When we were in Lexington, NC last week, I saw an Army/Navy store on Main Steet. It had a child’s shirt in the window. This wasn’t an Army/Navy Store like I remembered. As a boy growing up in Beckley, WV, one of my favorite places to visit when we went downtown was the Army/Navy store. In the 1950s, Army/Navy surplus stores experienced a massive boom following World War II and during … [Read more...]

Any young people reading this article and the words “Wunnerful, Wunnerful”, will say… what is he talking about? But all of us old codgers will know that the magic words “Wunnerful, Wunnerful” meant that the Lawrence Welk Show was on the air. Lawrence Welk had born in a German speaking immigrant community in North Dakota. He didn’t learn English until he was 21, which led to that distinct, … [Read more...]

If it was fall, we played football. After school, we took an available-players inventory, gathered up any and all warm bodies, and headed for the vacant lot two doors from my house on Court Street, in Lewisburg, WV. Our neighbor, Paul Jones owned the lot and never had it developed. He delighted in seeing us enjoy it. I think every neighborhood should have at least one empty lot for kids to play … [Read more...]

I think I was in 5th grade when a company called US Keds took the world (at least my world) by storm. They were high tops, white (not black) tennis shoes and they were cooler than an ice-cold Frostie. I had to have a pair and begged for them. The trouble was that while ordinary sneakers cost $3 or $4 at JC Penny’s, US Keds were $8.95 a pair and Daddy couldn’t comprehend paying that kind of a … [Read more...]

Sears went bankrupt and it’s still hard to believe. The company is still in existence, but barely, having shrunk to just five remaining full-line department store locations in the United States and an active online shopping site. In years past, 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 … [Read more...]

It was Beach Music and we owned it. Those of us who lived in Virginia or the Carolinas, or those who may have vacationed in those spots in the late 50’s and the 60’s, remember Beach Music. We remember beach clubs and dance halls along the oceanfront at places like Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach in SC, or in Atlantic Beach or Carolina Beach in North Carolina and, … [Read more...]

I was still 4 when we were transferred to Beckley, WV. Daddy worked in an office with two other FBI agents. His territory covered 4 counties, and many times he was gone for several days at a time, often to the home office in Pittsburg. As I would come to learn, a lot of the work that Special Agents for the FBI did was investigative. If a woman from one of his counties applied for a Federal job in … [Read more...]

It is really a miracle that there is even one in my generation still alive. For the most part, we worshipped at the altar of the sun, fearing nothing except that we might be the palest among our friends. Our moms would on occasion suggest that we use some suntan lotion. Remember the little girl in the Coppertone ad with her white butt cheeks showing? Who wanted to look like the Coppertone kid? … [Read more...]

Today, it’s “The Big Two.” Colas, that is, as Pepsi and Coke battle it out for the lion’s share in the multi-billion-dollar soft drink industry. Years ago, it was “The Big Three” – Coke, Pepsi and RC Cola. An RC and a Moon Pie was considered a working man’s lunch in the South back in the 50s. RC was invented in 1905 by a pharmacist who bought some cola syrup and experimented until he found just … [Read more...]

It didn’t take long after we moved to Lewisburg to discover that a huge event took place just outside of town. In Fairlea, a small burg between Lewisburg and Ronceverte, West Virginia staged their annual state fair in late August, and it was well worth the price of admission. There were great rides, grandstand shows with star entertainers, food galore, girly shows, horse pulling contests, harness … [Read more...]