The Waffle Man’ in Camden

I made waffles for breakfast one morning. I usually make breakfast on weekdays, and waffles are one of my favorites. Invariably, when I pull out the waffle iron, I can’t help but remember “The Waffle Man” from my childhood, as in 65 years ago when I was a kid of 7-8 years old.

Let me set the scene for you first. We grew up in a row house at the edge of Camden, N.J. Our street could have been the opening scene of Archie Bunker’s “All in the Family” TV program. Not a rural setting by any means; in fact, today Camden is a poster city of urban blight. Back then, at least it was clean if not idyllic.

But two-to-three times a year “The Waffle Man” showed up and turned it into a real life Norman Rockwell scene. “The Waffle Man” as we called him back then and still do now, because nobody knew his real name, would show up. We could hear him from several blocks away as he rang his steel triangle to alert all the kids in the neighborhood that he was on his way.

That would start the kids begging a nickel or dime from their stay-at-home moms so they could buy a savory treat from “The Waffle Man.” And when he came, he’d invariably stop his horse drawn covered wagon right in front of our house probably because we had the highest concentration of young boys you can imagine (a big market for The Waffle Man). Yes, this was in the ’50s and all the families in the neighborhood already had cars, but “The Waffle Man” came in his horse drawn wagon. That was half the magic of it.

The hot, fresh-from-the-griddle waffles covered with powdered sugar were great, but coming from this Disney-like character on a horse drawn wagon made them so memorable that here I am 65 years later telling you about them.

If I remember correctly, it was an ivory colored wagon with red lettering on the side in an arch shape that said “Waffle Man.” If they didn’t have gold leaf around them, they should have. In fact, if Disney World existed back then he would have been right at home on Main Street; that would have been very appropriate because the sweepers could have done their cleanup work that was usually necessary after the horse pulled the wagon away. We neighborhood boys weren’t so good at that … (too busy eating the waffles to even notice).

Well, that’s my childhood memory this week. What’s yours? I hope you have some just like this one that made your childhood special. I think it’s memories like this that make me want to hook up the tractor to the wagon when we have a crowd of kids at the farm. I want them to have special childhood memories that they can tell their kids about.

So, as you go about your senior days, I encourage you to think of ways you can create special childhood memories for your grandkids or neighborhood kids in this upside down world we live in today where leaders are trying to tell our kids that wrong is right and right is wrong. Kids need extra help from seniors these days to help them find, enjoy and remember their childhood.

Thanks for reading All About Seniors. See you next week!

Bill Milby, CSA, is a Certified Senior Advisor and a Director of Visiting Angels® of Macon, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsMacon.

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