~ Malden Musings ~ ‘Frank Says Hi Fundraiser’ Sunday, Nov. 30

By Peter Levine

Attention Maldonians, gather ’round, because that moment on the calendar has rolled back around like a dependable Orange Line train that actually shows up. It doesn’t get any more Malden than the “Frank Says Hi” Scholarship Foundation fundraiser, and that’s the real deal from Edgeworth to Suffolk Square. This beloved event honors one of Malden’s own: the unforgettable Frankie DeCandia of Thacher Street in Ward 2.

Compassion is kind of our thing around these five square miles of earth. Malden folks show up, period. And when it comes to paying tribute to someone as special as Frankie, we don’t just turn out, we turn up. Though Frankie left us far too soon in 2008, the people who loved him have made sure his name still resonates in the air of Malden. Every year, “Frank Says Hi” keeps his spirit blazing bright, helping a new generation chase their dreams through higher education while reminding all of us what courage and kindness look like.

Frankie was one of those rare souls who could light up a room before he even walked in. Son, brother, cousin, friend, unofficial mayor of the bear hug… he brought joy with him everywhere. Even after being diagnosed in 2006 with CML, a form of leukemia, he lived loud, loved big and fought hard. He passed in April 2008 at just 23, but not before asking his best friend, Jason Rossi, to pass along one last message: “Tell everyone I said hi.” When Jason pressed him on who “everyone” meant, Frankie just grinned and said, “Everyone.” And so the mission was born.

Since 2009, “Frank Says Hi” has been doing exactly what Frankie asked, greeting the world in his name and paying his spirit forward. More than $75,000 in scholarships has gone to worthy Malden seniors, helping them launch into college with Frankie’s smile at their backs.

And don’t forget, the DeCandia roots run Malden-deep — Frank and Marcie, Malden High Class of ’74; Stephanie, shaping young minds at the Beebe School; Uncle Dana and Auntie Marie (Brown), known by pretty much anybody who can point to Malden on a map. This is a family stitched right into the fabric of the city.

So yes, Maldonians, it’s that time again. A fundraiser, sure, but really it’s a celebration of a kid from Thacher Street who never stopped saying “Hi” to the world — and a city that refuses to stop saying it back. Once again, this year the annual “Frank Says High” fundraiser will be “Breakfast with Santa”! The event will take place on Sunday, November 30, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Irish American Club in Malden. Henry’s Catering will be providing one of their fabulous breakfasts. There will be pictures with Santa, arts and crafts for children, tons of raffle prizes and more! Tickets are available at the door:- $25 for adults and $10 for kids; children under three, free. For more info go to http://www.franksayshi.com.

It is said in “Malden Musings”…

• Apropos of nothing… According to Billy “Tecca” O’Leary’s big brother, Bull, the last Little Leaguer to smack a homer over the fences at the old Converse Field was none other than (the late) Billy Condon — big brother to Ward 2 Councillor Paul “Hoss” Condon. Converse Field once sat proudly in front of the old Converse Rubber Factory on Pearl Street, where kids dreamed of the bigs and 1950s crowds cheered like crazy. These days, that patch of land is home to Donut Villa (amongst others), but if you listen closely, you might still hear the echoes of cracked bats (another Diego Barricelli single up the middle?), the shenanigans from The Stadium Café (the biker invasion, Billy?) and the distant hum of shoppers at Caldor (David Millikan buying Sunday school clothes?). Malden memories never fade (sadly) they just change their zip code.
• Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to Maldonia of yesteryear… Did you know that Hills Tavern (or the “Rising Eagle,” as it was later known) was Malden’s very first barroom so to speak. Officially it was a Tavern: a place to bed down for the night, have a hot meal, quarter your horse and, of course, quench your thirst with a pint of New England rum or West India toddy. Located initially on Main Street where the Old City Hall once stood (1725-1857), it was moved to the corner of Irving and Main to make room for the new City Hall in 1857 (and eventually torn down in 1914). It was also ground central for a little thing that was going on at the time called the (American) Revolution. The men of Malden would meet here, discuss current events and plan their strategy for the struggles that consumed them in those historic times (and if they were anything like the Malden men of today, had a pint or two during said discussions). Second President of the U.S.A. John Adams had dinner there on two occasions, stopping for an overnight stay on March 11, 1766, on his way to Salem and once more on June 17, 1771, on his way to Marblehead. Thanks for listening.
• Gather round the fireplace, young’uns, Extreme (the band) history lesson time: Before there was Nuno (Bettencourt), there was the cute, poodle-haired guitarist Peter Hunt. Peter was born in Arlington — picking up his first guitar (a brown 1969 Gibson Melody Maker) in 1969. Self-taught Peter’s influences were (of course) Eddie Van Halen, Billy Gibbons, Jeff Beck and Gary Moore. In 1986 Peter left Extreme, forming Guitarzan with Boston’s Lou Serio and Revere’s John Cajolet rounding out the group. On a personal note, Peter’s songwriting, his chops and stage presence were outstanding and contributed to The Dream’s/Extreme’s (early) success as they packed clubs up and down the North Shore. The rest, as they say, is history.
• Left over Maldonia 4th of July memories… If you love Malden history, fasten your seat belts for another trip into Maldonia yesteryear brought to you by John Montecalvo via Facebook: “For all you Geezers and Geezerettes I bring to you… I remember my first 4th of July celebration at Amerige Park in 1954 when I was 6 years old. 1954 was a big year for me! Anyway, all the parks had celebrations, and your park was determined by what Ward you were in and mine was Ward 3. They would come house to house and collect $1 to offset the cost of the celebration with road races with prizes for all ages, a doll carriage parade, a bicycle parade, rides on a miniature fire engine, watermelon, ice cream, mother and son ball games, and in the evening the Norman Prince Band played on top of Amerige Hill. People danced on the tennis courts all night. Fireworks followed at Devir Park later in the evening. It was a prosperous time for Americans and times were good. I was six years old and already had played ball with the big kids, gone to Junior Police, came in 1st in the 6-year-old race and won a cowboy hat. I was on a roll with bigger and better things just around the corner!”
• A1963 VIP inadvertently left out of last week’s column… Charles Frank Desmond of 107 Newland St. was vice president of his sophomore class, a popular member of his class and an indoor/outdoor track star. My note: Charles had really excellent taste in music, “enjoying jazz especially the singing of Jimmy Smith.” Jimmy Smith was an American jazz musician who helped popularize the Hammond B-3 organ, creating a link between jazz and 1960s soul music.
• Speaking of 1963… Who remembers the famous Bill Marinelli–owned Stadium Café (pre-Settemio family) at 265 Medford St. across the street from Brother Gilbert Stadium? According to the ad in the MEN, “Daily Italo-American Specials.” My note: I ate there maybe once, steak tips and steak fries. I remember working-class gentlemen drinking beer/shots and smoking Marlboros. That’s it. Billy & Dommy Settemio will fill in the blanks for me on Stadium ambience at a later date.

As Peter Falk’s iconic TV character Columbo would say, “Just one more thing, sir” — we get letters…my recent column about Malden, Back in the Day, struck a chord with many Maldonians. It was a pleasure to write, and I sincerely appreciate folks reaching out to me. I’ll let my newest Facebook friend, Barry Crotty, take it from here: “Great writeup! Brought back many memories. I was a summer park instructor in 1960 at Roosevelt Park. Grew up in Forestdale surrounded by immigrant families from Nova Scotia, Italy, and Ireland, interspersed with many Jewish families from all over the world, one of which took the time to teach me some Yiddish while I was learning German at MHS.”

“The ‘Poor Farm’ (McFadden Manor) was still in operation, with cows and a bull, a two-story barn, a silo, and hundreds of chickens in a long, two-story coop. The farm had horses, and there was an underground stable in the rear of the extensive living quarters. Mr. McGuire was in charge and every spring he tilled the fields and planted vegetables. One of their fenced-in fields had several huge chestnut trees, now rarely found in the USA.

“Forestdale Park was originally located on Sylvan Street at the bottom of Kimball Street (replacing ‘WW-2 Victory Garden’ plots planted by Forestdale neighbors). Next to it the city grew trees for replanting around the city. The Poor Farm and the Forestdale Park property acreage were incrementally developed into old-age housing, the current Forestdale Park, and a new school.

“The Forestdale Cemetery still had lots of open space at the Forest St/Sylvan Street end, where us kids would roam. It’s now filled with gravesites. Pine Banks Park had a large dump next to it, largely hidden in the woods, and when they closed it for good, they bulldozed it flat and trucked excess dump material as fill to make the current ballfields. For years afterwards lots of glass shards would work their way to the grassy surface.

“Maplewood, Linden, and Forestdale comprised our stomping grounds. Our schools were very old, Ayers, Maplewood, and Browne, all replaced over the years. Malden had 5 movie theaters in ‘The Square’ and candlepin bowling alleys. Automated pin setting machines existed but some alleys still used boys to reset the pins! Many of our streets were still paved with cobblestones and roads were still unpaved dirt. The city started to dig up many cobblestones and stored piles of them at the old City Yards near the Pearl St Stadium, but that was too man-intensive, so they just paved over many streets, leaving the cobblestones as a base.”

“Malden’s main streets were crisscrossed with trolley wires about 15-20 feet high. The trackless trolley buses had two poles attached to the rear of the buses which connected to the overhead electrical wires. One pole would often detach from the wires when the bus made a tight turn around a corner. The bus would immediately stop, and the driver had to go out and swing the pole back into position. The Service Bus Line with blue buses replaced the red buses of the Warwick Line in the mid-1950’s. Ten cents a ride!

“I left Malden in 1961 for four years in the Air Force, returned for a year, working for Household Finance on Pleasant Street, and then off to a 40+ year career as a civilian in the Department of Defense at NSA and the Pentagon. Lived in England, Italy, Texas, Florida, Maryland, Hawaii and now Oregon but always remembered how places like the Salemwood Grille, Jessel’s, and others were not just bars, they were neighborhood gathering places, where (as you mentioned in the past) ‘they knew your name, what you drank and what your parents drank.’

“It took us YEARS to find the same feeling of ‘belonging.’ I still have family in Malden. My father and brothers worked for the city as the Inspectors of Wiring and Code Enforcement, and my nephew is a current police officer. We still return for visits and noticed that The Square is looking much better each year. All the best in the future and thanks for listening.”

—Peter is a longtime Malden resident and a regular contributor to The Malden Advocate. He can be reached at Pe*****@*ol.com for comments, compliments or criticisms.