WELLINGTON – The picturesque childhood of Al Leiby is available for the world to see.

There’s the photo of the home he grew up in at 124 S. Main St., Wellington, the one right next to the village hotel. And then there’s the picture showing him and his brothers playing tackle football in the Sparkle market parking lot with the Ortiz brothers.

Parades marched right by that home, and Leiby has photos of those, too.

As a teen, Leiby hung out with the rest of the kids at the Blue Dolphin swim club, an oasis complete with water slide and diving boards near cornfields and grain elevators. Again, Leiby has the photos that bring back many memories – the dolphin sign by state Route 58 and the pool that seemed so big, modern and inviting.

“In the 1970s there were splash parties from 8 to 11 at night, and you could swim, and there were live bands,” he said.

Those great photos and memories of times gone by – many from the 1950s and 1960s – are the fodder for Leiby’s fast-growing Facebook site called Memory Lane, which depicts an era gone by in Wellington.

After only a month, it has nearly 1,100 followers.

Those followers have helped add to the retired Elyria police detective’s cache and keep the conversation rolling in a casual fashion, with names cropping up of forgotten classmates and identities being provided for pictures posted by Leiby and others to the site. It’s like a Wellington reunion without the pomp and circumstance.

And even though Leiby started it based on his own memorabilia, he said submitted photos – and shared memories – don’t have to be specific to the time he grew up. It’s just a place where those who remember Wellington can reminisce and reunite.

For example, one photograph on the site is of dozens of coon pelts. It was submitted by Frank Bradstock and dates to 1941, when men made a living by trapping.

You have to have an account at Facebook to access Memory Lane, but it’s easy and free to join.

For some, Leiby’s site has become a family affair. Three generations of Elaine Jameyson’s family check it out regularly, she said.

“We’re all getting older and it’s nice to reminisce,” said Jameyson, 50, who operates The Bird Loft in Amherst.

Her father, Bob Pitts, now 77, was pleasantly surprised to see his own photo on the site on a Harley-Davison motorcycle, taken when he worked at Bendix in Elyria.

“It’s pretty neat,” Pitts said.

Pitts said it is hard to fathom the differences between when he grew up and now. There weren’t televisions when he was younger. Now, technology is everywhere, he said.

“There’s so much going through the air, I’m surprised we don’t get hit with it,” Pitts joked.

Leiby, who retired in 2000 after 25 years as an Elyria police officer, said he was always open to the idea of new technology at the police department, and now it’s a great hobby.

He spent the past few years digitizing the historic Charles Scheide photo collection that was willed to the Elyria Public Library in 1929, and for his site, he scans old photos into his computer and restores their sharpness and clarity using various photo programs.

His personal Web site, www.lazlographics.com, shows Leiby’s diverse interests, which go beyond his photo restoration business.

His Officer Down Memorial Page contains dramatic accounts of how Lorain County’s peace officers lost their lives on duty, and there’s another portion of the site dedicated to old photos of police officers and motorcycles.

Leiby’s wife, Barb, said she has plenty of her own hobbies and doesn’t mind that Al likes to tinker so much on the Web. Just don’t look for her to be logging onto Memory Lane every day like some folks do.

“I didn’t grow up in Wellington,” she said, laughing.

But some users are hooked.

In one post, Elizabeth McBride Miller wrote, “I couldn’t get on this page earlier – I almost panicked. LOL.”

That may be done in part to the fact that Leiby makes certain the site stays on target.

It’s about the memories, not about pitches. He deletes all posts that come from politicians and has made it clear that’ll always be the case.

That prompted follower Ham Carver to give him a thumbs up.

“Politicians are like diapers; they both need changing regularly for the same reason,” Carver wrote.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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