Tag Archives: gambling

AND THEY’RE OFF

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As far back as I remember in my childhood, I recall my father talking about the Garden State Race Track in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. My father was a man who liked to gamble, play cards and bet on the horses. For years he bought lottery tickets. He even bought 55O cards from the Catholic Church. On one occasion, my mother and my father celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary, and they spent a weekend at a hotel on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. My father played the slots and played cards. The trip was a wedding anniversary gift for my parents from my siblings and me. It was the first time my mother actually had a vacation of any sort.

I recall my father calling his bookie on our kitchen phone and placing bets. And occasionally, my father would bring my mother and me with him when he drove into Philly at night to place a bet directly with his bookie. For my mother and myself, it was an outing to the city. As we rarely went anywhere out of town, let alone visiting Philadelphia.  My father- 1960's

But one of the most outstanding memories I have is of my father and the Garden State Race Track, which was located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey—a town next to Maple Shade, New Jersey, where I grew up. My father won a photography contest through the local newspaper, the Courier Post. He took two photographs of a race at the Garden State Track. One was a panoramic image of the crowd watching the horses take off, shouting and screaming and jumping up and down. The second shot was of that same crowd looking in the opposite direction tearing up their tickets and throwing them in the air, and then slowly floating down to the grounds if they lost their bets. My father submitted these pictures, and they appeared on the front page of the Courier Post, and he won prize money.

I don’t know how much money my dad won. But it was probably more money than he ever had in his pocket at any one time. And so my father invited all my siblings, including myself, to go out to dinner at a restaurant that my sister-in-law’s brother owned. It was the one and only time that we all went out to dinner together with my parents. And it is one of my best and fondest memories of my family together and laughing and enjoying our time together as a family.

The Garden State track spurred a lot of activity and entertainment-oriented growth in Cherry Hill. In addition to the Garden State Track, a man whose name was Mori developed the Race Tack. He built the Cherry Hill Inn and the Cherry Hill FarmLogdge, and then finally, the Cherry Hill Shopping Center. Not to mention the fabulous and luxurious Rickshaw Inn on the opposite side of the Garden State Park Race Track. And eventually, The Latin Casino, where stars such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Liberace appeared to entertain the locals near and far. 

And addition, I took an adult night class at Cherry Hill High School, and it was being taught by none other than Jack Engelhard, the writer. He is known for his love of horse racing at the Cherry Hill Race Track and for writing books such as The Horseman, which became almost automatically a best seller, Indecent Proposal, and many more. It was his night class that inspired me to continue writing and growing as a writer. He often spoke of his love of horse races and the Garden State Track. And I have been doing just that. I have written a book and over three hundred short stories. You can find these stories at:https://susanaculver.com.

And then, I was offered an opportunity to show some of my Art Work at the Garden State Track, and I jumped at the chance. You can see one of my more popular artworks, a drawing illustrated in this blog. It is called “The Race.”.

The Race

So, as you can see, my father’s love of Horse Racing and gambling has been an inspiration of sorts. Although I had never been a gambler at heart before I moved to North Carolina, I hit the gambling machines at Trump Casino in Atlantic and took home $900.00 right out of his {Trump’s} pocket, you could say. So, when you play, you win some, you lose some. But you just got to know when it’s time to fold up those cards and hit the road. At the same time, you have more than lint in your pockets.

And maybe sometime in the future, before my time runs out, I’ll find my way back to Cherry Hill and revisit my father’s favorite place on the planet. Although it has changed and evolved over time since my Dad passed away, he probably wouldn’t recognize it. So, maybe it’s better to keep those memories safe and hidden away. I will always treasure those memories of my father and what an interesting and complex man he was. He was a voracious reader on every subject, including Eastern religions, although he never went to church.

My father inspired me with his example to continue to learn and grow and be creative. In fact, his lifelong example of his thirst for knowledge inspired me to go to college when I was thirty-six. I applied to all the art schools in the Philadelphia area and was accepted at all of them. I chose to attend Temple University, Tyler School of Art. And I graduated at forty in the top ten percent of Temple’s graduating class. It was one of the best experiences I ever had and one that I am immensely proud of. And I want to thank my father for his example of continuing to grow and learn throughout my life.

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And The Winner Is

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The view out of the kitchen window is our front yard and across the street is his elderly neighbor, Mrs. McDonald. She is weeding her garden. Her garden is amazing in the Spring. Right now, it is a rainbow of different colored tulips. She orders the bulbs from Holland.

Cherry Hill Race Track, New Jersey

Henry watches her with a look of admiration on his face. She has lived alone in her house for many years. Her husband died unexpectedly over twenty years ago. After her husband’s death, Mrs. McDonald realized that she didn’t have enough money to survive on her own. So, she began renting out the second floor of her house. She never asks for help from anyone. And somehow, she had managed to keep body and soul together.

Occasionally Henry would cross the street and knock at her door. “Hello, Mrs. McDonald. I have some free time this morning, and I was wondering if I could help you in some way?” She would always respond, ” no, no, I’m fine.” And then Henry would say, “how about if I fix your fence, there are a couple of loose boards. And while I’m out there, I’ll tighten that gutter that’s coming off and take your trash out to the curb.” She would say, “Thank you, Henry. You’re a saint.” Henry would laugh and say, “I am the least saintly man you’ll ever meet. Have no doubt. There won’t be any place in heaven for me.”

Henry is a complicated man. Few people realize that because he kept his feelings close to the vest. He volunteers at the nearby church to maintain the pews in the church and does other minor repairs. But the fact is Henry doesn’t attend any church services. And although he wasn’t a member of any church, he’s fascinated by the religious beliefs of all cultures and reads about them in-depth in his free time. His current interest is the ancient Chinese beliefs of Taoism and Daoism. And yet when Henry goes to the vegetable store to buy vegetables, he calls the owner China-man. He’s been going to the same shop for years and never asks the man his name.

Henry works the night shift and sleeps during the days, except on his days off. On his days off, he does the food shopping or works on projects in his basement. On other days he spends at the racetrack making bets on the horses and talking to all his friends at the track. When he can’t go to the track, he calls his bookie up and makes bets on the phone. If he wins any money on his gambling, he doesn’t share that information with his wife. And he plays cards for money. His family has never met any of Henry’s friends, and he doesn’t talk about them at home. If his wife knows about his activities, she never brings it up. It would do little good because Henry is a man that doesn’t ask permission to do anything.

The fact is that Henry has two separate lives, one with his family and one with his friends and his fellow workers. Henry works for the bus company. They refer to him as Smiley. His family rarely sees a smile cross his face.

Occasionally Henry works part-time at an auto supply store within walking distance of his home on his days off. Once upon a time, in 1929, Henry and a friend of his started an auto repair business. Unfortunately, this was at the height of the depression, and it went out of business. Henry was a perfect fit for the position of running the auto parts store. Most of the people in town know him because they frequented the J. M Auto repair store. And they know Henry is knowledgeable about car repair. He’s friendly and talkative during his working hours.

But when he comes home, he is often silent. And spends his time reading the newspaper and watching the news, and TV shows, mostly Westerns. His family knows better than to interrupt him. Cody Henry’s dog lies on the living room floor next to Henry’s chair. And Henry pets him from his nose to his tail the entire time.

On Henry’s workdays, he sleeps during the day, and his wife wakes him up to eat his dinner before he goes to work at 4 PM. Sometimes he works the four to twelve shift, and sometimes he has to work the midnight to eight AM. His family is not allowed to make noise during those days that he’s sleeping. Woe to anyone that wakes up the sleeping bear.

Even though Henry doesn’t spend a great deal of his time with his family, he makes a strong impact on each member of his family. He expects everyone to work hard and do their best. He is a perfectionist.

One fine day Henry came home, and he had a big smile on his face. He burst into the kitchen and said, “a photograph that I took at the racetrack is going to be published in the Courier Post. And there’s a cash prize. And I’m going to take the entire family out for dinner.” It was actually two pictures. The first picture was of all the people standing and sitting in the stands watching the race take off. And the second picture was of the people tearing up all their bets that lost and throwing them in the air.

Henry’s family listened to his announcement with their mouths wide open because they had never gone out to dinner before. The following weekend everyone met up at the restaurant, and Henry said, “order whatever dinner you like. It’s on me. Everyone looked at him and at each other. And there was a smile on all of their faces.

The following Sunday, everyone was amazed to see their father’s photograph on the front page of the Courier-Post newspaper. Henry was smiling from ear to ear. And they all gave him a round of applause. It was a day that the family would never forget. The day their father smiled from ear to ear.

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