My Fathers Words

MEMORIAL DAY MUNCH-A-THON PICNICKERS SNACK, FISH THEIR WAY THROUGHHOLIDAYAT STATE PARK

By JERRY LYNOTT; Times Leader Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 28, 1996 Page: 3A

KINGSTON TWP. -- The hot dogs and burgers got more bites than the fishermen on a lazy Memorial Day at Frances Slocum State Park. "I had a couple bites, that's all," Ralph Roos said as he worked two fishing poles from a lawn chair at the lake's edge. Neither the minnows nor the worms he used as bait caught the eye of his underwater prey. But that didn't seem to bother Roos, of Kingston. He was glad to be outdoors in the fresh air surrounded by water, green grass, boaters, other anglers and plenty of picnickers. Throughout the park, grills sizzled next to picnic tables heaped with covered dishes, bags of chips, soft drinks and paper plates laden with foods of the summer season. "It's better than sitting home watching the clock go 'round," Roos said. A few yards away, Albert Mecadon and his granddaughter, Tammy Mecadon, tried to lure fish to them. The two had a standing $5 bet on who would reel in the first catch. "She's not going to spend it today," boasted the grandfather. The catch of the day belonged to 11-year-old Philip Chromey. The Duryea boy landed an 8-inch bass. But, bass season doesn't begin until June 15. Chromey unhooked the fish, released it, and watched it swim away. The youngster took it in stride and headed back to doing what he enjoyed. "I could live on the lake," he said. It wasn't the fish that brought Audrey Waxmonsky of Plainsville, Plains Township, and approximately 40 others to the park. It was the holiday, the food and the chance to get together with other adults from the St. Nick's Sociable Singles and R.O.S.E. (Reach Out Singles Everywhere). "We have a couple of picnics a year," said Waxmonsky, of the Wilkes-Barre area groups. "One of them is here at the pavilion. The other is at Lake Jean (at Ricketts Glen State Park) on Labor Day." The outings keep the groups "organized and functioning," Waxmonsky said. At the upper end of the park, Tony Manzietti and his family had a picnic grove all to themselves. "I thought I could commandeer a little patch of grass for the family," said Manzietti of Kingston Township. He sat and watched his wife, Johnine and their children Angelica, Carl and Kevin play a game of volleyball. A fallen birch tree served as the net. "I think Memorial Day is a family thing," said Manzietti, a Vietnam veteran. "Of course you remember the deceased veterans, but it's a family day." Memorial Day picnickers set their tables in a grove at Frances Slocum State Park. Hundreds of people headed to the park in Kingston Township to begin the summer holiday season. TIMES LEADER PHOTOS/FRED ADAMS Children line up at the Oakdale Methodist Church Cemetery in Hunlock Creek on Monday to place flowers and flags on the graves of 68 veterans.