Hunky is slang for Eastern Europeans brought here to work in mines and factories. Same with Dagos for Italians and Micks for Irish.
My grandfather on Moms side came here from Slovakia in the early 1900s. Their name was Kokoruda. He was a miner, but his son prospered with a dry cleaning business that was forced to close during the depression.
Mom was a Hunky, one of 15 children. They landed in the poor house run by the Salvation Army. The oldest brother would hide the girls if someone came around looking to adopt! Holding the family together was very important. They all worked hard and saved enough to buy a home in Hornerstown, a very upscale neighborhood at that time. They lived next to my Dad’s Mom.
She met Dad when he returned from Europe in 1946. Those Hunky girls were all gorgeous ladies and wonderful cooks.
Dad and Mom moved to Pleasantville, my home in the early ‘60s. He worked as a cranemen in Bethlehem Steel for 36 years, commuting the 35 miles over Pleasantville Mountain. That can be a fairly nasty trip in the winter!😀
He had a ‘58 Edsel convertible, push button automatic in the middle of the steering wheel! Couldn’t park on a hill because you’d never be able to put the thing in gear!
He started Oldham’s Auto Salvage in 1964, the year before I was born!
Reon
Cool
