19- Oct 1965: Tony’s Pizza Place, Teen Cliques, 500 lbs. of Beef, House Fires
I offer a trip back in time to 1965. I wrote in my diary everyday from age 11 through age 18. These writings from 1965 are some of my favorites, since as a recently turned 13 year old, I made fairly naive and innocent comments about life. My approach in those earliest days of writing seemed to be more of just stating facts about the days with an occasional ‘my take’ on an event or a friend. I’ve noticed as I wrote more detailed in later years that some of those are more riddled with ‘he said, she said, I said’ innuendo.
Interlaced with my own words from those adolescent years are my reflections current day, some 50 years later.
Fall made her entrance. We kids looked forward to cooler days, as the school building was not air conditioned back in this era.
People mentioned in this post are my brothers Adie & Joe; my niece and nephew Rody and Angela; some school friends Laurie, Diane, Kay, Debby, Sandra, Wanda, Etta, Jackie, Ken, Pat, and Warren Earl; my Uncle Rody and my cousins; a neighbor Miss Daisy.
“1 Oct 1965, Friday, I had a six weeks Spelling test today. Made 100. Family went to Columbus and I bought new pants, shirt and jacket. Adie stayed home. We locked keys in the car in Columbus. What a pain! 2 Oct 1965, Adie and I went to Fort Benning with our cousin to the movies. Afterwards, we ate at Tony’s Pizza Place. The pizza made my mouth really sore! 3 Oct 1965, I went to Sunday School and Church. This was my first Sunday in the Intermediate Department. I went out to Uncle Rody’s for a little while. 4 Oct 1965, Today we had our English six weeks test. My little four year old cousin began kindergarten. Laurie, Diane, Kay and Debby have a little group. They were acting kind of mean to me today and just lately.”
Oh, don’t we all know the frustration of keys locked in the car? With newer technologies of 2017, since most of us carry key fobs with cool built-in technology to prevent us locking them in the car, I think the chance of locking keys in the car are considerably less if the car is a newer model.
I don’t think Tony’s Pizza Place in Columbus was an establishment that lasted over time. I recall the location as being close to a big department store called Gaylords. I believe that department store was later bought out by Zayre’s. It was a local store which kind of paralleled what most would relate to as K-Mart or Walmart of current times.
Teen years and cliques -If you didn’t belong to a particular one, perhaps you created one for yourself and a few other favorite pals. Why do they exist? Often the members have certain interests in common during a certain phase of their lives. They form to create a feeling of ‘belonging.’ Often kiddos get hurt feelings surrounding all this, but that was part of growing up. As is life at this stage, I might have felt excluded one minute and would be visiting or spending the night with someone from that same group a day or two later.
“5 Oct 1965, Tuesday, Today my little niece Angela is three months old and little Rody is three years old. I wrote a letter to Joe. I have a Science test tomorrow. I’ve been studying a lot for that! 6 Oct 1965, I made a 96 on that Science test. I had a routine music lesson. I have an ear infection, Not fun. Ms. Daisy’s house caught fire tonight. 7 Oct 1965, Similar entry to a year ago. I had a Math six weeks test. Ken, Pat, Adie and I played basketball out back of our house. I beat them all in a game of 21. 8 Oct 1965 Friday, I made 100 on my Math six weeks test. We had both Geography and Literature tests today. I had a pretty good music lesson. Wanda is sick and in the hospital.”
Looks like a full week of tests for this eighth grader. The celebration of a nephew and niece was from afar; now they lived in Germany rather than just up the road in Tennessee!
Those notes about two house fires in my hometown this first two weeks of October send chills down my spine. The absolute horror of homes lost to fire has come very close to home for me again present day, living in Colorado. In the course of two years 2012 and 2013, we had very close friends lose their homes and our community lost over 500 homes to wildfire. The grief and the loss is so great and is so hard to even try to help friends navigate.
Unusual for a classmate to be in the hospital. A bout with the flu or a brush against the common illnesses of childhood in the 1960's (measles, mumps or chicken pox) could land you in the hospital.
“9 Oct 1965, We went to Columbus. I got a new pair of heels — just a little higher than I’ve had. We bought 500 lbs of meat for our freezer. Adie hit me with the basketball. 10 Oct 1965, I went to Sunday School and Church. I’ve been playing basketball all afternoon. Cousins came over to the house awhile. 11 Oct 1965, After school, we went to the fair in Columbus. I took Etta. We rode nearly every ride on the fairground. I had a wonderful time. It’s 11:15. I have no lessons! 12 Oct 1965 Tuesday, I had my music lesson. Warren Earl’s house burned Sunday. I got up at 5:45 this morning and did some catch-up studying. 13 Oct 1965, We had basketball practice until 5:00. I picked up the worst cold. Got report cards today. All A’s. 14 Oct 1965, Daddy turned 54 years old today. I helped make the icing for his cake. Wanda told me that she would always be friends with me. 15 Oct 1965, Mr. T Humber died today. Adie and I went back to the fair tonight with Sandra and Jackie. Mom and Dad came later. Good Times!”
Buying shoes with heels was a rite of passage for girls into young adulthood. As other friends ‘updated’ their status by wearing/buying heels, we all followed suit fairly soon thereafter.
I’ll never forget the purchase of all that beef; so many cuts, so much variety; I wondered when and if we would ever eat all of that. Summer was just over and the chance of cooking out on the grill was a season away. We enjoyed beef centered meals, but I am amazed that my parents bought such a large quantity at once. We must have just purchased that freezer that I made reference to in this annotation.
The fall of the year always brought a county fair to Columbus. The thrill of going to the fair as a kid was enormous. This particular year, I had the pleasure of going twice in the one week. Ah being 13 again! The time of ‘riding all the rides’ was glorious. No fear! No worry! Just fun times.
My father had his birthday. He was born in 1911. Two of his brothers were born in October in the first decade of the 20th century. The third brother had a February birthday, born 1915. Even though my dad has been gone now for almost forty years, I never pass a 14th October without remembering him in my heart.
October has always been one of my favorite months of the year. Regardless of geography in the US, colors of fall are either in full swing or are underway. That transition is breathtaking from the stunning array of colors in New England and throughout the southern US to the beautiful yellows, goldens and reds of the West. In the next post, more adventures unfold from later October in Southwest Georgia.
