Mary Kaiser moved to the Waldheim neighborhood to live with her father, aunt, and uncle after her mother's death in the 1920's. Her father was a conductor and later a supervisor for the MTA. Her uncle had a pony farm on their property and offered rides to children in the neighborhood. When her uncle died in the middle of the Great Depression, Mary's aunt sold the ponies and began renting out stalls in the barn as parking spots for cars. This rent was a large part of the family's income and a business that Mary conducted at the time of this interview. She went to Public School 24 on Robinson Street and remembered going as a child to see it built. She graduated from high school in 1940 and married a WWII veteran who had been her friend's neighbor in College Point. Her friend had encouraged her to write to him while he served in the South Pacific and despite never having met him in-person back at home, she did. They did meet once he returned and eventually married and had three children they raised in a home they built on her family's property in Flushing. Mary describes the many changes she has witnessed in the homes, businesses, and neighbors over her nearly nine decades in the area.
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