WILEY HALL

WILEY HALL is not a book about how to become an orphan. It is a book about the emotions of an orphan. It is about a child's loss, sorrow, loneliness, joy and, ultimately, success. How do orphans become a family - a family without a mother and without a father? An orphan's family begins with a single child that through chance and circumstance unifies with another child regardless of pedigree. Unlike the process of biology's mitosis, an orphan family is a process of periodic unifications. The process is never completed. In the final analysis, an orphanage is greater than the sum of its parts. Kenny became an orphan in June, 1944. His mother passed away at age thirty-one. He was less than two years of age. Three years later his father passed away at age forty. Kenny knew neither one. Shortly after his father's death, Kenny and his three older brothers boarded a train and traveled cross-country to their new home. On July 18, 1944, the oldest brother's fifteenth birthday, the train pulled into the Utica, New York station. For the next thirteen years Kenny would reside with his new family. That July day was a traumatic experience; for Kenny saw his brothers depart in two different directions. He was taken in a third direction. This was the second time in his four short years that Kenny would be separated from his family. There were no palm trees, no ocean and no tall peaks. There were pine trees, a lake and the rounded Adirondack mountains. This was a new and different world for the four year old. He felt alone and abandoned. He was frightened. Where and how does a child seek comfort and safety? Who are his playmates? When will he eat? Where will he sleep? Kenny was placed in the nursery where nine soon-to-be brothers and sisters resided. They, too, entered the Home under the same circumstances that Kenny did. They, too, were experiencing loss, sorrow and loneliness. Those experiences did not stand in their way. They bonded through common experience and sought each other's comfort and happiness. The Home was supported through the generosity of Freemasons. Erected in 1892, the Home began to accept 'needy Masons, destitute widows and helpless orphans.' The population began to swell during World War I, the great flu epidemic of 1918 and the Great Depression of the '30s. Some children had a parent and some, none. Parents could no longer provide meaningful care for their children. The Masonic Home was to accept that responsibility. Unfortunately, the administration was incapable of attaining the standards of love and nurture for emotionally bruised children. Discipline, obedience and conformity were the dominate characteristics. Free will and being care free were frowned upon. Each child was dressed like the other, was expected to be on time and to remain within a limited space. If a child dared to rebel against these rules, then that child was chastised and usually quarantined from playmates. This command and control environment would eventually provide the breeding grounds for silent 'declarations of independence.' The Masonic Home had two campuses. The main campus was located in Utica and the other was nestled in the foothills of the Adirondack mountains. These two centers were expansive. The Utica campus was a city within a city. It boasted of a hospital, residences for seniors, the infirm and children. A chapel was dedicated. A cemetery was laid. Facilities for heating, laundry, baking and recreation were constructed. A farm for dairy, poultry, produce and fruit abounded. The camp facilities contained resident cottages, a dining hall and kitchen, recreation facilities, four bodies of water, an infirmary and theatre. These campuses and facilities were the kids playground and acts of mischief. WILEY HALL is a collection of short stories relating the children's interaction with one another, its skirmishes with the administration and the adventures of curious children. Sports and education occupied most of their time. The Home was both Athenian and Spartan. The kids excelled on the field and in the classroom. Prior generations of older kids ensured the future for the younger ones. The boys were perpetually engaged with baseball, football, basketball, winter sports and fishing. The seasons were merely the starting gates for the next sport. For extra-curricular activities, the Home's cavernous gothic buildings provided settings for the more daring types. Every basement and room was a mystery until unlocked. If caught, then the offending person was subject to corporal punishment. WILEY HALL relates the sorrows and joys of children. We entered the Home alone. We 'sought our souls, but our souls could not see. We sought our God, but (S)He eluded us. We sought our brother and found all three.'