Only two finished The Great Walk of 1963

STUNTS, GAGS and SHENANIGANS

The Great Walk of 1963 – What began as morning banter in the Candy Kitchen between proprietor Pete Bournias and barber Bill Slack, resulted in a 50-mile hike. The Candy Kitchen was at the corner of Bridge Street and Trenton Avenue (where the pizzeria was that burned down in 2018).

Chatting about physical fitness, Bournias said that he was walking many miles a day in the restaurant. Plus he'd served in the infantry. Slack said he's also on his feet all day, which is not nothing, and he too had military conditioning – in the Navy.

The morning regulars – Bricky Britton, Bud Bisson, the Johnsons and Dick Hughes razzed them, and they rose to the challenge – a hike to Washington Crossing and back – 50 miles. Delaware Valley News editor Rick Hartten fanned the flames with some advance publicity. Anyone who wanted to participate was welcome.

A son's injury caused Slack to back out, but Bournias would proceed. Although he had been on his flat feet since 5 a.m., at midnight on March 30, 1963, he and 20 men, ranging in age from high school student Robert Tucker to 59-year-old Ernie Kaufman, set out walking south on Trenton Avenue.

Only six of them made it to Washington Crossing; well-wishers visiting the hikers along the way, took the drop-outs home. The accompanying photo shows the only two hikers who made it back to Frenchtown – Bournias (right) and young Robert Tucker. They were greeted by a cheering throng of 200, a fire engine with its bell clanging, and a drum and trumpet played by Pearl Tucker and Goldie Sheetz.

The next day Robert's blisters would keep him out of school, but Bournias was back in the Candy Kitchen at 5 a.m., stiff legs and all.

Later, at a celebration at the Legion Hall, Mayor Bud Anderson gave him a cardboard key to the city, and Legion Commander Herb Hampton presented him with a plaque. Clyde “Tony” Fleming of Milford wrote a poem about the feat, which was framed and hung in the Candy Kitchen.

From "Rick's Frenchtown Encyclopedia"