Native Son; A Return of the Flat Rat

By Frankie Orzechowski, Engineer and Investigative Journalist, Former Owego Flat Rat

In July of 2023 I returned to my hometown of Owego, N.Y. for the first time in nearly a half century. Why did it take so long? I cannot explain that. It is a strange phenomenon; to think about home every day for decades, and then never come back for a visit. It took an invitation to our OFA 50th High School reunion to motivate me to make the trip. 

While on the plane to Binghamton I could not help but wonder if the places I knew as a youngster would be recognizable, or would the passage of time have removed any sense of familiarity of my home and favorite haunts. When I crossed the Susquehanna Bridge into the Town of Owego, it was as though I was teleported back in time to a Cinderella adventure.

I was born in Binghamton, N.Y. during the summer of 1955. My biological mother was unable to care for me, and soon I was placed in a foster home in Elmira, N.Y. In 1957 my mother and father, Eddie and Martha Orzechowski, adopted me and brought me to their home on West Avenue in Owego, N.Y. I had officially become a Flat Rat! 

Mom and Dad came to Owego in the 1940’s. Both served in the military during WWII. Dad was a long time member of the local Lions Club, served as a Police Justice, and was very well known throughout Tioga County.

Their first business in Owego was the ice cream and donut shop in Newberry’s. In 1958 they would start a taxicab business called “City Taxi”. The business and fleet of cabs were located at our home on West Avenue. The downtown cabstand was located on North Avenue near the Smoke Shop and diner, and a few doors north from what was then known as Rexall’s Drugstore. The business would endure until my Dad passed away in 1976.

Although I was just two years old at the time, I was blessed or cursed with long-term memory. Leaving the foster home and engaging in a new environment was both sad and bewildering; however, as many young boys do, they adopt their own external family who look out for them and help them with the transition into a new life. They are called heroes, and I looked up to them. 

My heroes were local boys that lived all around me in the Flats. They included Jimmy and Paul Rhodes, Donny Smerdon, Tommy Clark, and Terry, Greg and Dale Bennett. They adopted me as their little brother, where I idolized them.

Some took me fishing, to the Tioga County Fair, sleigh riding, tapping Maple trees, and overnight sleepovers. But most of all, they talked to me; they were there for me and helped me to become an honorable Flat Rat.

I went to Kindergarten at Talcott Street Elementary School. Then I went to St. Pat’s Elementary School for grades one through six, Owego Junior High on Academy Street, at the time, for 7th, 8th, and 9th, and finally Owego Free Academy, on Academy Street at the time, for 10th and 11th. I was so looking forward to attending the new high school for my senior year off George Street, but it was not to be. Fate intervened and circumstances beyond my control led me to Florida, where I reside today. 

I went on to become a process control engineer; with my undergraduate work in physics / electrical engineering, and graduate work in mechanical engineering physics. In 2006 a local newspaper asked me to write a series regarding solar electric panels that the general public could understand. It became so popular that other media venues asked me to publish technical articles on similar topics.

Soon, folks across the country asked me to address questions regarding their venues. Some of these were political in nature. Thus I became an “accidental” investigative journalist. Since 2006 I have published scores of articles, never accepting any financial compensation for research or publications. Although not part of my original plan, I have become a “den mother” for many who need the kind of support I can offer.

Between full time employment as an engineer and voluntary work as a journalist, I did not have much spare time. However, I was able to make room for poetry. In our locality I joined a poetry group, and over the years I have written enough poems to publish a book. I continue to orate poems throughout Central Florida. Hopefully, I will publish a collection of my works in the near future. 

I credit my wonderful Owego teachers and education for providing the inspiration and the discipline necessary for me to accomplish what I have become. As I walked the streets of Owego during my visit I remembered all of those who unselfishly helped me to become the person I am today. I will be forever grateful to them.  

 In the chapters to follow I will share my stories, experiences during the visit, and those I interviewed along the way. The articles will include rare photos of Owego. Not a day goes by that I do not think of Owego. Why I did not come home earlier is a mystery, but I am proud to be a former Flat Rat.