In the late 60's when Martin Luther King was assassinated, the city broke out in riots that were traveling down Baltimore Street toward my father’s store. I remember my parents glued to the TV hand in hand praying for a miracle.
It wasn't long after that my father opened his second Polock Johnny's in Lexington Market and the first woman, Clarice Berman, was hired. I never missed a beat when he came home that night telling of the manager that had hired her. I had just entered high school by then so my father said I could work on Saturday's and holidays.
I'll never forget the first day entering Lexington Market to find our stall. Merchants of all kinds filled the building. Seafood vendors filled ice bins as butchers trimmed meat. Produce merchants were artfully building their fruits and vegetables display, as delivery men sped by with hand trucks filled with fresh bakery goods. While approaching our stand I found it just as alive with activity...loading the grill with polish sausage, setting up the mustard and ketchup bottles while other employees put away the rolls.As the doors of the market opened for the public, the shoppers made their way to their favorite spots. The customers were as diverse as the vendors. Businessmen walking along side of panhandlers as grandmothers slapped the back of heads of misbehaving children. The clothing exploded with colors, and the sound of cleated shoes would click by. Friends would exchange knowing hand jives as they greeted each other, while another would walk by talking to himself. As I slipped on my apron and hat I kept thinking to myself, God, I love this place."
I worked the market Saturdays, holidays, and summer break. When I graduated from high school in 1974, I joined the family business full time.
My father was opening up several other corporate & franchise stores by the late 70's and my younger brother; Charles was now working in the business. He made deliveries to the stores, mixed tons of our 'works sauce', and filled in for employees as needed. When my father later opened his own meat plant, Charles became active with the manufacturing and production. Eddie, the youngest, never took to the business but had tried his hand in sales creating retail distribution of our polish sausage in grocery stores and food warehouses. 
In 1982 I began supervising some of the stores around the city while managing Lexington Market. Eventually I was trouble shooting and rearranging store layouts for more efficiency. If we opened a new store, I helped with the design and stayed to get it open.
My dad was becoming more comfortable with my oldest brother, John, Jr.’s, ability to run the corporation so he wasn't hanging around the office as often. He still came in everyday but had found his greatest pleasure in his new found relationship with Jesus. My mother and father loved attending retreats, bible studies and church regularly. They quietly gave of them-selves, as they felt lead by Christ, wishing their acts never be made public.
