By Ida Impagliazzo, November 17, 2019 — As a kid, I wasn’t allowed to date. And [John] kept walking me home. My mom went to grandmom Perry, and said, “She’s got this boyfriend, she is 15, she’s not allowed to date, but he keeps wanting to walk her home and she is afraid that her father will get mad.” So my grandmom said, “Let him walk her home.” My Mom said, “Grandmom said to let him walk you home.” I think, “You’re gonna get me killed!” So he walks me home, and pop came in from work, went right on past to the kitchen, washed his hands, sat down and ate his dinner. I said to John, “You better go.” Finally pop did say to me, “I thought I told you, you weren’t allowed to have any boyfriends.” So now I’m shaking in my boots because I thought he was gonna give ’em the smacks. So eating and trembling I said to him, “But you didn’t want me to meet anyone on street corners either,’ and I brace myself, I’m thinking ‘Here it comes. Here it comes.” So anyway, mom said, “Let him walk you home again tomorrow.”
So the next day came, pop comes home, walks to the kitchen, washes his hands and I think, ‘Oh I am in trouble.” So he comes back and he sits down, and he starts talking to John, to my husband-to-be, and then we went back and no more was said, but my pop always referred to him as Jo-Jo for whatever reason. But you know I was never allowed to go out during the week, I couldn’t go out on a date on a Saturday, of course, I had to go to church on Sunday. Anyway, he always used to say, “Is Jo-Jo coming over today?”
So to get on the good side of my father, around the corner was an ice cream store, where you could buy fresh dipped ice cream. And John would say, “Let’s go get your father some ice cream.” So we would go around, we would bring back ice cream and all sit down and eat ice cream, but oh my God I thought he was gonna get me killed. But anyway, yeah that’s where it all started 15-years-old walking home from school with a boy I was not allowed to be with.