Reader Submission: Being A Former Swezey's Child Model

This letter was posted by Michael Sorrentino. It was written by Paul McFarlane. Paul McFarlane is a 1975 graduate of Patchogue-Medford High School, having attended Barton Elementary School, Tremont Avenue Elementary School, Oregon Ave. Middle School and Saxton Street Middle School. McFarlane now lives in North Carolina but still has family in the Patchogue area.

I was born and grew up in Patchogue, born at Brookhaven Hospital in the first days of 1957. We lived in the Maple Ave. Apartments when my dad was a newly minted college graduate teaching public school east of Patchogue. Our family grew in the next few years. My sister came along in early 1960, also born at Brookhaven but by then we had moved into a house on the northern side of town.

Within a few short years, my mom, who was a stay-at-home mom for a half-dozen years or more, went to work during the Christmas season, part time, at Swezey's at the Four Corners, the only Swezey's store at the time. We were then still a 1-car family, so my dad would drive her -- with his kids in tow -- the three miles or so to the back door when he arrived home after school to drop her off for work, then later pick her up after her shift. The back door atSwezey's at the time was located behind the library. Later, that door would be shadowed by the ill-fated parking deck behind the library, off Jennings Avenue. Memory fails, but my mom worked a few more years, part time at Swezey's. Later, she went full-time, and we became a 2-car family. That was a big deal to us. Still, the few times it snowed, my dad, the gym teacher, would walk the three miles to the store to be there by the store's closing at 5:30, to drive her home, lest she panic driving through the snow up Ocean Avenue en route to our home.

I spent many hours at Swezeys. Met many fine people. Many downtown people passed through Swezey's, and I enjoy the social connection.

Anyway, the recent demolition of one of Patchogue's Four Corners ignited a ton of memories, most of them good memories that had been tucked away in a corner of my brain, almost forgotten since I moved from the region. The Four Corners had been a focal part of our youth: Shopping at Mother's Music, Patchogue Music Center -- both on South Ocean Avenue -- Patchogue Stationery on Main Street in my lifetime, visiting the public library off Lake Street. I was too young to understand the Mill on the west side of town. The Four Corners was also a turning point for our school's marching band on its many parade routes: March west on Main Street, make a left onto South Ocean Avenue. But like the dust that was rattled from its resting place by heavy equipment that tore out decades of good times, the demolition of Swezey's brings back memories.

One such memory is a silly thing, but I have been encouraged to share it. Swezey's thought it was a good idea to publish a Christmas catalog many years ago, I'm guessing about the late 1960s. As a family store, it was determined that family members would serve as models. As the son of a woman who worked in the boys' department, I got recruited to pose for photos. Also in the mix were the sons and relatives of Phyllis Knapp who was a daughter of one of the owners, and a wonderful, giving woman who enjoyed the spirit of the store and was my mom's boss for more than few years.

I think I served as a model for four catalogs. I have only the photos for two such catalogs that I have included. One was photographed in mirrors in the store, near the door that led to the parking lot that later would be covered by a parking deck. The other was shot at a bridge on South Country Road. There were two others: one with a great sweater I later received as a Christmas gift and another when I had to bring my own football to a shoot. Both of those were photographed at a basement location of the store.

Alas, when Mrs. Knapp moved to the handbags and hosiery department that was housed in the store in the corner near the North Ocean Avenue and Main Street entrance, and took my Mom to work with her, my modeling days for boys clothes were over. I mean, what teenage boy would want to model that handbags and hosiery stuff?

By the way, I don't know all the history, but some of the Knapp brothers founded The Brick, which is still going strong.

What are your Swezey's memories? Add them in the comments.