After my last article about “The Hill Gang,” I received several phone calls from people who remember the neighborhood from their own youth. Some, like Tony Butera, grew up in the Washington/Orchard Street area a generation before I did. They helped me return, again, to those wonderful days when I was young and full of life, and the world was a playground.

Many of those who called me, or met me on the street, spoke to me of John Fumia's store at the northwest corner of Washington and Orchard streets. Fumia had a nickname that everyone used. He was called Don Juan.

It was pronounced in Italian, Dahn-joo-ahn and often Dun-joo-ahn.

The reason he received this name has been subject to conjecture and speculation over the years.

Fumia was elderly when I first knew him, and he passed away in the '60s, but he is well-remembered by so many of the people who knew him.

His store was small and he, and his family, lived in adjoining quarters, as many people who operated “Mom and Pop Stores” did in those days.

He baked cookies from many of his own recipes, and although he sold a variety of those tasty confectioneries, he was famous in the Auburn area for his “Lemon Ice,” and although others tried to copy his recipe, they could not duplicate, what he always said he would never reveal.

There were many who taste-tested his product, and voiced their suspicions about how his marvelous and unique summer delicacy was made.

I remember that one regular customer stated that he was sure it contained vodka. This may not have been true, since most of us kids always seemed reasonably sober after ingesting much of this delicious treat. I know that some of his cookies contained Italian liqueurs, such as anisette. It's hard to make anisette cookies without it, so I guess he had to adjust to this, but all other recipes were “top secret.”

Fumia seemed, sometimes, to be impatient, and a little cranky, but I suppose this came from years of fending off enthusiastic people who tried to extract his special secrets.

He worked long hours, as his store was open from early morning to 9 p.m. or longer. It seemed as though he was always there.

If any of my readers have interesting stories about this area of Auburn, or about their own neighborhood, please call me at 252-0544.

Tom DeFurio is former town supervisor for Sennett