18 -1964 Early Autumn. Excitement Galore!
Fall Colors, Hurricanes, Schoolhouse on Fire, June’s Town Cafe, New Piano! Never a dull moment in small town GA!
My intent with these writings is to re-capture the era from the perspective of an 11 year old. My writings are based on my 1964 diary, which I began as a sixth grader and finished as a seventh grader, age 12, while attending a new school and making new friends.
The fall of the year in Georgia is remarkable! Riding through the countryside as the colors begin to change takes one’s breath away. Thank goodness, that fact never changes whether looking at the 1960s or talking about current day!
As in other parts of the country, people settle into routines of the school year and its impact on the community with school sports events, halloween festivities, and Thanksgiving celebrations. Weather is always a subject of discussion amongst many southerners, as the hot humid summer melts away and the cool crispness of autumn drops in. GA, FL, AL, MS, and LA in particular brace for unexpected weather events whirling through their territories.
In early September of 1964, hurricane Dora came tearing through parts of Florida and Georgia . It made landfall near St. Augustine and then danced its way across southwest GA before turning northeastward and out to sea within a few days.
Being in a new school, my friends and I began tip-toeing into meeting the new students from what had been a rival school. For some this happened easily; for others there was a certain shyness or slowness of approach. Since my mother had grown up in Richland and my father had worked half of his adult life in the newspaper business there, I felt a little less of an outsider perhaps than some. It was still a new and weird experience to meet new students and find a comfort with all the change.
One afternoon during our PE time, several of my hometown friends and I challenged the Richlanders to a little friendly game of basketball. We won and secretly rejoiced, as these kids would have been our staunch rivals just three months earlier. Little did we process that within another month, we would all be cheering for one another and playing on the same teams, whether that might be basketball, baseball, or tennis.
Many annotations in my diary had to do with getting use to the new school environment of changing classes and having several teachers for the one grade. Navigating friendship circles and watching some solid friendships from the hometown become tested and seeing new friendships emerge are shared cultural phenomena of junior high school, no matter what geography you call home. I see my own notes in my diary such as “so_and_so loves so_and-so” or “one friend is getting in good with another friend.” I find another observation, “Sometimes, she makes me so mad.”
Friendships began to shift and change character. Those little-girl friendships often times based on commonality of place and as well as shared interests, were giving way to new friendships. As young adolescents, we drifted toward one another now for other reasons. I remember experiencing sadness at seeing close bonds, loosen; but I also had fun seeing new bonds being formed. My long-time friend Laurie, could still be found at my house and I at hers spending an occasional night and sharing our experiences of our new school and new friends.
During these mid-1960 years a small cafe was the only eating establishment in town. There was a motel and restaurant referred to as June’s Motel & Restaurant. At this juncture in time, the interior of June’s restaurant featured a counter along the west side and booths and tables throughout as one might experience in walking into a “diner” in 2016, whose claim to fame is a throwback to the ’50s and ’60s small town cafe.
A few years earlier there had been a restaurant on the north side of town, also attached to a motel called the Little Grand Canyon Motel, but that had closed a couple years earlier. Over in the neighboring community I recall two small restaurants called The Steakhouse and The T & T. Those two became more familiar as the intermingling of the two small towns blossomed more after a couple years.
Only a few days into the new school year of 1964/65, the junior high school’s building (now the county junior high) caught fire. Most of the damage was to the gymnasium, but it was terribly upsetting to both small towns, as the new school year began.
Questions arose concerning the ‘why’ of such an incident. Did someone who was disgruntled over the consolidation of the schools set the fire? Was it just a freaky accident? Was there any continuing danger to communities? I do not recall any answers ever being shared with us students.
Our family car, the 1958 Plymouth, got a face lift with new seat covers. Also, I remember my dad purchasing an air conditioner for this car, which at the time of manufacture did not have an option of a factory built-in air conditioner. It would be unthinkable nowadays that cars were manufactured without that amazing convenience and necessity.
A new piano soon graced our living room. As I’ve mentioned in previous stories, my mother was an accomplished pianist, having majored in music at Andrew College. In her everyday life, she still enjoyed playing and was the regular pianist at our church on Sunday evenings. I was delighted to have a new piano, since I was still taking piano lessons, as were many young people around town.
As the month of September drew to a close and October made its entrance , a cascade of events unfolded. The adventures of fall 1964 continue in the next story.
