I saw a penny in the parking lot last week and stopped and picked it up. Most people won’t. A penny is looked upon as nuisance these days. Few will bend to pick one up and many toss any excess pennies in a bowl beside the cash registers. Boomers, though, can remember back when a mere penny bought tons of pure joy. Those were the days of penny candy. When I lived in Beckley, WV, my parents … [Read more...]
A Drive Down Memory Lane
A Boomer’s first love was likely his or her first car. It was one thing to drive the family sedan, but it was something else indeed to have your very own car. For most Boomers, that car was titled in the parents’ names, but if you had the keys, it was yours. My first car was a 1949 Pontiac two-door sedan. It was solid black with a little chrome here and there. I would not have been … [Read more...]
November 11th: A Special Day
There was a time when November 11th was my favorite day of the year. More so than Christmas, more than Thanksgiving, even more than my birthday was November 11th - Veteran’s Day. Veteran’s Day was always a special day for me because my father, James E. Brewer, was a veteran who lost his life in WW II. My step-dad, Daddy George, was also a Veteran, serving in the Pacific with the U.S. … [Read more...]
Oyster Memories
My father, James E. Brewer, was killed in action during World War II, eight days before I was born at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC. His B 29 was shot down over Burma. My young mother then brought me home to live with her extended family – my Grandmother, Mama Ida; Aunt Pearl, my grandmother’s older sister; Joanne, my mom’s younger sister; and Uncle Sidney, Mama Ida’s younger brother. It … [Read more...]
A Pile of Leaves
There were two maple trees in our yard on Court Street when we moved to Lewisburg, WV in 1955. There was nothing unusual about those two trees in the spring and summer, other than the grass beneath them was always a good spot to catch a few night crawlers for fish bait. The trees were so thick with limbs that they weren’t much good for climbing. But when October arrived, the leaves on those … [Read more...]
Model Airplanes
I was 5 when my family moved from Pittsburg to Beckley, West Virginia. My dad was an FBI agent and had been transferred. I immediately made friends with a 6 year-old boy across the street – Billy Richmond. Billy and I had countless imaginary games of Army, Navy and Air Force. A hill on a vacant lot became a German fortified position we had to capture; an old log behind Billy’s house was … [Read more...]
Boomers Loved Sears
Sears going bankrupt? It can’t be! Sears was America’s store. It’s where Boomers bought everything from sleeping bags to stereos to back-to-school clothes for their kids. And lives there a Boomer who can’t remember that special day when the Sears catalogue arrived in the mail? In the mail. Imagine that. That big, fat catalogue had hunting clothes and frying pans. It had ladies underwear … [Read more...]
Bass Weejuns: The Official Boomer Shoe
During WWII, leather was in short supply, much of it going to the war effort as boots, belts and slings for soldiers. Shoes were rationed and recycled. The shoe repairman was the most popular guy in town. After the war, things changed. Everybody had leather shoes. For young Boomers, the shoes of note were army-type boots, with straps and lace-ups. They remained in style until the 50’s, then came … [Read more...]
Powdered Milk
By the time we had settled in at Lewisburg, WV around 1956, television had really hit its stride. Great shows were airing, the majority of homes now had sets and the power of a television ad was daunting. If we saw it on TV, we had to have it. I remember Saturday morning cartoons, many sponsored by M&Ms. “They melt in your mouth, not in your hands!” the ad said. And we begged for … [Read more...]
Outer Banks Memories
I have been going to North Carolina beaches since I was a young boy – 6 or 7. My family had a small cottage at Morehead City and we spent many a day sunning and fishing at Atlantic Beach. I was in college when I made my first visit to Nags Head and I wasn’t impressed. The ocean waves weren’t nearly as spectacular as I remembered those at Atlantic Beach and the wind blew so hard that it sent … [Read more...]
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