The 1960s

There was lots happening in the 1960s. Some events stand out and really made an impact on our lives.

The first was the assasination of President John F. Kennedy November 22, 1963. It was a very shocking thing to happen. I doubt that anyone ever thought that another president would be assasinated. We could hardly believe the news. It was covered by the media for hours and hours and hours.

The first news came while the CBS-TV soap, "As the World Turns," was on the air. The Zapruder home movie was shown many times. Everyone was totally shocked.

Then, before we had time to really understand what had happened, we saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement garage of the police department. He was immediately taken into custody.

I was putting Sunday dinner on the table and just chanced to look up and there was Ruby, Oswald, and law enforcement officers. It seemed unbelievable that a man would shoot another man with all the police around.

Children pick up on how adults are feeling. They just seem to sense it when people are upset. They didn't understand what was going on but they knew something was wrong.

As with all traumatic events, there were scenes impressed on our brains that we won't ever forget. The reasons for what happened, and why, were never explained. Many people were dissatisfied even after the Warren Report was published. The shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald made it impossible to find out what really happened and why.

The second event was July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong, a US astronaut, became the first man to walk on the noon four days after the launch from Cape Canaveral. Buzz Aldrin also walked on the moon then.

We were driving to Denver to visit brother Bill and we heard it on the radio. Then we watched it on TV later in the day.

My Mother never really believed that any man had walked on the moon. She tnought it was all fake. I never could change her mind.

Life in Our Neighborhood

I made friends with the other mothers in the neighborhood. We would all get together about once a month for "coffee." I never did learn to drink coffee - maybe because I served so many cups of coffee at Rexall Drug and later at College Drugstore in Aggieville. Tea never made my favorite list either, so I usually drank water or hot chocolate.

We hadn't lived in our home very long when our neighbor, LaVonne, invited the kids and me to go to church with her and her two daughters. It was a Methodist Church and I was very comfortable there since I grew up attending the Methodist Church. I joined the church and taught kindergarten Sunday School from the time Patti was five until she was fifteen.

Patti and Tony grew up in that church sitting in the second pew from the front. I sang in the chancel choir from 1977 through 2004. The choir and the handbell choir were a very important part of my life. I loved making music. The chancel choir and the handbell choir had wonderful directors. My church family was a big part of my life, especially after the kids grew up and left home.

We bought a second car so I was able to grocery shop and shop at the fabric store. My friend Carol from next door and I often went shopping together. Sometimes we had her three boys and Patti and Tony with us. That could become rather challenging at times.

I loved the sidewalk sales at Lindale. Quite often these sales enabled me to buy school clothes for the kids at very reasonable prices.

The day after Christmas we would go to Armstrongs Department store to trade in the kids' outgrown ice skates for skates that would fit. That was a great service the store provided. Of course, Armstrongs was my favorite store. Perhaps I will write about it later.