Patsy Louis Freda – Kid
In its pages a single interviewee conveys the story of two lives intertwined—of Patsy Freda and his “bride and best friend” Edna (McLaughlin) Freda, the woman he called “Kid.” Their courtship, begun in the late 1940s, was unusual. He was Italian and she was Irish, and there was tension between the two ethnic groups in Hoboken during that period. And Edna’s bout of childhood polio had made walking difficult for her, and had also left her distrustful of the long-term intentions of suitors. But Patsy was different. He was in love with Edna. “I took one look at that face and those blue eyes, and I was hooked,”he explained. “I wasn’t leavin’. I wasn’t going any place.” Reader, he married her. In 1953, the muscled dockworker and truck driver from 302 Madison Street wed the petite blue-eyed city secretary from 1 Willow Terrace. They had 55 years together. Early in 2012, Patsy Freda recalled his growing-up years, how he met his bride, and the years they shared, to Holly Metz, who edited his transcripts into this chapbook.