Mark Lennerton and Mary Bulger

00:00 Bulger, I am 47 years. Old today is July 5th, and we are at the storycorps location in lower Manhattan. And my relationship to Mark, lennerton and his, I'm his girlfriend.

00:14 And I am are Claritin 45 years old again. Today is the 5th of July Lower Manhattan, and Mary is my girlfriend.

00:25 Okay, well, I think today, we wanted to hear some more stories, some more of your hugs and stories about growing up in Derry, New Hampshire with your best friend, Jerry canoyer, and you told me so many stories over and over and over again. We have to just record these four other people. And to tell us a little bit about growing up in Derry, New Hampshire, and I wanted to hear some more about, you are a grammar school. Escapades with Jerry and there are probably 10 or 12 stories even from grammar school. Before we go further onto a high school.

01:05 Well, I grew up in Derry New Hampshire and it is the late 60s 70s, and in early 80s, and I knew Jerry from Grinnell grade school right up through Pinkerton Academy when we when we both graduated, and people say that time heals all wounds and and Friends.

01:32 They may have had a rough relationship Time, Heals all these things, but none of that was ever need with Jerry. He was always that that great friend, that time didn't have to heal anything dangerous in Richmond. The the, the the good times we had together. They were boys being boys in America in the late sixties and seventies, and we had great imaginations. We had great fun and it's ready. Stories come from, they ain't they all happened? And I make no apologies for where I feel in the absences of my memory with embellishments. Just makes it all the better. There were no organized Sports back then like the kids today. They don't really, you know, they've lost the joy of just going outside and playing for hours and showing up. You do at home for dinner at 5. That's the thing. They take their bikes and they run through the fields and they play with frogs and snakes and get into all sorts of trouble. And you know, they come home for dinner and mom, never knows about it.

02:32 We wouldn't go into houses that were boarded up and, and seek out whatever. Our imagination was having us seek. Our two are, we would jump fences on to the city streets in the sewer system. We, we did it all and nobody ever knew. They're throwing snakes at the state troopers or something about a sealed and your snakes and maybe a rival gang who wanted your snake sword? Tell us that again, filled out by one of the junior high schools and

03:14 It was a place we went and we played military guys. Mostly played on Marina. End up being a marine. We play together and we bring all our tackle boxes full of stuff to carry out our our mission would bring out a flags and you know, I'm one of our flags we had to like a pirate kind of a t-shirt that I locked up and run of a cross and skull and it was weird all all the stuff out to the field. And how is our field now is our playground and nobody ever came out. There is really quite quiet. It was a tree. There's a nice tree on the, on the edge of a rock wall. There are other trees with this one was a bit more Majestic and we would I climb up that sucker and get all the way up to the top and, and take that flag with us and post it. And you can see that flag for from miles miles around, and we could watch that that field from

04:14 All smiles around and we would watch it whatever activity was going on out there. Like, we were like we were centuries, kids being centuries on a post somewhere. And this one particular day. We saw some kids. She's a had to be literally quarter mile away. If not further away on. I'm one of the roads that ran through the fat, the field. There's only two roads that ran through the field.

04:38 And these kids kept running from the curb to the middle of the street and look like they're putting something down there and Jerry had some of these binoculars. That if you saved up enough Bazooka bubble, gum wrappers and you got a dollar fifty from Mom and you sent it off the Bazooka, you get these binoculars and we're up there, in the top of this tree. Using those binoculars somehow were able to see that these kids were doing something and they they can put in a bag in the middle of the road and car to a drive-by, they run out and they can move it and we know it was going on there, but we did know that that was our field and they didn't have permission to do anything in our field.

05:22 So, we are.

05:25 You know, how the tree we watch the mission, we're going to go seek them out. And we Traverse the first part of the field cross a road along the road and we were in the, in the, in the Gully and we came close to them and they started going from the road. They started going up into another part of the field and they had abandoned the paper bag. So we went and looked to see what was in that paper bag. And we found that paper bag was a snake. They had with the snake in the bag and had a car run over it basically the place it on the road to a car, run over. It was our field. That was our snake. So we started to go after these guys and there's about four or five of them. Now. We're probably grand old age of 10 11 somewhere in there and there were four of them or so, and

06:19 During ages.

06:21 As we got closer to them, we got down into a Crouch and got really low. So they come see us and they were at they were horsing around walking around and we got right to where there's a path. We know they're going to come along this path and immediately that whenever you bring up on top of us, I stood up and kind of startled them and Jerry, stay down there in the grass. And I said, said so what are you doing with that snake? And they said, oh, yeah, we found the snake and it's kind of the friending them and they revealed it what they had done with the snake and everything Hearthstone as harsh as a twelve-year-old could possibly be said, that was our snake.

07:03 And one of the kids came over and he's going to do that with it. I was outnumbered I want to get came over and going to rock me up and then Jerry stood up and then I yelled. Come on guys. Let's all get them and they started looking around. They start running. It was Jerry and I chasing these for kids out of our field sizes, but there's like that. I say this, I'm 59 now and Jerry was just hoping maybe an inch or two shorter than me and the bed. That's the memory of it. But we, we ran in case these kids and where they've been doing all their activities with up. The bag in the snake. I was right across from from an old folks, assisted living assisted living area and they've been staying or visiting a a grandfather or great-grandfather. So we chase them all the way back there and they ran into the house and Jerry and I

08:03 Realize we had, we had him cornered. But now what are we going to do? And this is. Where are you now here? You think of peanuts. And they always seem to always see the kids but you never see the parents and anything can happen in the kids world, but Tina Southern Cross. The line, when you hear the adults speak, you still want, want want want? And we know we were going to knock on that door. We were leaving our world to get into the adult world and we gambled we knocked on the door and an old man. And I told man answered the door and that explains with what it happened and what these kids are doing and it was, it was too much for him. He didn't want to hear that. We were coming to tell on it on his kids or whatever they were and that was it. That was really the only thing that's that's a story but the way we kind of snuck up on him in and

08:59 Trick them into thinking, they were many of us when there's only two of them drove through there, on my bike, and on a nice track, and drove through there, and there's through some houses. It's all been developing. Fortunately. Not quite the same. I did manage to find the same tree and I went up to it. And, you know, that what that was, like, I said, early 70s at trees. I've seen better days. And fortunately, it's been beating up a little bit and

09:34 It's it's kind of sad to go back sometimes and see something like that, but I went up to it and I touched it and there's, you know, just kind of a full-circle energetic feeling that this tree help me grow up. We did a lot of good stuff. And I think. Did you do any do any sports through school or any Boy Scouts? I did, I did a little cross-country. I didn't really do anything that I can recall, but we were both Boy Scouts, and his dad was involved as a assistant scoutmaster. And that was also a great breeding ground for, for mischievous activities and fun.

10:18 I want occasion. We went to a jamboree and one of us brought this in a little nickel paper back of.

10:27 All these haunted stories. And so here we are at a jamboree in. It gets late and you have the campfire and it's the big campfire where everybody's around.

10:41 Nearest, get some things in and all that sort of stuff goes along. And at the end of that, everybody kind of goes back to their own camp with your own own troop and you might have a couple of campfires there Jerry and I sat around for hours, reading back and forth to each other, one story after another and in doing it invoices and and trying to beat you is as scary as it is. We could to each other and then we were told to shut up and go into the tent and go to sleep in the tent and broke up, the flashlight with a dimming battery, you know, you know that flashlight you have to keep slapping until the light comes on.

11:18 We had that one and we spent the whole night. Just reading from this this book and telling some of the same stories again and again and and laughing and getting scared and say and all that stuff is just magic. What about brothers and sisters? Did Jerry have any brothers that would hang around with you or who tells about some of the other kids in the neighborhood and some of the sunset neighborhood?

11:55 The land behind him was slipping down towards his house provided great fun for for jumping on that. Sled and coming down the hill, in the middle of winter and we would build those ramps and and create.

12:16 Sled pads that now normal people, possibly know, there's no way they could possibly and somehow we would manage to do it. And in the the wildest of Contraptions everything from cardboard, two, shovels, to the ones that the slaves, that were purchased it at Giant. And unbiased mean department store, and all that sort of stuff in his brother. His little brother. Timmy was always, kind of hanging around just like, you know, little kids do with, with Bigger Brothers and, and Timmy was a good guy.

12:51 Ms. This is Fault amongst us, was just that he was a little bit younger and, and to some degree, couldn't keep up and he was a tad, added burden of the parents, put on on Jerry to to watch your brother. And he's waiting out at watch kids without his play with them and, and torment them and do all that sort of stuff. Well, I stayed over at Jerrys house one night.

13:15 And I have to apologize for Timmy for telling the story in advance, but it did happen, but isn't it is funny. I stay over at Jerrys house one night and we had a great time that night. Next morning, Saturday morning. We were in his room and just walking out, and then kids that age sleep in their underwear or some sort of small clothing, shorts t-shirt. That's what I think. And we woke up Jerry and I were looking at his new BB gun that it. And this gun was there a trifold kind of a gun yet. You would have to Cock it the pistol grip and everything kind of moving down and and Timmy came in and he East Side during. I got involved in. Something else into me was was playing with it at the BB gun. And some way he started a cockatiel and it was too much for him to pull and when he did finally pull it back.

14:15 All the way he got, his member caught between the the stock of the Barrel in and the cocking mechanism.

14:25 And then he yells and injury yelled, dad, and his dad yelled. And he got his penis stuck in the gun, which brought his father immediately running through the door on me and everything is okay. Everything is okay and everything was fine, but it was, it was very dramatic and then we are having that happened. Having had that happened. It was immediately fodder for humor, and then picking on Timmy and and things like that. Didn't really go very far, but it's just one of those stories. I'd boy. House is boys. We were really could have given to me a run for his money and then personal Pride things never happened. Never happened. Didn't have to give me the great kid and was he with you as you were growing up. I mean, did we ever did to me started disappear when he was old enough to get his own friends.

15:25 . Was very close in in grade school and Junior High. And as we got the high school has, it always seems to happen. You cannot go out in your, find your own Wings a little bit. And although we were always friends that we just didn't hang out as much together and it is we hit High School. I think I lost track of of Timmy and where he was and it's some point. You wasn't called to me anymore. You just told him, what about some of the things, you know, holidays in that in the neighborhood. Did you all, you know, around Christmas time have snowball fights and, you know, you're out sledding or Halloween for kids, go trick-or-treating, you know, like four hours on and Grilling bags of candy, you know, back like I did in the sixties, we were out for an hours until midnight. Yeah, all that snowball snowman. There's a lot of Calvin and Hobbes and in us, you know, this before.

16:25 Came out but it was it was good at that kind of thing. You talk about trick-or-treating and I can't help. But remember a story where we plotted a way to have fun trick or treat Now, Jerry was very interested in the movies. He was interested in in special effects. He loved the idea of costume, and and tricking people look magic and all that sort of stuff for Halloween. He wanted to dress the two of us as scarecrows and not just look like some scarecrow up, a really dress up as scarecrows and sit there on the front porch and wait until kids came up to the front door and

17:13 Then when they were least expecting anybody just scare them, as they walked away with chant, that was candy to to move and do something and scare the kids and have them run away, run away.

17:25 As fast as I could, and we did that. We we got old torn jeans and we are at work too long for us and we tied them below our feet, stuff them with me on the leaves. Look to make it look like leaves are coming out. So it didn't look like they were real legs and we got sweatshirts that were too long and put big, you know, gloves rubber gloves and I'm tied them stuff leaves in there and remember putting a burlap sack over my head and cutting little holes for four eyes and blacking out our eyes with the with the makeup type of stuff. So when you looked into the the burlap sack, you didn't see anything just was Darkness, we put on our football helmets in there and do some some football pads and stuff like that. And these were not uncommon things that people would do to make a scarecrow and throw it out and on the front porch. So we were doing our best to be. That's

18:25 Micro that everybody else may have had on their front porch. And one particular want to remember a mom, and, and her son could have been much more than five or six years old. He's dressed as it is Casper. And he comes walking up. The site, are the driveway, a little sidewalk and little boys looking around and

18:49 Mom brings a child right up to the front door rings, a bell on and Jerry's mom was a lovely, lovely lady answered but didn't and kind of looked up because she know what we're up to give me a compass. She kind of looked at it and offered some candy, and maybe grab some candy and, and Mom and little boy turn around the Sun. The on the front stoop and started coming down the stairs. I was leaning up against 11 tree and Jerry was on another. We never knew which one they're going to come to 2 to look at or whatever. And this child just happened to come right over to me. And I had my eyes open and I see the little boy come walking to read over to me and stick his face in mine. And I've got the burlap bag with the helmet over it. And I got the eyes all blacked out, and you look straight into my eyes. And then, I opened up my eyes, really, really wide. And he started to to shake immediately and kind of liked running place and then his mother realized what we had just done and I was

19:49 Guilty, and I moved a little bit by to make any noises or anything. Like I had to the other kids and I felt a little bit bad, but I got the scarecrows and feel bad, but Halloween forever, do things, you put on plays, you know, you have science fairs you there all sorts of school interaction with other kids and teachers. So tell us did you get in trouble with any teachers? Did you do any plays together where there are some of that sort of group stuff, he go through an IV know grammar school.

20:32 The jury in jury had a, his brother had a babysitter that his parents God and he was, he was cool because he was young, he was in his late teens and any magic tricks and things like that, and you know, freaking to get our agent. That stuff was very very intoxicating and then we drink it up and Jerry very much. Like I said, yeah, I was in the movies in and wanted to do stuff like that. And when I came to Magic, he was very excited about magic. He got me, an inter interested in Magic and we both really thought highly of magician called Mark Wilson. And we practice tricks, we would go to the local department store and buy the magic trick. They had practice our sleight of hand and just do all the stuff. Spent hours and hours, doing it cut and rope, tying it back together, making not smelt.

21:31 Making balls disappear and leave tumblers and and showing our parents again and again and again, until you know, they probably knew how to do it, by the time that we had perfect. They're actually impressed that I couldn't figure out now at that point in time, because I couldn't see the the detail that gave it away. So, we did a lot of that and I live in an apartment building in the apartment building. They had a laundry room down the bottom of the, of the apartment building the seller. And I decided I was going to put on a magic show, 11 weekend.

22:07 Way out in advance like a month in advance, a up, put up signs and sorry getting all my tricks together and Jerry was going to be my assistant and we spent hours and hours on the morning of the other of the actual show putting everything together and I had to rig every trick headed cuz there is no magic. I had a ring, every trick and get it all set and ready to go. And I'd say of the probably probably maybe a hundred tricks that we pulled. I remember find the Cardinal in a dectric failing. Miserably. I remember turning rice into water trick leaking all over the table before I got to it.

22:56 But but other than that, looking out over the huge crowd of maybe twelve people parents and kids think they enjoyed. They clapped. It was no longer but they enjoyed it. I think it was a good day. And Jerry was there. Hey, I mean we worked in those tricks again and again and again, I think we split $11.70 which is Big Money measure. Yeah. Well, we also we also that I also sold some of my old toys. It was, it is a magic show yard sale.

23:30 So what about some of your other experiments did you do the sign? Didn't you say you did science fairs in school and Junior High that stands out in junior high. There was a science fair and can't. Remember what Jerry's project was me. I was attracted to electricity, and I was going to perform hydrolysis on on water, break it down into its original elements hydrogen. And

24:08 Don't we have to shut up and where they are and on a Thursday night.

24:14 Martha Junior High and you stand at your own booth for a while and it's some point, you start your venture out and see what all the other kids did and it did for the at night. I had missed lunch or dinner, I should say, and then I can remember, Jerry did or not. But as we walked around together, we found each other and walk around together. We found one boots that had that was offering food and we were hungry and it was the booth was was

24:50 Promoting the idea that kelp and seaweed was a viable food and plentiful food for all of us. Now. If anybody out there thinks it's science, fairs are a waste of time. The things I've just said to you now should tell you that sometimes they stick and I imagine he'll still is a viable food. But this, this phutha. The girl who did it. I can't remember her name. She had a big crock pot in this one crock pots. First, came out. So she had to buy that from Mom and Dad and she had a cauldron full of seaweed soup, and it was a it was a salty, green brown brothel.

25:35 Kelp, I guess. And we had a little Dixie cup and walked away and we knew we had it and man, I was I was good and we went back and we went back and went back and then we went back and going back and we basically drain that thing will the next day. I was swollen and round. I have sausage fingers and I couldn't get enough water to drink. We had so much salt in that, but it was good and it was it was that's, that's that's my size. But hers is like playing with the other kids. Were you considered Rascals? Did you do any secret things to the other kids in the class? I mean, spying on them or practical jokes. All right. You told me a story once about recess, something used to happen at recess.

26:29 We spying on kids or recording them or it would rain in the New England area. And when when it rains, you have recess inside and Reese's inside is always interesting. Now, you've got a, an area where it's supposed to be sitting in rows with your feet, on the floor and faces and facing front. And now you have to use the same space that absolute chaos. It's called recess. And you get to use all that stuff. That was you. That used to be a classroom. Now, it's going to be researched toys.

27:11 Jerry and I found us a wall outlet and and a cassette recorder. And is he on those old Punky cassette recorders, that would take them somewhere around 10 batteries or you're plugged into the wall? And

27:26 Had a big microphone not quite as big as this one, but something like it and you could record and in too great. A lot of fun things you could do with it. And one of the things we found we could do is if we opened up where the case was supposed to go and stuck our hand in there, in just the right way and pushed on record and play at the same time. It became a loudspeaker, whatever you said into the microphone came out of the speaker portion of it amplify. We thought this was amazing. So we would practice Radio Calls, and this, and that and, you know, all sorts of things we would do to. But at some point in time, we would put it aside in there and bring it over and set somebody up and start having a conversation with them and see if we could lure them into something. They weren't supposed to say, we're supposed to be talking about or something.

28:25 Something mischievous and it happened a few times recorder kids today or in the future will have absolutely no idea. What a tape recorder was.

28:38 You might remember a Walkman a walk when he was about the size of a cassette.

28:43 And that kind of a tape recorder was

28:49 Well, maybe about 7 tonight.

28:52 7 by 11, something like that. How to handle only previously at so. So what happened? What are some of the things that you two got older, what happened with girls and cars and all that. But the traditional high school year, Rites of Passage while you said, two things that you said girls and cars. And so I'll start off with with girls.

29:26 Jerry and I were two guys and and always having fun together and always trying to make each other crack up and, and laughing, and things like that, and that sort of thing people having fun, attracts attention. And for the most part, we always kind of just shunned it and just stuck to ourselves and didn't worry about that.

29:48 But there was a girl, her name is Wendy. Partington slit at the top of Mount Pleasant Street.

29:55 She like Jerry and I didn't get a whole lot of that and then understand a whole lot of that. But me and Wendy, Partington it, we're probably fit the 6th grade, Wendy, Partington rattled my world because somehow she was getting between me and my best friend. She was choose.

30:18 Create an awkward situation. And I didn't understand it for quite a while. And then of course, I understood.

30:27 She's cute little girl and she was bedazzled by Jerry and but yeah, you could have done any any, any better. She was. She was always the first girl picks for soccer kick soccer and a half of a half of her kids were doubles. So, she was kicking her power, she touched. That's why I like hanging around with her. I thought she was a good teammate for kick soccer. But Jerry had other ideas that I didn't get it.

31:07 So what about cars when they when you two got into cars, it was this. What? Freshman year, I guess when you're 16, you both went out and got a car or no. I got to go and get a car with, but Jerry had a car and I'm not sure if I was a freshman or sophomore year, or what it was. But

31:31 Check my car here in Grand fashion in in, in the grandest fashion. In this kind of exemplifies, a lot of

31:41 How you can have a life and have fun at added Jerry's. First car, part economics, part fun, part part. Show me was a Hurst. He, he bought a Hurst. I used hers had lots of miles on it. He bought the Hurst and I'm ever going to school one day and I was I was walking and walk with a bunch of people. And one of the guys, I was with said. Oh my gosh. There's a hearse pulling up in the school. And I said, that's no Hurst. That's Jerry canoyer, his car and right about then.

32:21 Yeah, I have another electric Lawrence. It went in later today in Atlanta today. And of course, you don't what? You can't drive a horse without having a a coffin. So he had a mock cough and in the back and the rumors were that the coffin was really a, a cooler. So that women are brave. I don't know too much about that. But yeah, you would drive his is Cadillac Hurst to school and it was, it was a gas guzzler. And it was, it had seen a lot of years. I've seen a lot of bodies drift a little bit there, but I think he had it for a couple years and decided to get into vocation vocation, we minded. So I'm

33:21 Sure, you could have tricked that sucker out and I really believe in something fun with it. So, do you know what really happened? Did you lose touch After High School after graduation? Or did you drift a little bit during? Yeah, I kind of lost touch a little bit here and there, I remember seeing them graduation day and two weeks later. I was, I was in the Marine Corps and I was in the Marine Corps for another 24 years, and came back to the dairy once or twice every willing to look up friends. Mostly just to see, my mom will live there and then she moved away and had almost no reason to go to the darien recently. I just had a hankering to go back there. So I jumped on my, my motorcycle and did a tour through.

34:14 New Hampshire. And it went through their drove by his his old house and drove by the high school drove by a lot of the stomping grounds and the scenes of many another story that I haven't even told is a lot of other stories there and just just thought about it. And I got back I got I wrote the Alumni Association for the school and asked if they had his address and and I and I got it. So you following this interview and probably the next week or so. I'm going to going to write you and tell him that his stories and is is fond. Memories are still with me. I have a lot to thank him for what do you think? Jerry would say about you? It is do you think he's sitting somewhere and possibly still in New Hampshire and telling his family about you don't Mark lennerton and all the trouble, the two of you got into in the blowing up the bridge.

35:14 What do you think is best memory of you is? You know, well, I might be one of them. You might say that it is a good friend to have a great guy to watch Carol Burnett worth cuz we still have accountant and just make sure the crack up Harvey Korman and, you know, that sort of stuff. And that I did not in fact, kill him by building the bomb, that blew up the bridge he survived. And I probably should explain that. We managed to get a hold of some fireworks with a brick and a half of fireworks and I remember where we got them, but we got them in Philadelphia few and we weren't very much impressed by a couple of fireworks. So

35:59 Knowing what we knew about them. We decided to dismantle the firecrackers and break them down to their components, the paper wrapping stuff used and the, the, the powder inside.

36:15 Now, we realize there's two kinds of powder, those black, teas powder. And then there's the great part of this actually inside the firecracker. So, we separated, he's into all their components and we had no more firecrackers left because we exacto knife slipping down the middle and separated all that stuff. We started building one big bomb.

36:32 The big bomb was probably no bigger than

36:36 It's been a large. None of the large golf ball, large golf ball. And we've, we've actually made two of them. The first one, we wrapped studies we could with the just just a paper and then put some tape around it and when we went to to to blow it up, it just kind of went poof and then spiraled around and became more of a projectile lamp on. Then we realize we had to pack it tighter in case it and about this time. And I feel that I mention early on there was a, a small bridge, and we went to that bridge and we crawled up on it. And I stuck it on the, on the bridge and then lit it. And we step back about thirty feet, and we waited and the fuse went down to a nub and stopped and we waited and waited and waited, and Jerry said that's it. And you stood up when you start walking over to it and I started walking with them and just as he got to it, it went.

37:36 Is back and I yelled at you killed it. I thought I killed my best friend and he survived and we both laughed and laughed and laughed. Okay. Well, as Jerry were to ever listen to this recording someday, 10 years, 20-30 years from now. What would you want him to know? Why are those cysts that special memories for you? Cuz that the, it was never a bad time. Are they were always good. You never had to say you're sorry. We always had a great time together. And I look at it the kids today and it didn't, you know, you mentioned it a little bit playground is is is an electronic device that you pull out of your pocket. It's it's not like it was back then. Play time is not like it was back then getting out getting dirty getting mischievous learning from from

38:23 I'm doing instead of just trying to learn from some of these video game. It was a different time. But I still can't tell. Somebody story to my mother. I'd be grounded.

38:42 Well, thank you for all of your stories. We've had many laughs over these and I'm sure you have many more. So hopefully we ran into Jerry canoyer in the near future.