Innehållsförteckning för December/January 2019 från Reminisce

PRACTICE MADE PERFECT Remember learning the Palmer Method? Here’s the perfect instrument for honing your skills. This Metropolitan fine nib fountain pen from Pilot has a metal body (shown in gold/plain) and comes with a black ink cartridge plus a converter for using bottled fountain pen ink. $15.50 JETPENS.COM CLASSIC REVIVAL No more burning the midnight oil—this steel Forså work lamp uses an energy-efficient LED bulb, included. Powder-coated in a choice of three colors—or a nickel finish—it features an easily adjusted arm and shade. $27 IKEA.COM READY WHEN YOU ARE The durable Dee Charles Designs leather pen sleeve holds two pens and features contrast stitching with both form and function. The center stitching prevents pens from getting scratched. Shown in Sunrise (yellow) with blue stitching; also available in other colors.…

Though Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby could sing in any season, Christmastime was, and is, Bingtime. His 1942 recording of “White Christmas” is the best-selling single of all time, and his LP Merry Christmas is a classic. In 1946, Bing hosted his 10th radio Christmas special. Holiday favorites are suited to soft crooning, a style Bing crafted—and one Michael Bublé has reinvented for today’s listeners.…

When I left school in California to return to Mexico in 1956, I was 21 and went to work in my father’s fishing cannery. I swore to all my relatives and friends at the time that I would remain a bachelor until I was 30. Then one day, I spotted Mary, 19, at a traditional Mexican afternoon dance in Ensenada. She was beautiful, poised and slim, with a long brown ponytail. To say I was smitten would be an understatement. But she was with a male partner, so I could not interfere. Proper social protocol in Mexico in the 1950s demanded formality. I soon learned that Mary was working as a teller in a bank, Banco Mexicano de Occidente. Oddly enough, I thought I had seen her at a different…

Our imaginations took over when my brother Jim, sister Dolores (aka Dodie) and I brought out the Lincoln Logs. It was the 1940s in Park Ridge, Illinois, and Jim had quite the collection. We built forts, houses, corrals and other farm buildings. When my granddaughters Suzanne and Madeline visited, I shared stories of my childhood. I also wanted them to have the same fun, so I spent about $300 buying sets. When the girls finally outgrew the Lincoln Logs, I advertised them online. A mother and her children came by and, when the kids saw the collection, their eyes lit up. Although I had hoped to recover my money, the look in their eyes melted my heart. I packed everything into a 13-gallon bag and sold the lot for next…

Having saved enough money at 17 from working after school and on weekends to buy a car, my first choice was a new Corvette. But I soon realized I couldn’t afford to pay cash for one. Fortunately, I quickly fell in love with the Corvette’s little brother. I bought it new—black exterior with red interior and all the options I wanted. Being a cool dude, I even added some bolt-on accessories to give it a mild custom look. I’m long past 17 now, but that same car is still in my garage. It’s all original, including paint and interior, and despite the custom touches I installed, it can be returned to stock condition as I kept the original parts. This is the car my late wife, Pam, and I dated…

BACK IN 1963, I WAS 11 when the British Invasion hit. Because I loved to send and receive letters, I really wanted to find a British pen pal. At that time my mother worked with a woman who had relatives in England. She had a cousin, Ann Smith, who was about my age, and my mother got her address for me. I wrote her a letter and was thrilled when she wrote back and sent a picture, top right. Ann and I have been pen pals ever since—54 years at this writing. We have never met face-to-face, but over the years, we have shared our courtships, marriages, children and grandchildren—all the happy and sad events in our lives. Every year we exchange Christmas gifts, so we both have a collection…

Christmas Eve 1952 held quite the adventure for our family, followed by a different kind of surprise the next morning. My dad, Luther McPherson, was the pastor of a small rural church in Surry County, North Carolina, about a two-hour drive from where we lived. Houses were scattered, so no one really had close neighbors. As was the custom on Christmas Eve in many southern churches, the church members gave my dad and our family what was called a pounding—gifts of non-perishable food items to stock our pantry. On our way home that night, the car died. Dad went for help, leaving my mother, Martha, with me and my brother in the wilderness. A short time later, lights appeared; men armed with rifles surrounded us and shined flashlights in every…

How much do we love Christmas cards? The Greeting Card Association says Americans buy about 1.5 billion Christmas cards every year, 10 times more than the next most popular greeting card, the Valentine. On the eve of its 175th anniversary, we celebrate the Christmas card in all its forms—thoughtful, decorative, whimsical and lovably corny. Over the next few pages, you’ll find a brief history of holiday greetings, and examples of colorful cards from the 1940s through the 1970s. These were sent to us by readers Ellyn Scarlett of Elkhart, Indiana; Jerry Fedorovich of Terryville, Connecticut; Bernice McCoy of Danville, Illinois; and Johnny Howlett of Pulaski, Virginia, along with an anonymous donor who gave us many of the cards appearing on pages 36 and 39. Their cheery greetings of Christmases past…

Greg and I married in 1969, while we were still in college, and we had absolutely no money. Frankly, we probably wouldn’t have been voted most likely to succeed in the marriage department, but we got married anyway. A good portion of our wedding gifts came in the form of cold, hard cash. We used $600 of it to buy a 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne with manual transmission. I had to drive it home because Greg didn’t know how to work the stick shift. (I taught him later.) We kept that Chevy for more than 10 years, and it served us faithfully through all those Chicago, Illinois, winters. We drove it from the hospital after the births of our two eldest boys—and would’ve done the same for our third, but he…

FIND HATTIE’S HATPIN Hattie has lost a hatpin in this issue! If you find it, tell us at reminisce.com/hatpin and we’ll randomly select winners to receive a year’s subscription to Reminisce. In the October/November issue, we hid the hatpin on Tinkerbell’s wand on page 22. There’s no purchase necessary to enter to win. Purchase will not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes is open to legal residents age 18 years or older of the U.S., its territories and possessions, or of Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec). Sweepstakes begins on 11/13/18 and ends on 1/21/19. Visit reminisce.com/hatties-hatpin-rules-rem for official rules. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. Sweepstakes sponsored by RDA Enthusiast Brands, LLC. TRIVIAL PURSUITS, PAGE 13: 1. Jimmy Carter 2. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump 3. Gerald Ford 4.…

Following the end of World War II, military personnel returned home, couples got married, and the baby boom began. Another big boom: The U.S. government tested a series of nuclear bombs in Micronesia. Although many essential items such as bread, meat and cars were in short supply, hot new consumer goods included bikinis, Slinkys, car phones and Tupperware. After years of deprivation, Americans were ready to enjoy peacetime prosperity. And crooners including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore topped the charts. JAN. 8 Gladys Presley helps her son Elvis, right, buy a guitar in Tupelo, MS, when he turns 11. JAN. 10 The first session of the United Nations is held in London. FEB. 15 The U.S. Army reveals ENIAC, one of the first electronic digital computers. The machine…

The year 1946 stands out as one that molded men (and babies) into leaders. Test your presidential knowledge. 1 He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and married his sweetheart a month later. 2 Three future presidents were born during the summer of 1946—the first year of the baby boom. Who are they? 3 The Navy gave this former Eagle Scout (pictured) an honorable discharge on Feb. 23. 4 The Screen Actors Guild asked him (then its third vice president) to mediate a dispute between unions. 5 He started a political dynasty by winning his first election: a congressional seat in Massachusetts. 6 Hailed as a WWII hero, this Army chief of staff became a permanent five-star general. 7 An economics major at Yale in 1946, this former Navy pilot…

The great watermelon tradition started long before I got involved. During his vaudeville days, a hoofer named Bob Hope found himself at the best-known watermelon stand in St. Louis, Missouri, buying one of the big, juicy summertime fruits. He told the fruit stand vendor, Sam Zvibleman, that the Midwest melons tasted much better than those grown in California. Both agreed that watermelons were nature’s noblest fruit. For two decades, as Hope’s career grew, Sam the Watermelon Man sent a watermelon to the entertainer’s dressing room whenever he was in town. He also drove a carload of the beloved watermelons to his now friend in Burbank, California, every year. In 1958 Hope was playing in the musical Roberta at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre. Sam delivered the goods there as…

My dad, George Robert Hill Jr., fibbed about his age and joined the Army when he was 17, in November 1942. During World War II, he saw action all over Europe, including the Ardennes offensive, commonly called the Battle of the Bulge. In April 1945, his division liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp, an event Dad was especially proud to have participated in. He was honorably discharged in January 1946. Dad was in the tank corps and had been part of the crew of an open-top tank fitted with a 105 mm Howitzer gun. My father rarely discussed the battles he fought in, the medals he won or the buddies he lost on the battlefield, but occasionally he would talk about the big fighting machine he served on. So I had…

Both sides of my family include ancestors who were German Lutherans and settled in western North Carolina in the 1750s. Although I have written records of their lives in America, including their participation in the Revolutionary and Civil wars, I had nothing about their earlier lives in Germany. On Oct. 31, 2017, Lutherans celebrated the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, which began the Lutheran Reformation and which traditional history has said were nailed to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. My cousin Bruce, his wife, Holly, and I joined a group traveling to the city to participate in the celebration. We worshipped at an English service at Castle Church and in German at City Church. While we were there, we visited some sites with the group…

RETURN TO SENDER Each year, our children wrote letters to Santa and I would mail them to their grandma, who would return them to me when she came to our house for Christmas. This worked well until the kids wanted to address their own letters. Then I had to ask our postman to retrieve the letters for me. JODY WEITMANFISH CREEK, WI KEEPING THINGS CHATTY I came across this letter while cleaning out my bedroom bureau drawers. It was written by my youngest daughter, Colleen, when she was 9. PATTY LYNCHCHARLESTOWN, MA A REAL CLASSIC Taken in 1957, this photo shows me and my big sister, Linda, 8. On her first Christmas, Linda received the 1949 Lionel train set displayed under our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. BARBARA EUBANKSANDERSON, IN YEAR:…

ACROSS 1 River and city in Germany 5 Gas station found on the West Coast 9 Acid taken by pregnant women 14 Think-tank output 15 Fruit-flavored soda 16 Cooking scent 17 Holiday tune: “The ______” (2 wds.) 19 Grand Canyon’s El ______ Hotel 20 Educate 21 Bad dancers have two left _____ 23 Concept invented by Freud 24 Feels sick 27 Holiday tune: “The ______ Song” 29 Holiday tune: “Jingle ______” (2 wds.) 33 Its home is a hill 34 _____ League (oldest schools) 35 Miami suburb 37 Holiday tune: “Let It ______” 41 Semester 43 Type of pay raise 45 Glowing halo 46 Holiday tune: “O Christmas ______” 47 ______ Park, Colorado 49 Fall behind 50 Days of ______ Lives 53 Holiday tune: “Deck ______” (2 wds.) 55 Holiday tune:…

We had a wonderful childhood growing up in Lockport, New York. One of the highlights of the year was, of course, Christmas. The stairs to the living room were right outside our parents’ bedroom door. If we were going to be successful in sneaking down early to peek at the gifts Santa Claus had left us without waking our parents, we had to know exactly where to place our feet. My sister Susan and I would spend weeks practicing going down the staircase so we could locate the squeaky areas on all of the steps. By the time the big day came, we were ready. We always managed to sneak downstairs without a hitch—although we never knew for certain whether our parents had heard us. If they had, they never…