Eastwood Past & PresentIn 2023, funded by a Gifford Foundation “What If” grant, we’re partnering with Eastwood’s own, David Haas, owner of @SyracuseHistory, to document stories about Eastwood’s past & present. The name John Smith has long been used as a pseudonym. A way to conceal someone’s identity when privacy was needed. The name has often been associated with, “the average name for an average person.” But Eastwood’s John Smith does not fall into these categories. His name is common, but the person behind the name is not. I recently interviewed John for our third installment in my newest series titled, “Eastwood: Past and Present,” for the Eastwood Neighborhood Association, in which I interview a current neighborhood resident to share their connection and history with the Eastwood neighborhood. I drove to Wendell Terrace, just shy of Eastwood and near the Sedgwick area, to interview John. John was recently honored for his 60 years of involvement with and volunteer work for the Eastwood Community and I knew I had to sit down and speak with John to learn about his love for the area. Born in 1929, John grew up on Shotwell Park. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a housewife, as he said. He was the youngest of four children – three sisters and himself. As a child, John attended Huntington Elementary School, walking to class each day and spending time in the outdoor pool behind the school. While reminiscing about his childhood days, John sang an old nursery rhyme that triggered a memory for him: “Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie, kissed the girls and made them cry.” Do you remember those lyrics,” he asked? “I had to sing them on stage as a kid and kiss a girl on the cheek and then run off stage!” Following Huntington, John’s parents enrolled him at Christian Brothers Academy in Dewitt. Here, John excelled as an athlete, playing football. Upon graduating, he enrolled at Syracuse University and joined the football team in 1948. When I asked how college went, John said, “not great,” as he grinned.” John only spent two weeks at Syracuse University, before leaving the school. “It was just way too big for me,” he said. Although his time at SU was brief, his relationship with football would follow him for most of his life. John transferred to a school in Pennsylvania and then to Binghamton University to complete his college career. While in Binghamton, John lived with his uncle who was an undertaker. John thought he would follow in his uncle’s footsteps, but he eventually returned home to Syracuse and started a job as a traveling salesman. “I went door-to-door selling brushes, and I loved it! I loved selling and I was good at it. I knew all the tricks,” said John. “Always sit lower than your customer, let them stand over you and feel like they have the power. I brought a suitcase with me on every sale and sat on the suitcase looking up. It works more often than not.” His successful sales career eventually led him to Sears Roebuck just outside of Downtown Syracuse. He started in the plumbing department, then moved to the automotive department installing covers on car seats. He also worked at a Metropolitan store where he would meet his wife, Josephine. John would tell me that Josephine worked as a soda jerk when they first met. “I sold items in the back of the store and she would give me ice cream at the end of the day. She won my heart through my stomach,” John said with a laugh. When the couple settled down, they purchased a home in Eastwood, on Hillsdale Avenue just a few streets from where he grew up on Shotwell. John would eventually begin working for Midstate Equipment before branching off on his own and starting a successful business – JC Smith INC., a construction equipment company that still operates on Peat Street today. The couple would have four children and decided to stay in the area. “There was no place better to raise kids than in Eastwood,” said John. “That was true back then and is still true to this day.”
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