Back in 1933, when I was born, fewer than 800 people lived in Cranberry. They were mostly farm families, and they included my grandparents, my parents, my sister and most of my cousins. Looking back, I now realize what a privilege it was to grow up on a farm. What I experienced as a child and as a young adult is a lifestyle that has almost vanished from here.

This year – our Township’s bicentennial year – I want to share with you the Cranberry I knew. It will be a community history, as well as a personal memoir. Throughout the course of 2004, I will tell you about the neighborhood I grew up in, as well as the earlier one I kept hearing about from my family as well as from our neighbors who also experienced that innocent, pre-Turnpike era.

Because it is a personal history, you will find me freely using the prepositions “I” and “we” to describe what life was like here, both for myself and for many of the other people I interviewed in preparing this story. I believe that it is factually accurate. But in the end, it is a story that can only be validated through the recollections of those who have lived it, and who have heard about it from their parents and grandparents.

Let me give you a little background, before my story begins.

My own parents both grew up on farms. In 1923, after they had been married two years, they moved onto a farm along Franklin Road that used to belong to a man named Sam Duncan. We all worked hard, but it was a good life.

I attended the one-room Sample School for all eight grades. After eighth grade, I went to Mars High School. But during my years there, I never took part in any after-school activities. My parents didn’t allow me and besides, I had no transportation. I also had my chores to do each evening as well as on weekends.

Only in recent years, since I began writing histories about the farm families in our Township, did I find out what other young people from Cranberry had been enjoying during their teen years here. They told of hanging out at the Blue Ridge Truck stop, where there was a jukebox. They attended dances in various local places. And they went to the roller rink Evans City.

My own life was filled with school, church, and grange activities. I studied music, eventually becoming our church organist. I also held positions of leadership in several community organizations. And I worked full-time. Later, I became a charter member of the Cranberry Township Historical Society where today I enjoy helping others learn about our community

My husband and I are retired now, although we continue to work part-time jobs. We keep active with bowling and yard work. And we still live on three acres that were once part of my parents farm along Franklin Road, where I grew up.