When Will Smith’s father William Sr. told me years ago that he had been an ice man in their West Philadelphia neighborhood, I actually didn’t believe him at first. I’d barely heard of an ice man, and I certainly didn’t think that they’d ever existed during my lifetime.

That just goes to show you how  naive my upbringing had left me. I’d never even considered the need to research the history of refrigeration until now, because when I was a child, my mother’s kitchen always had modern appliances.

Although I’d certainly heard about the ice man from all three of grandmothers, I’d never actually seen or needed one because we had never owned an old-fashioned ice box.

So, where was an ice man when I needed one last week? He no longer exists in America, of course.

Will Smith Sr., by the way, stopped delivering ice several decades ago. When I interviewed him on my former radio show called “The Real Deal” ( heard on WHAT 1340-AM in Philadelphia back when it aired talk), we talked about his record company and not his ice truck, which he’d long ago put to final rest. But it was fun hearing his stories and learning about the father who had raised mega-super star Will “the rapper/actor” Smith.

But back to my story from last week.

I had just spent about $300 on food for my daughter’s college graduation party, and a lot of it required refrigeration - chicken wings, salmon, lamb, assorted cheeses, eggs and humus. I’d been planning the menu for months, and wanted to prepare most of the food the night before so that  I could enjoy her guests and not be sequestered in the kitchen during the party. And just as I was about to begin prepping the food, my refrigerator died.

All of a sudden, a pool of water was leaking down from the freezer, and it was 10  o’clock at night. We couldn’t call anyone to fix it, and we certainly couldn’t call any friends that late. So, we dug around the basement and pulled out the summer coolers, and my mate went to the store and bought 50 pounds of ice to protect the food. That carried us through the night and the next day. I had to work around three ice chests plopped on the dining room floor. We had to keep buying  ice all through the party. I spent the entire celebration cooking, after all, but it was well worth the effort.

Our daughter was happy, and thankfully no one got food poisoning. Me? I’m still exhausted but thrilled that we were able to figure our way out of that mess and yes, we called the repairman the next day.

And thank GOD he was able to fix the refrigerator that we own because the cost for a new subzero one starts at around $1,500.

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