Dear $$firstname$$,

For many people, April marks the opening of the fishing season, and the anglers out there can well remember days of fishing with Dad or Mom and their first big catch. This youngster, at right, sure caught a beauty; what a fish story he had to tell afterward. Happy spring to everyone!

—The Staff at Reminisce

Fisherman Bob Click for larger image

FISHERMAN BOB. My son, Robert Vitali Jr., was holding his prize catch (with a little help from Dad) after a 1960 fishing excursion aboard the Popeye out of Miami Beach, Florida,” says Mrs. Robert Vitali Sr. of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. “This year, Robert Jr. celebrates his 52nd birthday, is the father of two children, Anthony and Patricia Ann, and is employed as plant supervisor in the manufacture of precious metals at H. Cross & Co.”

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In this issue:

• City Kid Captivated by Farm Life
• The Greyhound Bus Social Club
• To-Do List: Deliver Stove — Get Married
• Poem: Having Birthdays
• Over the Back Fence
• Time Capsule Trivia
• A Thought to Remember

City Kid Captivated by Farm Life

By Earl Damann
Williston, Florida

Photo 1 Click for larger image

I was born in the small town of Kent, Ohio way back in 1926. Over the years, many of the things we now consider as necessary in life were not even dreamed of then.

My father was a schoolteacher, and back in the ’30s, his summers were free. When the school year was finished, Dad and Mom piled my sister and I into their DeSoto automobile for a trip to the farm where he was raised in Farmington, Minnesota.

Dad’s four brothers and three sisters all became farmers or married farmers, and all of their farms were located in the same general area. When we arrived at the home place, I was allowed to go from one uncle’s farm to another, a real treat for this city boy.

Photo 2 Click for larger image

The steam-powered tractor, although no longer used, was still on one farm. It had been used for running the threshing machine and silo filler. My dad and aunt are sitting on the threshing machine (photo 1), and my mother and aunt are sitting on the tractor (photo 2).

Hay bales were not invented yet, but with two teams, three good men, a wagon and a hay loader (photo 3), hay was loaded and hauled to the barn, where it was offloaded into the hay mow (photo 3B). I think one of the men in the picture is my uncle, the second was a hired hand and the third is my older cousin.

Photo 3 Click for larger image

Photo 3B Click for larger image

It was hard work to keep the farm buildings looking good. Without any mechanical help, it was a do-it-yourself project. I recognize the barn and silo as being on my Uncle Bright’s place (photos 4 and 5)—makes a person appreciate a good paint job.

Photo 4 Click for larger image

Photo 5 Click for larger image

Remember the Model T Ford? The transmission consisted of three pedals; the left one was low, the middle one was reverse and the right one was the brake. A lever on the side was for high gear and the emergency brake.

My mom is behind the steering wheel surrounded by friends (photo 6). Friends are in the “T” with the top down (photo 7), and three kids are waiting for someone to come and crank up the engine for a ride (photo 8).

I remember being taken to a free show at someone’s farm. A sheet was nailed to the barn and a film was shown. I have no idea who owned the projector or where the film came from. We kids would watch the show while the men and women talked. It was a chance for everyone to get together and sometimes a chance for teenagers to do a little courting.

Photo 6 Click for larger image

With refrigerators not yet invented, a windmill powered a water pump, the water flowing into an open-topped cement holding tank where perishables were kept. The overflow was piped into a stock tank located in the barn for the livestock.

The kitchens had large wood-burning stoves that my aunts cooked wonderful meals on. In order to get the wood started, corncobs soaked in kerosene were used.

Most farms had a flock of geese. This is my grandma (photo 9) with her flock. I was told they would keep the weeds out of the garden. How they could tell a weed from a desirable plant is something I never figured out.

Photo 7 Click for larger image

When a hayrack was too large for a job, a grain wagon was used. That’s my Dad (photo 10) with a team that appears to have worked up a sweat.

One evening at my uncle’s home, the lights were turned off and we sat in the dark listening to Gang Busters and Inner Sanctum Mysteries on the radio. We kids would jump at every spooky sound, much to the amusement of our elders.

School there started earlier than mine back in the city, and I remember tagging along with my cousin. My aunt would fix us baked-bean sandwiches and send us across the fields to the one-room schoolhouse. Each grade would sit in a separate row, and the school was warmed by a pot-bellied stove. The woodshed kept the firewood for the stove dry and was also the place where misbehaving students received “correction” for their misdeeds.

As I sit and reminisce about those times, I only wish my kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids could have seen life as it used to be back then. I doubt any of them could imagine life without cell phones and computers. But to me, those days without them were the good old days.

Photo 8 Click for larger image

Photo 9 Click for larger image

 

 

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The Greyhound Bus Social Club

By Lucy Kline
Cocoa, Florida

There I was, at the age of 17, 3,000 miles away from my family. I had chosen to begin school in Los Angeles before the rest of my family was ready to move from The Bronx, New York to California.

I had gone out on the Super Chief train. Now, in spring of 1950, I wanted to surprise everyone by returning to New York for my kid brother’s upcoming confirmation ceremony. To get there myself, in a way I could afford, I took a Greyhound bus.

I really had no idea of what to expect as I boarded the bus in downtown Los Angeles, took a window seat and watched all of the strange faces of people coming aboard. I felt relieved when no one chose to sit next to me, because I was feeling quite shy and reserved.

However, just before the bus pulled out, a young man in a Marine uniform got on, walked down the aisle and asked if he could take the seat next to me. I mumbled an affirmative and buried my nose in a book I had brought along.

Out of the depot we rolled, heading eastward, and at the next stop, in San Bernardino, four of my seatmate’s buddies got aboard. All were in Marine uniforms and looking very handsome to this tongue-tied girl. They managed to sit within our vicinity and soon the five friends were playing cards, laughing and enjoying their leave together.

By listening to various conversations, I gathered that most of the passengers were going most of the way to New York with me. After a while, we all were conversing, even shy little me, just like one big happy family.

The first evening, when we stopped for dinner, one of the Marines insisted on treating me. This continued every evening as the fine young Marines took turns paying for my meals.

The first night, as we traveled along and things got quiet and the lights were dimmed on the bus, I realized I had fallen asleep with my head on the shoulder of the Marine who first took the seat next to me. Guess I was beginning to feel comfortable with my new friends.

By the end of the second day, I was chattering away, so much so that one of the guys said jokingly, “Don’t you ever stop talking?”

So, after being teased about that for awhile, I decided not to talk anymore. The card-playing continued while I pantomimed. People sang songs and I just “conducted” them. It was kind of fun and the others got a kick out of it.

This didn’t last long, however, and people who know me today will tell you they can’t ever shut me up for more than a few minutes at a time.

After 4 days of camaraderie, we reached Manhattan. As the bus was unloaded, the Marines all asked for my phone number; by now, we were old friends.

Within a few days, one Marine called for a date. It never happened, though, because 2 days later, the Korean War began. All leaves were cancelled and the Marines had to report back to camp.

I never heard from any of those friendly Marines again and only hope they came home safely. I also hope they remembered with fondness, the way I did, our short time together on that Greyhound bus, driving all the way across our vast country.

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To-Do List: Deliver Stove — Get Married

By Carol Alfaro
Hartman, Arkansas

My parents, Sherman and Joyce Hovie Matheson, were high-school sweethearts in 1930s Comstock, Nebraska. They were married August 29, 1936, but this date was not preplanned.

Before they could get married they had to go to the county seat, the town of Ord, about 30 miles away to get a marriage license. In the Depression, gas was not in their everyday budget, so the wedding date had to coincide with a necessity.

On the morning of the 29th, my mother was awakened by her mother, who asked, “Do you want to get married today? Your brother, Wendell, is going to Ord to deliver a stove.”

Mother pulled on her clothes, jumped out the front door and ran to her intended’s home. She banged on the door and when he opened it, she asked him, “Do you want to get married today?”

Daddy nodded yes, and they began to scramble around getting ready and thinking about witnesses. They decided Wendell could serve as best man, and my father’s cousin, who happened to be Mother’s best friend, would be the maid of honor.

In no time, the four of them piled into the truck, with the stove behind them, and took off for Ord on the dirt roads.

My grandmother had a $20 bill saved just for the event and gave it to my mother with her blessing.

While Wendell delivered the stove, the girls went shopping for Mom’s wedding dress. They found the courthouse, got a license, found a justice of the peace and recited their vows across his desk.

Mother still had money left after expenses, so they decided to celebrate. They had lunch at a local diner and bought candy bars for their “chivaree,” which was a raucous, sudden celebration by friends that always followed a few days after the wedding day.

They all got back in the old truck and drove home, and Daddy went home with his bride that night. They were married for 57 years.

When my daughter was “in a dither,” as Mother called it, when planning all of her wedding details, my mom would ask over and over, “Do you know about my wedding day?” She enjoyed telling that story time and again.

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Having Birthdays

Ethel Klaver of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania shares this poem clipped from an old newspaper or magazine by her grandmother and passed on to her. The poem, published in a column entitled “Boyd’s Fireside Verse,” likely will strike a chord with all of us.

Having Birthdays
By Daniel J. O’Connor

When I was just a youngster
And life, a brimming cup
A birthday meant a glad event
For I was growing up.

A party then was given
To celebrate in style
And I was dressed like all the rest
Too starched to even smile.

The gifts, as I remember
Were placed inside the hall
In mem’rie’s lane, they bring again
The days beyond recall.

For many years that followed
Smart greetings came my way
But now—Alas! My birthdays pass
Like any other day.

I don’t quite understand it
Unless the reason be—
That friends who might be glad to write
Will not embarrass me!

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Over the Back Fence

Late one night, a mugger wearing a ski mask jumped into the path of a well-dressed man and stuck a gun in his ribs.

“Give me your money,” the mugger demanded.

Indignant, the well-dressed man said, “You can’t do this to me. I’m an agent of the Internal Revenue Service—the IRS!”

“In that case,” the mugger replied, “give me my money!”

—Sheldon Glassman
Brooklyn, New York

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Time Capsule Trivia

Enter our own personal time machine as we look back on the happenings from a particular year. See if you can guess what year it is. The answer is given below, but no peeking!

1. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, by Dr. Benjamin Spock, is published and becomes a child-rearing classic for many years.
2. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is quoted as saying that an “iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” For many historians, this marks the start of the Cold War.
3. The popular parlor game Twenty Questions comes to radio, and soon the whole country is asking, “Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?”
4. Movie openings include The Best Years of Our Lives and It’s a Wonderful Life.
5. New this year are Tide laundry detergent, Tupperware products and the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), a 30-ton machine carrying out functions that are done today on an advanced hand-held calculator.

Have you got it narrowed down to the right choice? Can you guess the year? Scroll down for the answer…

 

 

 

The answer is 1946, also the official start of the Baby Boomer generation.

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A Thought to Remember:

As people grow older, they talk less and say more.

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