Former Caddy Vista Neighbors Reconnect on Facebook

Crawfishing, and rhubarb and berry picking are fond childhood memories of Gayle Kitchen, an Oak Creek resident who remembers when everyone in the Caddy Vista neighborhood of Caledonia knew each other. It was basically its own separate town, said Kitchen, who has recently connected with dozens of former Caddy Vista Kids on a Facebook page of the same name. Because of Chris Zbeb, the founder of the page, more than 160 people are interacting with the pages, now featuring photos circa 1955, along with former addresses, nicknames, anecdotes and updates.

“We’re finding out people in our class have died, and there was someone who was in prison,” said Kitchen, who lived in Caddy Vista from 1955 to 1965 Reconnecting has been possible because of the relationships that have been maintained over the years, now communicated online.

“And then somebody knows somebody else, so there are pieces of the puzzle that fit together," she added.

The camaraderie of the Caddy Vista community is what has left its mark on Kitchen, who said she’s lived in two different houses in the subdivision. It was built on an apple orchard, she said, and she remembers two apple trees in one of her lawns. Of the 200 homes in Caddy Vista, Kitchen knew almost all the residents, she said.

“We had a neighbor store, that was like the glue, like the social area, and then at school , everybody knew each other there,” she said. “We had to go  out to get gas or to the butcher shop, but
otherwise we pretty much had everything we needed right there.”

The river was clean then, Kitchen said, so kids went crawfishing quite often.

“Nowadays you can’t even have your kids go in the woods,” she said.

But despite the changes, Caddy Vista still beckons some of the kids, now all grown up, home.

"There are a lot of original kids who bought their parents homes who live there now,” Kitchen said.

Cathy, a current Caddy Vista resident, has returned to the subdivision where she also lived in the 1950s and 1960s, in a home that has always stayed in her family. She said while some of her neighbors are new, others are old friends.

“I moved back here a year ago and I’m just finding so many
people who are still out here,” she said. “I go for a walk and I end up talking to somebody I knew…it’s very nice. It’s comforting.”

Cathy saved directories from her childhood era, listing the phone numbers and addresses of the Caddy Vista community. She said she also has original newsletters the neighborhood circulated, announcing events like baby showers. While the architecture, and lifestyle, in Caddy Vista were somewhat simple, times were good,
Cathy said.

All the 1955 homes were ranch style, no basements, and few had garages, according to Cathy.

“My parents house cost $6,800. There was a $300 closing cost and that was taken off the price of the house,” she said. “There were about 35 kids in the subdivision and there was always somebody to play with.”

Trick-or-treating was one of her favorite times of the year,
she said.

“You went house to house and you just had no worries,” she said.