Mom's Snowman-



Dennis Weaver as the gift, Cheryl Weaver as the clown and Barbara Weaver as the snowman in the 1969 Moorestown Thanksgiving parade.

When I was a kid, sometime between when I was in first grade and about third grade, I remember my mom, Barbara Weaver, making the snowman parade costume in our kitchen at 214 South Church Street, Moorestown, NJ. I sat and watched her make it from start to finish.

She made the framework out of chicken wire. She then covered that with paper mache using paste and strips of newspaper. After that was dry she painted the snowman white. After that was dry, she glued on tuffs of crepe paper. She took a large lampshade and made a cardboard rim and painted that black for a hat.

Me and my sister Cheryl would have costumes made and were with my mom as the snowman in a Moorestown parade. I was a Christmas gift package and my sister was a clown.

Also at South Church Street in Moorestown, when I was in third grade, my mom made me the Computer Teacher of the Future costume to wear at the South Valley School Halloween parade. It was cardboard boxes spray painted silver with some of my Dad's electronic parts fastened to it.

Now somewhat hazy in my once rather sharp memory, I remember a parade coming down South Church Street from Main Street headed toward Memorial Field having on each side of the float a snowman. I remember each was wearing long elbow length gloves. I later told that to my Mom and she replied, "No, there was only one snowman." I also remember that around Easter time for the Easter Parade, mom put rabbit ears on the snowman to become the Easter Bunny.

A separate memory from my early childhood which I thought was totally unrelated was that when I was about 3 or 4 years old and we lived at 22 East Second Street in Moorestown, I remember my Dad selling Christmas trees at our front curb one year with Wayne Rodman who lived on French's Avenue. Wayne was a regular visitor at 22 East Second Street. He was actually my Uncle Bob Weaver's best friend growing up in Moorestown.

After my mom died, I found her old photos and there is another snowman made years earlier so it is possible that in one parade I saw two snowmen after all. The other snowman was used for the sale of Christmas trees and I don't know who actually took part in making it.


Back Tracking-



Aunt Joanie and cousin Tammy and Grandmom Kemp and sister Cheryl at 22 East Second Street

Our house was the left half of the twin. There is about a 3 foot deep "front yard" in front of the porch. There is only one side yard which isn't wide enough to park a car, and there we were selling Christmas trees at the curb. Mrs. Tattersdill, a nice older lady, was our neighbor to our left.

I talked to my Uncle Bob Weaver. Him and Wayne Rodman sold trees before somewhere in Moorestown and ordered the trees through a company. This year the people didn't want to have them sold at their house. My mom and dad said they could sell the trees at our house but they didn't want to get involved with the selling and the money. Uncle Bob and Wayne Rodman would come over and handle that. He thinks my Mom made the first snowman for the parade. I think he is probably right because I watched her make the one on South Church Street in the kitchen and she looked like she totally knew what she was doing. The corvette in the 1964 Christmas parade belonged to their friend Ken Schef.


The Snowman in the 1964 Moorestown Christmas Parade-

Three image slide show, please wait for it to load.



Mom's Snowman in the 1968 Moorestown Christmas Parade-

From the News Chronicle newspaper, December 5, 1968-





A Contradiction to Consider-

This was the 1968 Christmas parade and we did not take title to 214 South Church Street until May 1969. I believe we rented at first. One fact to back that possibility up is that the people who sold it to us do not match the name of the people all the neighborhood kids say lived there before us. They probably rented. I think renting a house wasn't uncommon. We rented 22 East Second Street and Hooton Hall house.

Below is a "Looking Back" article in a later issue of the Maple Shade Progress newspaper-



I asked Mom what happened to the snowman and she said we left it in the attic of 214 South Church Street when we moved to Maple Shade in 1973.


If you want any of the photos. Here they are (and more)- Snowman folder at Google Drive


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