My favorite poem of all time is “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer. Mrs. Williams had us memorize it in 4th grade and I can still recite most of it even today. But at the time, I remember thinking that when God made trees, he was really thinking about kids. When I was a boy, one of my favorite pastimes was climbing trees and using my imagination. Billy Richmond and I climbed a huge oak tree in the woods … [Read more...]

Her name was Mrs. Williams. I suppose she had a first name, but I didn’t know it. She was just Mrs. Williams, my fourth grade teacher and one of the most influential people in my life to date. Looking back and talking with fellow Boomers, almost everyone admits they had one special schoolteacher they remember, and fourth grade was often that important year. Fourth grade for me was the first … [Read more...]

Boomers look back on many great memories from our youth as well as some that were not so great. One of those memories we’d all like to forget is our first foray into a life of crime and getting caught. I’m talking about “sticky little fingers” and most kids have them. They see something they want and take it. I was a relatively innocent six-year old until I was led down the primrose path by … [Read more...]

Next to Christmas Day itself and the annual birthday celebration, the most coveted day for young Boomers was Saturday. To be specific, Saturday morning. For Boomers in the 50’s, television was still a novelty. We’d watch anything – Queen for a Day, for example. In perhaps what was to become the first “Reality Show” on TV, host Jack Bailey interviewed an assortment of ladies, they shared their … [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 whatever Disney … [Read more...]

One of the great presents I have ever received came at my 10th birthday. I had begged for a record player and perhaps even a record or two to put on the spindle. My wishes came true. I unwrapped a small portable record player and a 45 record from Dean Martin – Memories Are Made of This. Soon my collection would include Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley, The … [Read more...]

Boomers recall Sunday as a special night. It was both the culmination of a week gone by and the head start for a new one. It was also a special family time. After supper, Boomers gathered around the television set. Sunday night meant one thing and one thing only. The Ed Sullivan Show. To miss the Ed Sullivan Show was like missing a meal. Families in the Boomer years simply had to watch Ed … [Read more...]

Recycling is very fashionable these days among the younger generation, which speaks reverently about reducing something called a carbon footprint. Promoting alternative energy sources is also most important as is buying any product with the prefix “green”. Many think that the Boomer generation is and was totally oblivious to helping preserve the environment. Some suggest that we may have been the … [Read more...]

The power of television in the early days was mind-boggling. No advertisements today – even the mega-popular Super Bowl commercials – can rival the impact of many TV ads in the 1950’s. Case in point? Brylcreem. Until the mid-50’s, most guys wore flat tops, crew cuts, or GI’s as they were sometimes called. It was the result of the lingering influence of World War II and the deep admiration … [Read more...]

Believe it or not, there was once a time when you had to actually get up off the sofa and walk over to the TV and turn it on. After waiting for the tubes to warm and after adjusting the horizontal controls, you could sit down and watch TV – both channels. For Boomers, the Age of Electronics began with the remote control device for the television set. We were in heaven. Then it got worse. … [Read more...]