Pat Migliaccio

Born on Elmer Street in 1914, Pat joined his father at Roebling when he was 17 and remained for 33 years. Pat's father was a watchman and worked there 50 years.

On family and Chambersburg: All the families had gardens. They grew food, that's what they lived on during the summer. We had a pear tree in the back yard. My father planted lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, etc., and he used to make his own wine. Every year he made about two 50 gallon barrels.

My mother used to make her own bread, four or five big loaves. I took it to the bakery shop in a house on Whitaker Avenue with a big oven. They would bake bread for the whole community for two or three cents a loaf.

In my day, there were no restaurants in Chambersburg. They had a lot of pizza parlors. We used to call them tomato pies. Everybody ate at home. I never remember my mother and father going out to eat.

On shift work: Hard. Real hard work. Every bit of those 33 years. I never worked steady days. When I got a job there I was 17 years old, I had to work 12 midnight to 8 a.m. and I hated it.

On dances: There was the Grand Ballroom, the Blizzard on Warren Street. They used to have dances there and at St. Joachim's. Different organizations used to have a dance every night to make money for their club. They used to go around getting ads from business people