Special Group: One Percent Born Between 1930 – 1946

Sugar Grove

By Paula Mitchell

Here’s to the one percent group born between 1930 and 1946. A friend of the writer sent the following interesting facts relating to this group of people.

• You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900s.
• You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.
• You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.
• You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.
• You saw cars up on blocks because tires weren’t available.
• You are the last to see the gold stars in the front windows of grieving neighbors whose sons died in the war.
• You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio and you read library books.
• With no TV until the 1950s, you spent your childhood “playing outside.” There was no Little League. Many kids walked to school.
• You organized neighborhood baseball and football games on vacant lots. You rode your bike everywhere.
• The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.
• Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).
• Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.
• “Internet” and “Google” were words that did not exist.
• Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening. Kids read comic books.
• The government gave returning Veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow.
• New highways would bring jobs and mobility.
• The veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics.
• You weren’t neglected, but you weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus.
• They were glad you played by yourselves until it became dark.
• Polio was still a crippler.
• You came of age in the ’50s and ’60s.
• You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.
• The second world war was over and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with unease.
• Only your generation can remember both a time of great war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.
• You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better. 
• You are “The Last Ones.”

Life’s little instructions to live by include the following:

1. Handwritten thank-you letters.
2. Sincere compliments.
3. A firm handshake.
4. Making sure the tooth fairy arrives early.
5. Letting the person with just two items go ahead of a person in the line.

The clouds stayed away to allow the night gazers to enjoy the May Moon, which is known as the Flower Moon.  The name was given by the native Americans to those areas where carpets of flowers took place this time of the year.  Sunday brought a little more than .25 inches of rain which was very much received.  

Quotes for the week are as follows:

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” — Proverbs 22: 6

“Your greatest contribution to the universe may not be something you do, but someone you raise.” — Unknown

“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king.  The palace becomes a circus.” — Turkish Proverb

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” — Audrey Hepburn

“With so many things coming back in style, I can’t wait until morals, respect, and intelligence become a trend again.” — Denzel Washington

Sitting out on the patio to hear the “Talk of the Grove.”

Willard, Judy and Ed Rader enjoyed attending the graduation of Travis Rader at Eastern Mennonite University Sunday afternoon.  Congratulations, Travis!

Visitors of Rosalee Grogg were Terri Grogg, Claude Castleberry, Marleta Wimer and Steven Grogg and friend, Amanda.

Phil Downs participated in the senior citizen’s fundraiser of breakfast and bingo.  Large crowds attended this occasion of the Trout Fest.  

On Wednesday, Erma Moats accompanied Evelyn Varner to meet Shirley Lohr at the Wood Grill Restaurant in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The occasion was to celebrate belated birthdays.

Richard Marshall visited with Evelyn Friday evening, and Saturday found Judy Costello enjoying her visit with her mother.

This week’s clickety-clacks for the chin waggers are as follows:

• Not all cotton is white.  Red, green and even black cotton is being grown.
• The motto on the first coin officially issued by the U.S. government was “Mind your business.”
• Although the dragonfly has six long legs, he cannot walk a step.
• In the building of bridges, kites were once used to bring the first cable across.
• The state with the most lakes is Florida, with about 30,000.

Continuation of the May birthdays are as follows: Tina Via and Reagan McConnell, 16th; Norma Cunningham, and Logan Godfrey, 17th; Sharon Jamison and Andrea Williams, 18th; Nancy Pultz, 19th; Bobby Kimble, 20th; C.J. Fisher, 23rd; Cynthia Hurry, 24th; Alma Mallow, 25th; Skyler Grogg and Bruce Hoover, 26th; Dani Ruth Hoover, 28th; Kayla Wolcott, 30th; and Marvin Hartman, 31st.   

Concerns for this week are many, and they are as follows: Charles Anderson, Roger and Joan Ashley, Mercedes Aumann, Vernon “Fuzzy” Baldwin, Lynn Beatty, Debbie Beal, Jed Conrad, Jeff Craig, Mary Eye, Donna Fleisher, Lola Graham, Jordan Greathouse, Marvin Hartman, Steve and Armanda Heavner, Gary and Jackie Hills, Virgil Homan, Jr., Myrtle Hoover, Debbie Horst, Anna Gae Hughes, Mike Jamison, Alice Johnson, Tim Johnson, Richard Judy,  Dennis Kincaid, Kim Kline, Melissa Lambert, Robert Lambert, Rex Landis, Angela Lung, Linda Malcolm, Betty Mallow, Roger and Skip Mallow, Neil McLaughlin, the Gary Mitchell family, Melvin Moats, Aaron Nelson, Ruth Nelson, Don Nilsen, Cheryl Paine, Barbara Parker, Sutton Parrack, Shirley Pratt, Alda Propst, Kathy Propst, Linda Propst, Sheldon Propst, K.D. Puffenbarger,  Dick Rexrode,  Harley Propst, Jason Rexrode, Jimmy Rexrode, Pam Rexrode, Max Rodriguez, Donna Ruddle, John Ruddle, Annie Simmons, Barry and Phyllis Simmons, Davey Simmons, Robbie Sites, Ona Smith, Rosa Tichenor, Sandra Vandevander, Amy Vaus, Judy Williams and Margaret Wimer.