We had genuine marksmen in Lewisburg Junior High in 1956. Sharpshooters, you night say. As I would quickly discover, if you didn’t pack heat in self-defense, you would get squirted. Squirt guns, you see, were the weapons of choice among the young people in the mid-50s. Before class, during class and after class, you could hear triggers squeezing off shots, pelting other students with a spray of … [Read more...]

  Boomers grew up with a little fellow named Speedy Alka-Seltzer. He was one of us. He was our friend in need. Speedy was there when you ate too much, drank too much, had indigestion, heartburn, stomach aches, acid reflux, aches and pains, bad colds and especially a hangover. He was our friend when we had too much of any good thing. Marketing – such as the promotion of Little Speedy – has … [Read more...]

There was just one movie theater in Lewisburg when I moved from Beckley – the Court Theater. It was located, naturally, on Court Street, about a half block from Washington Street, the main thoroughfare through town. The Court Theater served as a major hub of social activity for young and old alike. If there was a decent movie playing, we went. Even if it wasn’t  a decent movie, we went. The … [Read more...]

  I saw a picture of a sandwich wrapped in waxed paper recently that took me back to the 1950’s and brown bag lunches. As an elementary student, sometimes I ate in the cafeteria, assuming someone had an available quarter, but usually Mom would pack my lunch – a cookie, an apple and a sandwich wrapped in waxed paper. I remember watching the early commercials of Reynolds’s Waxed Paper … [Read more...]

  My wife and I went out to eat recently at a fairly nice restaurant and as we sat waiting for the server, I noticed that about half the men in the restaurant were wearing hats, mostly baseball caps, and half of them were on backwards. There was a time when wearing a hat indoors was strictly off limits and wearing one at the dining table was unthinkable. What ever happened to good … [Read more...]

  I don’t like washing machines. Never have. My earliest recollection of a washing machine was a big bucket-looking thing with ringers on top. I figured that if those ringers could squeeze the dirt out of blue jeans, they would mash hell out of small fingers. So I avoided washing machines at all costs. Later, of course, my family owned newer, more modern washing machines, and even … [Read more...]

When the lilies bloomed, it was time. It was time to pack up all our stuff and go camping – at least that’s how it once was. The kids typically got out of school the second week in June – when our backyard lilies were in full bloom. The last day when the kids came home, it was off to an enchanted place called Cherrystone Campground on the Eastern Shore, the Land of Pleasant Living. And pleasant it … [Read more...]

  Picnic season has arrived. Families will be firing up the Weber Grills, friends might bring potato salad, or a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken. There will be some potato chips, maybe a pie or two and there will be plenty of Citronella candles to keep the mosquitos at bay. But that’s not how picnics once were. Boomers remember church picnics as among the main events of the summer. What … [Read more...]

  There was a time in America when drug stores didn’t occupy an entire city block. They weren’t part of corporate empires. There was a time when Boomers knew the local pharmacist to be a family friend and a trusted adviser on most things medical. If a youngster in the family was running a high fever, the pharmacist would often meet a distressed mom or dad after closing hours to fill an … [Read more...]

  The old iron skillet sat on the stovetop most of the time. There was a place for it in a cabinet below, but we used the frying pan so much - why put it away? The well-seasoned black pan had been with us since Mother and Daddy got married and we moved to Seattle. I think Mama Ida had given it as a wedding present. Looking back, I can’t remember when it wasn’t there – ready to fry up a … [Read more...]