Halloween evokes memories for area retirees
John and Phyllis Stoyle can think back to a time in their youth when Halloween was not as widely celebrated as it is today.
As the years passed, the retired couple, of Zelienople, enjoyed what became a distinctive routine on Oct. 31 that has stuck with them throughout what they proudly describe as “65 blissful years” of marriage.
Because his birthday coincides with the holiday, on Halloween John would come home to Phyllis from his professional sales job. She worked as a kindergarten teacher in Shaler Township for decades.
“We always had to have a birthday cake, and since I lived in the neighborhood where the kindergarten children were, they made sure they came to my house to ring the doorbell and get candy from me,” Phyllis said with a laugh. “The doorbell would ring while we’re trying to eat and our dog just barked nonstop. That was my Halloween day for about 25 years.”
While the pair has since retired and now reside in an independent living home at Lutheran SeniorLife’s Passavant Community in Zelienople, they possess plenty of Halloween memories from throughout their lives.
Trick-or-treating in a number of communities since that time has become far “more sheltered,” the couple said. John recalled a more carefree environment when it came to his childhood candy-collecting experiences.
“I don’t recall any fear of anything when I was a kid,” he said. “You didn’t have to worry about people putting poison in your candy or kidnapping you or anything else. It was a given that you’d go out (trick-or-treating) several blocks around your house without any fear and that was it. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case anymore.”
Something else that may come as a shock to avid Halloween enthusiasts now is that parades were not always particularly common.
“I grew up in Dormont, and I don’t recall any parades at Halloween,” John said. “It was strictly ring the doorbell, get a handful of candy and move on. As an adult now, I know there’s a ton of large parades people enjoy. (As children), we celebrated Halloween night by all going door-to-door. It’s certainly a much bigger deal today than when I was young.”
Children receiving candy from community residents on Halloween started to become a tradition in the 1940s and 1950s.
The candy buying boom has since exploded into a multi-billion dollar business in the days leading up to and after the final day of October. According to Statista, U.S. consumers are expected to spend $3.5 billion on Halloween candy this year.
“You might have got a candy apple when you were going around in years past and once-in-a-while something not candy related,” John said. “Basically, it was still a bunch of stuff that would rot your teeth in no time at all.”
Suiting up in a creative costume has gone hand-in-hand with that candy craze as time has gone on.
For some retirees like Linda Koharchik, who resides at Concordia at Cabot, dressing up for the occasion wasn’t as flashy an endeavor as it now.
“When I was younger, all our costumes were homemade,” she said. “They were mostly costumes like witches and sailors. You also wore all uniforms and stuff like that. But when I had children, they would dress up as Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ the Gingerbread Man and Popeye the sailor, among some others.”
To keep up with new traditions and spend some quality time with fellow residents, Koharchik and two other residents put together a Halloween party last year that included decorating parts of the scenery around a memorial trail at Concordia.
“We started making decorations for it in August,” she said. “The three of us made tombstones, skeletons, mummies and the Grim Reaper at the end of the trail. We had a party and people brought food. After everyone ate, we took people on golf cart rides through the trail. It was just really a lot of fun and we laughed a lot.”
