My two brothers and I left to right: Marshall Noel Opie named after Supreme Court judge Thurgood Marshall; Randolph Lamarck Opie named after labor leader A. Philip Randolph; and, me Frederick Douglass Opie, named after the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. My folks were what black folks used to call “race” men and women which simply meant folks with a serious black consciousness.
My dad had a sweet tooth and loved ice cream; so did his three boys. I am the youngest of three and I remember when I was about my son’s age now, six; our family would load into the Rambler station wagon and head north to the base of Bear Mountain just outside of Peekskill to buy “custard.” This was the late 1960s early 1970s. My dad and his North Tarrytown family with roots in Cloverdale, Virginia were the only ones I knew who called soft serve ice cream by that term. On a hot summer evening there would be a line jutting out from the serving window of the ice cream. The stand was very basic with an offering of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or twist with all three flavors. One could order a large or small cone or cup; an ice cream sundae in a cup with cherries, nuts, and sprinkles; or, a banana split which was just a sundae as I recall it in a boat like paper container served with slices of banana instead of cherries and served with whipped cream on top. When I close my eyes now I can see my brothers and I at 6, 7, and 12 furiously licking the ice cream cones covered in chocolate or multi-colored sprinkles. Nobody talked we just licked and licked trying to stay ahead of the ice cream dripping from the cone onto our little chocolate-covered hands and wrists on a hot summer night.
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