We moved from Miami to this home in the Palm Springs section of Hialeah in June 1957 when the home was completed in a new development. Palm Springs Junior High was one block away, under construction and opened a week late after the school year started in September 1957. John G. Dupuis Elementary on the same acreage opened the week before in time for the school year.

I recall going a year or two before street lights were installed in the area (pole and support on the left) and we were actually happy that we had a light in front of our home since we were in the middle of the block of eight homes on each side. There was absolutely nothing but farms and wilderness west of W. 12th Avenue (NW 67 Avenue in Dade County), also known as Ludlam Road. Ludlam was barely 2 cars wide and nothing but paved dirt with numerous huge dips and potholes. The Palmetto Expressway was still under construction and the Noel twins and I used to ride our bikes on it while workmen were paving it. There were no homes around the three lakes to our north (Lake Laurence West, Lake Laurence East and Lake Tahoe) and people brought their motor boats out to waterski on weekends.

Our neighbors were:

5600 W. 9 Lane: the Bever family, with crazy son Danny and a younger daughter. Mr. Bever was a volatile Eastern Airlines mechanic and always calling the cops on us for real and imagined incidents.

5601 W. 9 Lane: the Mehalko family, who previously lived in the 5800-5900 block of W. 9th Lane between the Hipke's and the Hines and moved to the 5601 home in 1963. Their children were Donna, Mike, Andrew and Paul.

5630 W. 9 Lane: forgotten names

5631 W. 9 Lane: the Sheffield family with husband George, wife Jackie, daughter Lorri and son Michael. George was an elevator repairman with Otis and a big custom hot rod buff who built incredible hot rods. In the late 90's I heard Lorri give a tribute to her dad on Majic 102.7 because he was retiring from Otis after 40+ years with the company.

5660 W. 9 Lane: the Cheleotis family with husband Johnny, wife Dotty, daughters LuAnn and Joanie and sons Johnny and Mark. Johnny fought as a Marine in the Korean War, was seriously wounded and had the scars to prove it. He worked for The Miami News as a pressman and Dotty was a Miami News counselor and my boss when I started delivering the paper in 1960. They moved to Lima, Ohio around 1969. A 1962 photo of Dotty and a group of paperboys is at http://www.pbase.com/image/86293949 and a 1970 photo of LuAnn and little Johnny in Lima is at http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/image/57509015

5661 W. 9 Lane: the Kayal family with husband Gene, wife Teresa and three sons Gene Jr., Brian and Bruce. Big Gene graduated from Gesu High in downtown Miami in 1948(?) where he was a football star. His parents operated a grocery store at NW 1st Avenue and 14th Street from 1948 or 1949 until the 60's. Big Gene was a food broker with A. A. Greene Food Brokers and tragically died of a heart attack at age 34 while I was in boot camp in the summer of 1966. Teresa moved with her sons back to St. John, New Brunswick. Gene had a brother named Mike whose wife was Becky and their children were Joe, Michelle and Timmy and they lived in the Bird section of Miami Springs. Mike was a store manager with Food Fair. Gene's other brother was Ray whose family names we can't remember but Ray ran the Sirgany companies at the airport and other places for decades and is still involved with the company and their joint ventures. The Kayal home was sold to Barbara Sullivan who lived there for many years. A photo of Teresa and little Gene in 1970 is at: http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/image/59436335

5690 W. 9 Lane: the Schmidt family, with husband Dan, wife Betty, son Doug and daughter Claudia. Dan was an iron worker and his wife was a model. Doug got on with FP&L as a lineman in the early 70s and made it a 30-year career. He is a Facebook friend and e-mail friend of mine now. Claudia lives in Kendall. Dan and Betty have both passed away.

5700 W. 9 Lane: the Lavallie family with husband John, wife Dottie and their daughters Debbie and Beverley and son Richard. John was from Chicago, served in the Air Force at MacDill AFB and became an Eastern Airlines mechanic. Dottie worked part-time at the Publix on Palm Springs Mile and later worked at Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church in Miami Lakes. Her sons from a previous marriage were Randy and Ray Joiner from Auburndale, FL who used to come down for the summer and we were buddies. Debbie's husband Robert Drake is a Facebook friend of mine and Randy is an e-mail friend.

5701 W. 9 Lane: the Shields family, with husband Harold, wife Yvette, son Mark and daughters Pamela and Becky. Mrs. Shields worked for Hurst Hurricane Shutters, a competitor to our family friend's Jones Shutter Products. Mr. Shields passed away in 1993. Pamela is a Facebook friend of mine.

5730 W. 9 Lane: the Stopanio family with son Tommy who was a year or two younger than me, and another child. They were from New York and they built a nuclear fallout shelter in the backyard in the event of a war during the Cuban Missle Crisis. They owned a beauty parlor in the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach. They later moved to North Miami Beach. The home was then owned by a bachelor with a lot of lady friends.

5731 W. 9 Lane: the Pena family, with husband John and wife Joanne Pena, daughters Pam and ?, son John. They started JP Realty in Hialeah and they probably sold a third of Hialeah over the years. Son John now lives on a lake in Palm Springs North next to the Luzoros, friends of ours. What a small world!

5760 W. 9 Lane: the Martin family, with husband Chick and wife Nancy. Chick was a barber. Their children were Christopher, Robin, Mary, Jacqueline, Patrick and Tonya Rose "Rosie". Nancy got into the hippie movement in the 70s and was the talk of the neighborhood. Chick passed away in August 1981, Nancy now lives with Robin and Robin's husband in Vancouver, WA, Chris lives in Tumwater, WA, Mary lives in Whittier, CA, Jackie lives in Naples, FL, and Patrick lives in Salina, KS. Thanks to Chris for providing updated information.

5761 W. 9 Lane: the Mills family - very nice and quiet folks. This home was later sold to Chipper Campbell who grew up around the corner at 991 W. 55 Place.

5790 W. 9 Lane: the Clark family, with husband Frank and wife Kathy, daughter Donna and son Larry. Frank worked for Delta Air Lines.

5660 W. 9 Court (behind the Kayals): the Basil J. and Lucille Y. Barimo family, sons Steve, Ken, Basil Jr. and daughter Sharon. Thanks to Donna Mehalko for providing information on them. Basil and his family moved to Miami in 1945 and Basil went to Miami Edison until 1947 when he transferred to Lindsey Hopkins where he graduated in 1948. His parents owned and operated Charlies Grocery, a business established in the 1930's, at the southwest corner of NW 12th Avenue and 29th Street from 1945 until the early 1960's when the widening of 12th Avenue wiped out part of the building and they sold out. Basil started working for FP&L downtown in the Ingraham Building in 1957 and at their Coral Gables office before retiring in 1988. Basil Jr. is now an executive with the Air Transport Association in Washington, DC. Basil and Lucille now live in Franklin, TN, where my mother-in-law lives, and I visited Basil on April 14, 2008 while in Franklin for the air show at Smyrna and again in August 2008. Basil was also Gene Kayal's cousin, who lived behind him and next to me.

5690 W. 9 Court (behind the Boyds): the Fargason family with husband Jack, wife Pat, and daughter Andrea and son Clay. Jack passed away on September 27, 2006 and I saw Pat and her kids at the funeral home for the first time since the late 70's. Andrea is a Facebook friend of mine.

5700 W. 9 Court (behind the Shields): Mrs. Ingraham, who used to hire me to mow her lawn.

See http://www.pbase.com/update_image/104362815 for surrounding streets