighborhood last Sunday.

It was like many suburban neighborhoods that sprouted up across America in the 1960s and ’70s.

Many of the people who moved there grew up in the city. They wanted more spacious houses for their growing families — and big yards where kids could play.

Many also wanted to be near St. Germaine Catholic Church and its elementary school a few blocks away.

We moved into our new house in 1964, when I was 2. It was a basic, rectangular house — brick on the bottom, white siding on the top.

Kids were everywhere: the Gillens had four kids; the Bennetts, three; the Kriegers, five; the Ruffs, five. We had six. The Hueys had 12.

It was a traditional time. Fathers worked and worried about the bills. Most mothers stayed home and worried about the kids.

When the young parents moved into their newly built homes, most were in........

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