In today’s world of self-service, it’s hard to conceive that stores would actually give premiums to entice and retain customers. But Boomers clearly remember S & H Green Stamps and a national era of stamp collecting so profound that many people went around with green tongues from licking so many stamps. In the 50’s and 60’s, filling stations not only put gas in your tank, but they also … [Read more...]

I once won a Blue Ribbon in a West Virginia Garden Club Flower Show. Therefore, in spite of what my golf buddies may say, I do have certain skills. This is how it all happened. My mother, Frances, was always involved with Garden Clubs and Flower Shows. She served as President in both the State and the National Garden Club. She judged shows across the country and was frequently called on as a … [Read more...]

For Boomer kids, pocket knives were essentials. By second grade, every young boy had one. And they weren’t toys. They were real knives. My first one of many (I lost them on a regular basis) was a barlow. Afterall, Huckleberry Finn had one, and so did I. When things were slow, with no pretend army or navy battles underway, we broke out our barlows and whittled. Mostly we whittled small sticks … [Read more...]

When I was a. boy, we never had lunch on Sunday. It was always a “mid-day dinner” and we ate the leftovers for supper. Sunday Dinners were special. After church, we came home to a feast of roast beef, leg of lamb, ham, pork loin, fried chicken or some other heavy entree. The “dinner” came with all the fixing’s – rolls, gravy, green beans, boiled potatoes, pickled beets, sliced tomatoes and then … [Read more...]

I moved to Charlottesville on the first day of February in 1967. Bill Leggett had hired me as Men’s Buyer for the new Leggett’s Barracks Road Store with the idea that Leggett’s would no longer be a work clothes and $3 white shirt store. They were looking to enter in the world of fashion, to sell better clothing. My background included an intensive education in clothing at the University of … [Read more...]

  Last Saturday morning, and for no apparent reason, I could neither send nor receive E-mails. No problem for this Boomer-type computer whiz. I did what all good Geeks do. I turned the computer off and rebooted (that means turning it off and starting again for those out there who are not computer whizzes). Still, no E-mails. Hmmmm! Alright, now for the serious stuff. I “Force Quit” … [Read more...]

About 30 years ago, my wife Nancy and I along with our daughter Laura hopped in my Chevy Luv pickup truck and headed out to buy and chop down a Christmas tree. I had told Laura a story about a little girl who had found the perfect Christmas tree in a grove of pines and the little tree was truly happy to go home and be with her new family. So Laura wanted to do the same. At that time, Virginia … [Read more...]

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 more pleased … [Read more...]

  In the fall of 1962, folk music reached its peak. Joan Baez, the Kingston Trio, Brothers Four, The Limeliters, The Chad Mitchell Trio, The New Christy Minstrels, The Highwaymen, and Peter, Paul and Mary filled the airways with their folksy music and sold albums like they were going out of style. I was a freshman at UNC and by the time Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers came to … [Read more...]

Was it Col. Mustard with the lead pipe in the ballroom, or could it have been Mrs. White with the rope in the conservatory? If you haven’t a clue, then you likely aren’t a Boomer. On a winter day and with a rare school closing due to snow, Boomer kids raced up and down steep hills in our Flexible Flyers until exhausted, and then we gathered up a gang and went to someone’s home for hot chocolate … [Read more...]