One of Nashua's best Lithuanian athletes of the Greatest Generation era was Adam "Soapy" Bondonis, who earned his nickname for his ability "to slip away" from opponents. With him are his wife, Irene, and their daughter, Diane. A son, Daniel, would join the family a couple of years later. Diane and Daniel still live in Nashua. (Courtesy photo)

A version of the old saying might be appropriate right about now: “So much great material, so little time and space.”

But is there any such thing as “too much” great material in the context of local history, from first-hand recollections to the precious snippets of family lore, passed down from generation to generation, always with a keen eye for accuracy and authenticity?

I say no. Which won’t surprise regular readers of this weekly essay, given this is the third time in as many weeks that I’ve written about the history in Nashua of the Lithuanian community.

Responses prompted by the last two columns came in steadily, a pretty good indication that Lithuanians, whether immigrants or first, second or even third generation, are among the more history-conscious ethnic groups, where you’d find plenty of folks who understand the value of learning, then passing on to future generations, the “old world” customs and traditions that molded them into who they are today.

I learned when I wrote the first of this mini-series of columns two weeks ago that I could probably find the answer to pretty much any question I had about Nashua’s Lithuanian community by shooting off an email to Nashua native Anne Zedalis, who, not long after graduating from Nashua High, headed west and took up residence in the Los Angeles area.

Dean Shalhoup

Among the things she took with her was her encyclopedic memory, and still today she can rattle off an anecdote, a quick story, or a long story, whatever it takes, like she was reading from a stack of cue cards.

She remembers, for instance, when a team of Budweiser Clydesdales, their Dalmatian “escorts” and their human caretakers stayed a couple of nights at the Tomasian residence in Merrimack back in the late 1960s.

Lynda Tomasian was Zedalis’s contemporary and “my lifelong friend,” she said by way of explanation. The Clydesdales were in town for the “official” groundbreaking of Merrimack’s newest industry – a Budweiser brewery – but the Budweiser folks weren’t able to find a barn large enough to handle the Clydesdales and their entourage.

Until, that is, someone mentioned the Tomasian farm, and the problem “It was the only place the horses fit,” Zedalis said, recalling “it was a really big deal, because the horses were in town for a long time and so many people came to see them.

“It was like a circus every day,” she added.

A reader who identified himself only as "Bill P." sent in this photo of the 1927-28 Nashua High basketball team, which, as were several years worth of football, basketball and baseball teams, was dominated by first-generation Lithuanian boys. The only two that are clearly not Lithuanian on this team are Tom Stylianos (standing at left) and Ray Gauthier (seated at right). Joe Sullivan (standing, second from left) is an Irish name, of course, but he was among those who "Americanized" their surname from "Sedlewicz" to Sullivan, a fairly common practice at the time for people with long, ethnic names. The same went for the team captain, seated at center, who was Peter Chesnulevich, but he went by Peter Davis. In front from left are Teddy Adams, Bolic Tamulevich (also spelled Bolik Tamelevich), Davis, Adam "Soapy" Bondonis, and Gauthier. Standing from left are Stylianos, Sullivan, Joe Krush, and one of the four Narkunas boys. (Courtesy photo)

Zedalis grew up in the family home on Lovell Street, a hop, skip and a jump from Fields Grove, which in her youth was as safe to swim in as a rich family’s swimming pool. Well, almost as safe.

She remembers the day in January 1953 when two little kids walked out onto the thin ice and fell through; one drowned and the other was rescued by a police officer.

Hearing the commotion, Zedalis ran down from Lovell Street. “I stayed there until dark … I felt bad I couldn’t save them, as I knew about the swift current where they fell in,” she said.

If you were Lithuanian and lived in Nashua, you probably lived in the High and School streets neighborhood, unless you and your famiy ran a farm, as did the Jasalavich family way out on Broad Street.

The Lithuanians living downtown frequented the Lithuanian Club, on School Street at the time. “All the men drank there but I never saw a woman” at the club, Zedalis said.

“Next door was a small variety store run by a Lithuanian … across the street was the Lithuanian bakery.

She remembers accompanying her father on errands and their last stop being the Lithuanian Club. “My Dad would pay me a dollar not to tell Mom he went in for a whiskey and talked to his buddies,” she said.

In the meantime, “I would go to the variety store and buy candy and a soda, then head for the bakery for jelly doughnuts.”

“The Gaidis Barber Shop was next door” to the bakery, which Zedalis points out because she’s a little peeved that the barbershop “has never been mentioned on any of the Nashua sites,” referring to the Facebook accounts devoted to Nashua history.

Peter Gaidis, the owner, was the Zedalis’s neighbor on Lovell Street.

A pretty good percentage of the Lithuanian boys, both of her parents’ generation and hers, were athletically inclined, and they loved telling tales, sometimes tall tales, of their various successes.

“I remember the stories they told over and over when they won those games,” Zedalis said, referring to the largely forgotten league of semi-pro teams on which recent high school and college graduates played.

Nashua’s entry, the “Knights of Lithuania,” played other teams in the region, many of them sponsored by Catholic churches, she said. The best teams would get to play at venues like the old Boston Garden, which, with the NBA still years in the future, was the only basketball played at the Garden.

The advent of World War II depleted many teams’ rosters, and the league struggled for a few more years until it folded with the organization of the NBA.

“Back then they were two-hand shooters from a distance,” Zedalis said, referring to the era of the two-hand set shot. “They played a very slow-paced game … with very low (final) scores, but (the style of play) had more playmakers, passers and dribblers … not like today, with everyone rushing to the basket and 7-foot giants dunking the ball.”

To which this basketball fan says “Amen.”

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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