Somewhere, an ice-cream truck is playing a sad song today
Joe the Ice Cream Man passed away on Wednesday. His visiting hours are today, 2-4 and 7-9 at the Lawler Funeral Home, 1689 Centre St. in West Roxbury.
After he retired as a postal-service administration. Joseph Condron Sr. took to driving an ice-cream truck around Roslindale, selling not just ice cream but candy and comic books as well.
He seemed to do it more as a hobby than as a job - he charged next to nothing - and always had a smile for everybody. The kids loved him - and there were a lot of them, because he drove that truck for 19 years. One year, a girl on our street dressed up as his brown ice-cream truck for Halloween.
Last year, some still loyal customers set up a Joe the Ice Cream Man fan page on Facebook:
What always amazed me was Joe's patience as an indecisive kid had a white knuckle strangle-hold on a quarter and ate up an entire half hour of his time trying to get the exact combination of penny candy that provided the most satisfaction. Now I know Joe couldn't have been in the business for 50 cents an hour. Nevertheless, has was a defining characteristic of Roslindale at that time. ...
Here he is, at 85, in 2005, with neighbor Amy Joyce, who remembered:
... He is one of the nicest people I have ever met and I am honored that he remembered who I am and today is one of the few days that I am actually grateful that I moved back home because if I did not live here, I would have missed seeing Joe. ...
Thanks to Dan Farnkoff for passing along the news.
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A very patient and kind man indeed.
From what I remember, us kids could be pretty obnoxious, trying to out-shout eachother to get some Garbage Pail Kids or a Creamsicle. I remember him having to tell one kid that he couldn't sell him any more "magic snakes" (remember those?) because the kid's grandmother had registered strong disapproval Joe's truck rolling into the neighborhood created a small riot every night as kids poured out of the houses or temporarily suspended wiffle-ball games to crush up against the truck, waving money and yelling "Joe! Joe! Joe!" One day I needed a Chocolate Eclair so badly I ran up the hill in my underwear, hiding behind a bush and enlisting the help of a surprisingly merciful older kid to procure the treat for me. (I was a weird kid, clearly).