The year was 1920,"One hundred-and one years ago." What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics for the Year 1920: - The average life expectancy for men was 47 years. - Fuel for cars was sold in drug stores only. - Only 14 percent of homes had a bathtub. - Only 8 percent of homes had a telephone. - The average US wage in 1919 was 22 cents per hour. - The average US … [Read more...]

Christmas memories. Strange, how some things stick in your mind through all the years. A Christmas memory I vividly recall happened in 1956. It was a few days before Christmas and Uncle Jim, my Aunt Jodi and Mama Ida had come from North Carolina to spend Christmas at our house in Lewisburg, WV. With an hour or two of sunlight remaining, I asked my uncle if he wanted to take the dogs out and … [Read more...]

    We put up our Christmas tree exactly one week before Christmas, and we took it down one week after. Never earlier, never later. It was tradition in our family when we lived in Lewisburg in the 1950’s. Selecting the tree was another tradition. On the appointed day, everyone piled in our car, a fifty-something Pontiac and headed for Bud Simm’s Esso Station, one of only a … [Read more...]

  The year 1955 was not a good one to be a raccoon. In fact, if you were such a masked critter, chances were pretty good you’d lose your tail and skin to a fad called “Coonskin Caps.” In the mid-1950’s, Walt Disney was a dominant program on TV. Families gathered around their Zenith, Philco or RCA black and white sets on a Saturday night, set up the trays for TV Dinners and watched … [Read more...]

I spend about an hour a day in my car, more if I’m on a trip, and I always have the radio on. I pretty much ignore talk radio anymore – too depressing, so I listen to the oldies station or light rock. It’s background noise, mostly, something to occupy the time. But there was once a time when the radio not only made noise, it entertained us. Many Boomers recall the Golden Age of radio. I grew … [Read more...]

  Every Boomer remembers his or her first bicycle. Next to turning 16 and getting a driver’s license, the biggest day in the life of a youngster was getting that first, new bike. Afterall, a kid without a bike was like a fish without an ocean. The reason bikes were so critical during the early Boomer years is because families generally had only one car, and the dads had them at work. … [Read more...]

  Look in the medicine cabinet of a modern family and you’ll find Neosporin and other balms and creams to treat wounds. No pain, just soothing comfort to treat a “boo-boo” on a child. But remembering back when Boomers were growing up, there were three medicines used to torture children – Iodine, Mercurochrome and Methylate. It’s hard to rate these three liquids from Satan in terms of … [Read more...]

  During the World War II, rubber and plastics were simply not available to consumers. But after the war, things changed. Needing to keep assembly lines open, manufacturers developed tens of thousands of new rubber, plastic, and fiberglass products. Among them was the rubber squeeze change purse. Every Boomer kid had one. It’s where we put the 10 cents for admission to the movies. It’s … [Read more...]

  Running out of toilet paper and paper towels is a minor inconvenience. But when you see empty shelves in the liquor store, that’s a serious problem. There are now lots of “Sorry, Out of Stock” signs in ABC stores throughout the country. Fortunately for me, I’m not a picky drinker. If it’s in the liquor store, it’s fair game, though I clearly have my favorite brands and I hate Scotch. I … [Read more...]

  My life is dotted with the memories of certain trees. Yes, trees, those so beautifully described by Joyce Kilmer. The first tree that had special meaning was a huge oak tree on Grandview Avenue in Beckley, WV. I was about 7 or 8 and played with two slightly older boys – Dicky Guy and Billy Richmond. We played three things back then – Army, Navy and Air Force. We shot attacking … [Read more...]