Lucky me being born in the first year of the Baby Boomer generation that let me experience all the culture and societal changes of the decade and a half. It was the era of the great housing boom that created the suburbs, the huge increase in car ownership and the phenomenal economic change that made class distinctions less noticeable.
I grew up with two brothers, Paul two years older and Kenny two years younger. We lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma which was a town of about 38,000 people in an after-the-war little tract home. My dad was a pharmacist and my Mom was the epitome of "June Clever". The neighborhood of about a hundred and fifty similar houses was filled with young families and lots of children. The majority of the houses were only two bedrooms but no one thought anything about three twin beds and a dresser in a tiny room. Dad added another bedroom when I was about ten so I could have a room of my own.
With two brothers I naturally was a tomboy. Mother shooed us out of the house early on the days there was no school. I can remember playing Cowboys and Indians, army with real army surplus canteens and helmets, hide and seek and baseball. Superman was fun until a neighbor boy jumped off the roof thinking he could fly and baseball for me lost it's luster after my brother, Paul, hit me square in the forehead and knocked me out. Broken bones, cuts and bruises were almost considered part of the play. The street was our playground, good for sledding when there was snow or clamping on the metal skates and racing down the street.
Kenny and I
School days always started with the whole family around the breakfast table. There was no way you were going off to school without a balanced breakfast. I developed phobias about eggs and prunes but trust me, I ate them. Dad would always go around the table giving everyone a kiss on his way off to work in his suit, tie and hat.
Needless to say we rode our bikes or walked the ten blocks to school. That was the fun way to start the day since all the kids walked or rode bikes. I couldn't wait to get to school each day not only to see my friends but also because I liked to learn. The bad part was that my Mom was President of the P.T.A. for years and all the teachers and the principle expected Kenny and I to be good. Not much hope for Paul. But it was tough if we were bad since the teachers always told her if we got into trouble. Those were the days when if you got a spanking at school, you got one when you got home too.
Recess was the time to play baseball, shoot marbles, jump rope or run around like crazy kids. I remember having bandages on both knees for years from falling down on the playground. Mom was constantly upset about the hems torn out of my dresses or dirt ground in a skirt.
Yes, those were the days when we wore dresses and little flats to school. I think it was about the time I was in the fifth grade that Paul stopped telling me on the way home how much trouble I was going to be in for the messed up clothes and I started acting a little more refined.
All holidays were fun. Halloween back then was really the best. Mom made costumes for us and we went out with brown paper grocery sacks to Trick to Treat. No parents went, we were on our own with Paul being responsible for us. We would fill the sacks and run home, dump them out in our own piles and run out to fill it up again. The house that gave out good stuff would probably be hit a couple of times. Christmas Day we would wake up early and sneak out to see what Santa left. The stockings came back to bed with us and we had a chocolate high the next morning. My Dad put on a huge fireworks display in the street every year on the 4th of July. I loved the sparklers and worried about Dad holding the Roman Candles in his hand to shoot them off.
I remember Saturdays when we were all still in grade school was movie day. Muskogee had two movie theaters which were packed with kids every week. Our next door neighbor had five children and each Saturday our Moms took turns either driving all of us to the theater or packing little sacks of candy. We had a dime extra to buy something to drink and we would spend the afternoon watching the cartoon, the news reel, a Flash Gordon serial and some kid-orientated feature. Paul was the oldest so he would tell us all to sit in our seat and not move until he came back - we actually obeyed an eight year old.
There were swimming, piano and dancing lessons. We were all three Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts, went camping and on cookouts. Mom gave us birthday parties every year in the backyard and seemed to enjoy it. Sundays were filled with going to church and sometimes a drive in the country or a rare chance to go out to eat. I learned to dance at The Pioneer Room at the Severs Hotel by standing on my Dad's shoes when we went there for dinner. Actually going out to eat was rare and everyone was always home for dinner around the kitchen table.
Not to give the impression that the early 1950's were without some fear. This was the Cold War/Russia/nuclear bomb era. We spent a lot of time in my grade school years practicing "duck and cover" under the desk or in the hallway in case of a nuclear bomb attack. We did the same tactic for a threat of a tornado. Seems funny now that "duck and cover" would have protected us from either one. The other thing we learned from a film every year for six years was about Danger,Stranger. Danger,Stranger was what to do if a man in a trench coat and a hat pulled over his eyes told us our mommy said for him to pick us up or that he had a kitten he wanted to show us. It taught us what to do if approached by a stranger and how to stay safe.
Sometime in the early 50's we got a television set. I read recently that when TV's came into vogue families started watching four or five hours a day. Ed Sullivan actually started in 1948 then came the Mickey Mouse Club, The Lone Ranger, Lassie. Hopalong Cassidy, Sky King, Sea Hunt and many more. Remember how you would die if you sat too close to the screen or that you could only watch one or two shows a day?
My family wasn't perfect but my parents taught the three of us the value of work by giving us chores to do. They taught us independence and responsibility by letting us do things on our own. By the time we were out of grade school we knew how to take care of ourselves in any situation and that if we did something wrong it was our own fault and there was no one to blame but ourselves.
Whittier Graduation Book - 45 Girls and 65 Boys
{Interesting that now days they think 20 kids in the class is too
big. We had the classes with 33 or more in each.}
If the years before age eleven are the so called formative years the baby boomers in my neighborhood were well on their way to the free-spirited and creative generation we were to become. After elementary school we were headed off to the junior high to meet up with more children who were beginning to imitate the combined characteristics of Leave It To Beaver and the Little Rascals. Life was getting more fun and very interesting.
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