Samuel Batchoff

Sam Batchoff was our local Good Humor ice cream man on east 20th Street in Stuyvesant Town.  He delighted generations of children for close to 25 years up until the late 1970's.  He lived on the Lower East Side, and I remember him telling me how he used to go to the Garden Cafeteria to eat meals, which was on the corner of East Broadway and Rutgers St.  He used to walk over to the garage on E 3rd St every day to retrieve his ice cream wagon, and push it uptown to 20th St and back.  I guess he must have taken a day off here and there, but I remember him on the corner every day during the spring thru fall, when the weather was good.

He delighted in betting the ponies and in listening to baseball on the radio, and often enlisted us local kids to run errands for him, since he couldn't leave the cart unattended.  I have fond memories of his friendship to me and many other kids in the neighborhood who delighted in his ice cream treats.  He obviously died poor, and without anyone to tend to a proper burial, but he's always held a special place in the hearts of many.