Pittsfield High School Class of 1957
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Pittsfield High School Class of 1957 - Message Board

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Memories of OB Joyful
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Norina Jankowski Gilarde
 01-16-2010 08:56am
Hi!  I just enjoyed one of the videos for memories of Pittsfield.  In it is a picture of OB Joyful and he is listed as one of the first hippies.  We never thought of him as a hippie, just an old man who lived alone in his very own way.  O B Joyful lived at the end of my yard in Lanesboro!  He had a two story tar paper shack he called home and for years, he remained there.  He knew all of my family and often when he was walking to and from his home, he would stop to say “hello”.  He wanted to remain a very private individual but he and my dad were on speaking terms and my dad would always check on Ob Joyful if we did not see him for a day or so.  He wore his hair very long and held it together on the top of his head with a railroad spike!   His home had no electricity, no running water, no facilities.  All the kids in our neighborhood considered him to be a scary person but we were not afraid of him.  He managed to keep himself warm through the most freezing temperatures by covering himself with newspapers.  I will share a story that we have all handed down in our family about one very funny day for my mom.  She was sitting on our front porch enjoying some quiet time and OB sashayed up to my mom and before she could say anything to him, he bent over and presented his backside to her so she could sew his pants!  The gaping hole revealed so much more than she ever would have wanted to see...   She told him he would have to wait until my dad came home from work :) and he never did reappear to have her do his mending.  I am sitting here chuckling so much remembering that day – my mom would tell you the story with so much Italian expression that she had Saturday Night Live beat.  We were told that he actually was a lawyer – have never been able to substantiate that information but he was always there living his life the way he choose.  I have always hoped that he really and truly was happy.







Re: Memories of OB Joyful
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Al Shulhan
 03-02-2010 05:52pm
I remember OB Joyful. He was the father time figure with long flowing white beard, and flopping along on bare feet  along Waconah Street near Peck's Road near my home. About 4 or 5 of us little kids would flock to him as he ambled along telling us about the health benefits of walking barefoot and breathing fresh air! We mimicked him and followed single-file and barefoot for a bit before returning to our play. Never knew where he came from. Thought it was somewhere near Greylock Mountain.


Re: Memories of OB Joyful
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Lu (Lucena Knowlton) Winberg
 05-02-2010 03:33pm
We lived on Pontoosuc Lake and OB Joyful came to our neighborhood several times during the summer.  He would sit on a slight incline on the side of Hancock Rd, tell us stories and give us peanuts.  My Dad drove us by his house and said that he was from a wealthy family and was a lawyer.  We were instructed to treat him with respect - just not to eat the peanuts.

I also remember the Philippians who came around each summer with yoyos that they would carve with pictures of mountains.  They would show us all the yoyo tricks after we bought the yoyos.



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