JOHNSTOWN PENNSYLVANIA

I was born on August 5, 1953, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. My mother and father were very young at the time, just 20 years old. With limited financial resources, we lived in an apartment on XXXXXXX. I don’t have any memories of living in Johnstown, but I later heard stories about my mom and her family running for the hills to escape the famous Johnstown floods. My relatives all worked in the mills or the coal mines. Grandpa Folkomer was a guard at the mill his entire life. I do remember occasionally riding the famous Johnstown incline plane. We frequently visited our cousins in Lancaster. I took Kara back there several years ago, and it was as depressed as I had imagined. During our visit, we met up with my grandmother’s side of the family, the Lewises. Great Grandpa Lewis was a coal miner and had 12 children.