Neighbors Reunited On North Second Street In City

The baby-sitters and their charges, the sisters and brothers, thesleigh riders and the basketball players who once lived on NorthSecond Street and the surrounding neighborhood gathered togetherSaturday to reconnect and reminisce about a simpler time inPottsville.

"We did simple things, hanging on the wall, playing games likekick the can, red light-green light and tag," Judy Kull Regnier, 60,of Saint Clair, said Saturday.

Regnier and her sisters, Lori Kull Garman, 49, of Fleetwood, andBarbara Kull Conage, 64, of Schuylkill Haven, reminisce about theold neighborhood surrounding the Schuylkill County Prison wheneverthey get together.

"We actually started talking about getting some of the oldneighbors together after we went to the Centre Street reunion at thegrammar school in November," Conage said.

The sisters used Facebook to get in touch with a few of their oldpals, including Bob Piccioni, 49, of Dallas, Texas.

"At the beginning of this year, I started doing research on theInternet and tried to track down as many people as I could and sentout invitations, set up a Google account for responses and about 35people responded," Piccioni said. "We were thrilled."

The reunion was held at a home the Piccioni family owns at 617 N.Second St.

Former neighbors from the 1950s through the 1970s talked aboutlife before video games, iPods and computers.

"We didn't have all the electronics kids have now," FrankPiccioni, 59, of Pottsville said. "We were always outside. When theweather was warm, we played basketball in the courtyard and hung outon the jail wall. We would ride go carts down Gottschall's Hill andwhen it was cold, we would sleigh ride down," Piccioni said. "Ourparents were all friends, most of them even worked together, but thekids kept everything together. There was no reason to stay in thehouse. We were always out and we were always together."

Michael Piccioni, 55, of Princeton, N.J., said he wouldn't havemissed the reunion for the world.

"I'm a florist now and when I was a kid I remember pickingflowers from the (prison) warden's wife's garden and making corsagesand selling them on the jail steps," he said.

Jan Murphy Johnston, 48, of Pottsville, whose parents still livein the neighborhood, said neighborhoods just aren't as close as theyused to be.

"We spent every day together in some combination. We grew uptogether, went to school together. The jail and the courthousecourtyard were our playgrounds," Johnston said. "The neighborhoodisn't the same as it used to be. When we grew up here, our familieshad already lived here for 40 or 50 years. People are more transientnow."

Schuylkill County Treasurer Jacqueline McGovern is from theneighborhood.

"This reunion is such a nice idea," McGovern said Saturday. "Weall grew up together and played in the yards. We spent the first 15years of our lives together. I baby-sat for some of these people.Now everyone lives all over the place and we don't see each other."

Frank Piccioni Sr., 88, still lives in the neighborhood.

"It's nice to see everyone back together again," the elderPiccioni said. "It's wonderful to see all the old friends."

Conage said she believes there will be another reunion.

"I don't know if it will happen every year, but I can tell you,we will do this again," she said.