It’s fitting to go back to the mid-1950s and check on that household in Dolton, Chicago, Illinois and see those Prevost boys and see some of their cute childhood photos. The first photo shows little Rob probably on his first birthday, which would be September 14, 1956. The second one is at the same time, as he is placed in one of the apple baskets I remember in the fall season. The third photo shows the three boys, with Rob the youngest on the left, and John and Louis the other two. Both his brothers were interviewed right after Rob’s election and they recollect how they always played with guns, marbles, sling-shots and baseballs, while their younger brother wanted to play church, and begged them to participate with him. Yes, inside his childhood home, the future Pope “played” Mass, using his mother’s ironing board as a pretend altar and candy Necco wafers as pretend hosts. On the street outside, lined with trees and similar small-size lots, he rode his bike with the neighborhood kids and joined in games like ‘Red Rover.’ They also agreed on the fact that they hardly ever gave a hard time to their parents, mainly because they were strict with them and handled any problem right away.
They all went to baseball games, especially the Chicago White Sox whom they favored, rather than Chicago Cubs. They often went with other altar-boys as a reward for their best behavior, probably led by their parish priest. They hung out together until their teenage years, but then once Rob joined the Augustinians, they would only see him on holidays and whenever he visited home. Their home was modest: a simple, square, red-brick Cape Cod house, the kind lived in by tens of thousands of other middle- and working-class Chicago families in the post-World War II housing boom. Their mother Mildred died in June 1990, and their father Louis died in November 1997.
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