Indholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2019 i Reminisce

My memory of the moon landing is posing with my brother beside a portable television while my father snapped a picture of us watching fuzzy figures on the screen bounce around in low gravity. I was dressed in my ragtag play overalls with the torn left strap, while Ted sported a pair of those thick black-rimmed glasses that scream “uncool.” Dad was having trouble getting the shot and kept telling us to move closer to the screen. “Get in there nice and tight!” Eventually, Ted flung an arm around the set as I squeezed in next to him—a tableau that looked for all the world like a dumb kid spoiling a guy’s date with his TV. For Great Moments in Shaw Family History, it ranks somewhere in the lower middle,…

Despite decisive battles in the air, on land and at sea, two events signal the beginning of the end of World War II: D-Day, June 6, sees more than 160,000 Allied troops storming France’s Normandy coast to deliver a crushing blow to occupying Nazi forces; and in November, Washington state scientists create weapons-grade plutonium, leading to the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wins an unprecedented fourth term and radio’s Fibber McGee and Molly keep us in stitches. Meanwhile, girls delight in a new magazine—Seventeen. JAN. 11 President Roosevelt calls for an Economic Bill of Rights in his State of the Union speech. JAN. 15 An earthquake in San Juan, Argentina, kills an estimated 10,000 people and destroys 90% of the buildings. JAN. 18 Louis…

Ingrid Bergman was captivating in films throughout the ’40s, from Casablanca (1943) to Notorious (1946) and Joan of Arc (1948). But her turn as a wife made to believe she’s going mad in Gaslight (1944) earned her the first of her three Oscars. Her work and the film gave rise to a new term—gaslighting—to describe a particular abuse of power. Isabella Rossellini inherited Bergman’s beauty and intelligence, but she carries them lightly, without the melancholy that burdened her mother.…

Ensign Smith, great-great-grandfather of my husband, Tom, was born in 1807 in New York. He left with his brothers and landed in New Mexico Territory. In 1836 he married a local woman, Juanita Ortiz. Ensign and Juanita were among the first pioneers to head to the Colorado Territory to seek gold. They built a small cabin, and in 1863 Ensign became one of the first probate judges in Golden City. He helped build the first toll road to Denver, believed to be where U.S. Highway 6 now lies. One of their eight children was Manuel, Tom’s great-grandfather. Another was Susan, known as an exquisite quilter. In 1859 Susan began to make an applique Cockscomb and Prince’s Feather quilt, using plants to dye the fabric. In the family’s small cabin, she…

More and more Americans are reaching the age where mobility is an everyday concern. Whether from an injury or from the aches and pains that come from getting older– getting around isn’t as easy as it used to be. You may have tried a power chair or a scooter. The Zinger is NOT a power chair or a scooter! The Zinger is quick and nimble, yet it is not prone to tipping like many scooters. Best of all, it weighs only 47.2 pounds and folds and unfolds with ease. You can take it almost anywhere, providing you with independence and freedom. Years of work by innovative engineers have resulted in a mobility device that’s truly unique. They created a battery that provides powerful energy at a fraction of the weight…

W hen I was 11, in 1942, I lived in a quiet residential area of Los Angeles called Eagle Rock. I played baseball in the street with my friends, and when the occasional car came along, we’d move to the side to let it to go by. I was impressed one day by a passing car that was long and sleek. It reminded me of the World War II fighter planes of the day. But when I was 16, Ford was the vehicle to have. I bought a 1932 Ford coupe for $175. My next car, a much better one, was a 1932 Ford roadster. In 1968, the company I worked for moved to the San Diego area, and for awhile, I became interested in airplanes. I got my pilot’s…

On Dec. 15, 1944, 40-yearold Big Band legend Glenn Miller boarded a small single-engine plane in Bedfordshire, England, bound for France to put on a concert for the troops who had liberated Paris. Invited by Lt. Col. Norman Francis Baessell, an important figure in the war effort, Miller accepted the offer of a lift even though he had a fear of flying. The fog was thick that morning, with the cloud ceiling dropping fast. Pilot John Morgan wasn’t certified to fly by instruments alone, but Baessell ordered him to take off anyway. The plane is believed to have been a UC-64A Norseman. Carburetors on the military’s single-engine crafts, including Norsemans, were notorious for icing up, causing planes to stall in flight, and temperatures hovered around freezing when the aircraft lifted…

The Jitterbug® Flip, from the creators of the original easy-to-use cell phone, has big buttons and an exclusive 5Star® Urgent Response button on the keypad. EASY TO USE Today, cell phones are hard to hear, difficult to dial and overloaded with features you may never use. That’s not the case with the Jitterbug Flip. A large screen and big buttons make it easy to call family and friends. The powerful speaker ensures every conversation will be loud and clear. Plus, straightforward YES and NO buttons make navigating the menu simple. EASY TO ENJOY Wherever you go, a built-in camera makes it easy and fun for you to capture and share your favorite memories. And a built-in reading magnifier with LED flashlight helps you see in dimly lit areas. With all…

You can’t always lie down in bed and sleep. Heartburn, cardiac problems, hip or back aches – there are dozen of reasons that it’s too much. Those are the nights you’d give anything for a comfortable chair to sleep in: one that reclines to exactly the right degree, raises feet and legs just where you want them, supports your head and shoulders properly, and operates easily. Our Perfect Sleep Chair® does all that and more. More than a chair or recliner, it’s designed to provide total comfort. Choose your preferred heat and massage settings, for hours of soothing relaxation. Reading or watching TV? Our chair’s recline technology allows you to pause the chair in an infinite number of settings. And best of all, it features a powerful lift mechanism that…

When my sister Bonnie came home from the Peace Corps in Tanzania in 1966, I was working downtown, so we found an apartment together in Milwaukee’s Little Italy, surrounded by Italian-American families. It was an enchanting and eye-opening change from the suburban neighborhood I’d grown up in. After six months, my sister rejoined the Peace Corps in Korea and I was moving out. I’d just had spaghetti and meatballs for lunch when I heard a rap on the door. There was the landlady, with three fellows to see the apartment. She was supposed to give me 24 hours’ notice before showing up. What was I supposed to do? Of course I let them in. She led two guys to the living room but one followed me back into the kitchen.…

“We came in peace for all mankind.”— PLAQUE ON APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE LADDER, LEFT ON THE MOON “I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. i felt very, very small."-NEIL ARMSTRONG Walking on Air IN WARTIME, A YOUNG SOLDIER BENDS THE RULES TO LISTEN IN ON HISTORY. WHEN THE LUNAR LANDER reached the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard in 1969, I was in Vietnam with the 65th Engineer Battalion, which was attached to the 25th Infantry Division at the Army base in Cu Chi. I was about to start my shift on guard duty in the motor pool. Not wanting to miss the milestone of the first man on the moon,…

From behemoths that took up entire rooms to free virtual varieties found on smartphones, calculators have come a long way since 1944, when Harvard University took delivery of a giant computing machine that came to be known as the Mark I. Invented by grad student Howard Aiken in 1937, Mark I was built by IBM and assembled at Harvard for use by the military. From that auspicious start, the calculator has become a tool most of us couldn’t do without. It has played a pivotal role in science, industry and every field ruled by numbers. In its honor, here’s a digit-happy look at how far the calculator has come in 75 years. • BY THE NUMBERS The Electronic Calculator 1 The time in seconds it takes the Harvard Mark I…

PACIFIC PAGEANTRY SAN FRANCISCO’S 1939 expo to celebrate its new bridges beguiled Richard Merrill, who met his wife, Phyllis, there. The island was a spectacle of art, culture and architecture before the Navy acquired it in 1942 for wartime use and tore down the fair. The couple’s daughter Jay Findlay of Sun City West, Arizona, sent us these rare color images her dad took. COMING UP: Fall Scenes Post your photos: REMINISCE.COM/SUBMIT-A-STORY…

“I love this computer! It is easy to read and to use! I get photo updates from my children and grandchildren all the time.”– Janet F. Have you ever said to yourself “I’d love to get a computer, if only I could figure out how to use it.” Well, you’re not alone. Computers were supposed to make our lives simpler, but they’ve gotten so complicated that they are not worth the trouble. With all of the “pointing and clicking” and “dragging and dropping” you’re lucky if you can figure out where you are. Plus, you are constantly worrying about viruses and freeze-ups. If this sounds familiar, we have great news for you. There is finally a computer that’s designed for simplicity and ease of use. It’s the WOW Computer, and…

An acrobat and trampoline artist operating under the stage name Dick Albers, I was a supporting act for Bob Hope on many of his domestic tours. In 1968, he asked me to be part of his show in Vietnam. In fact, we had such a good rapport that he chose me to be his seatmate on the long flight to and from Southeast Asia. We joked and laughed together the entire trip. Our friendship went beyond the stage. I golfed with Bob and visited with him at his lovely home in Toluca Lake, California. We exchanged Christmas cards for many years until he died in 2003. Bob was such an important part of my life that I titled my autobiography Someday You’re Not Coming Down, from something he wrote in…

My mom, Patty, was tall for her age, to the point movie theaters tried to charge her the adult price. But one time her height worked to her advantage. The budget was tight for the Gayle family in the 1940s, so 14-year-old Patty applied for a part-time job at the coffee shop called the Purple Cow. She convinced the manager to let her work as a counter server. To his credit, he tried to verify that she was 16, but Patty “forgot” to bring her birth certificate until the manager finally stopped asking. The coffee shop was at the Anderson Hotel, an entertainment hub in Anderson, Indiana, and celebrities visited with some frequency. Patty remembered serving the famous “Johnny the Bellboy” Roventini, a cigarette company spokesman. She also waited on…

My wife, Dorothea, and I met 35 years ago, and our relationship blossomed partly because we shared an interest in motorcycle riding. Along with raising five children, we continued to enjoy riding, and we joined a national, family-oriented motorcycle club. We rode locally in Michigan as well as around the country. Our bikes were large and quiet, with intercoms in the helmets and radios to communicate with our fellow riders. On long trips, we pulled a matching trailer to carry everything that the on-board storage wouldn’t allow. During Michigan’s short riding season, we often joined our group on Sundays for dinner. In the off-season, we gathered weekly in the evenings to dine and talk about riding. One night, our close friend Jim shared an old photo of a bike club.…

Retired from a successful 25-year career at the telephone company, I finally had the courage to try college. Decades earlier, my older brother had warned me about the “old biddy” in second grade. Stout and grim with steel-gray curls, Miss Spencer was as different from Mrs. Raymaker, my beloved first grade teacher, as could be. However, I didn’t find her all that bad. I put stickers on wall charts to mark my efforts and showed flashcards to the class. Most of all, I liked my seat in the first row. Miss Spencer’s desk was at the back of the neat rows of desks, where she could spring up to loom over anyone who misbehaved, gave a wrong answer, or put a head down on a desk. The rows were a…