Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2018 i Reminisce

“I remember building all the models as a kid.” DOUG WOODALL “Liftoff and splashdown were BIG. Everyone was in front of the TV watching.” BRIGITTE SIMMONS CHERUBINI “In October 1957, my father came from the hospital and said we had launched our own little Sputnik—my sister Carol. I still call her Sput.” BOB DAVIS Join the conversation: FACEBOOK.COM/REMINISCEMAGAZINE…

CHARM BRACELETS Long ago, charms warded off evil spirits. Today’s charm bracelets show off special interests. Did you or a friend have one? Were you given a bracelet? Or charms? What charms were favorites? Did you give charms to someone you loved? Label your story “Charm Bracelets.” DINER FOOD Whether it served breakfast all day or operated out of a railroad car, the neighborhood diner was noted as much for its atmosphere as its food. Tell us about the good times you spent there. Label your story “Diner Food.” RITES OF PASSAGE The movement from one stage of life to another, a rite of passage carries lasting memories. What was your big moment? When you got your first job? Your driver’s license? Joined the Army? Label your story “Rites of…

DIG IT The Swedish-designed Handigger ergonomic trowel makes seasonal gardening a kinder, gentler process. It comes in three bright colors, too. $16 BUYGOODDIRT.COM OPEN SESAME Make this 8-in-1 ergonomic rotary-action opener your new go-to kitchen gadget, handily freeing the contents of glass jars, tabbed cans, plastic bottles and more. $15 VIATEKPRODUCTS.COM NICE SLICER When Sam Farber noticed that arthritis made it hard for his wife to use kitchen tools, he founded the OXO brand, making easy-grip helpers like this streamlined pizza wheel. $13 OXO.COM CRAFTERS, TAKE NOTE Spring-action blades pop open after each cut, even through multiple layers of fabric, earning Fiskars’ No. 8 Easy Action Bent Scissors the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation. $18 FISKARS.COM SUCK IT UP Light and strong, as well as flexible and cord-free, Shark’s new IONFlex…

THEY WERE DRAWN TOGETHER BY A SHARED PASSION FOR MUSIC, MOUNTAINS AND FJORDS. My seven siblings and I grew up on a farm in southern Wisconsin. Dad’s parents, who immigrated from Norway, also lived with us. Our grandparents spoke longingly of what they called the old country, describing Norway’s majestic mountains and fjords—and the siblings left behind. In 1960, when I was 10, my oldest sister, Audrey, embarked on an unusual adventure for a woman in her early 20s. She and cousin Nancy traveled by ship to Norway. There they bought bicycles and spent three months traversing southern farmlands and northern fishing villages, over the mountains and along fjords. When summer ended, Audrey was in love with Norway and not ready to leave, so smitten that she arranged to work…

My sister Diane had a date with a fellow, Omelan Mycyk, for high school graduation dance in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1963, and Omelan brought his best friend, Harry, to be my date. Harry was a gentleman, for sure, but at 6 feet 1 inch, he was too tall for me. I’m barely 5 feet. He was very skinny, which made him look even taller. He was blond, and I liked brown hair. We went dancing and he was good at it—so good that he was doing splits and stuff like that. It was a bit embarrassing. I was having a good time, but it felt awkward being with such a tall guy. We’d pass by windows and I could see how huge he was compared to me. Harry asked me…

Original Cookie Chicago Girl Scout director Florence E. Neil created the sugar cookie recipe distributed to the council’s 2,000 Girl Scouts in 1922. You Say Trefoil, I Say Shortbread Today, each council orders from one of the two licensed bakers, which call certain cookies by different names, though the recipes are virtually the same. Both bakers use the names Thin Mints and Girl Scout S’mores. Going National By 1936, the Girl Scouts had licensed bakers to produce cookies for distribution across the nation. Many Kitchens At one point in the late 1940s, 29 commercial bakers were making Girl Scout Cookies. By 1978, the number was down to four. Today there are two, ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers. Going Fast Girl Scout Cookie sales usually last from six to eight…

The documentary California Typewriter (2016) has interviews with Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, historian David McCullough, singer John Mayer and the late playwright-actor Sam Shepard, among others, talking about their love of typewriters. The film goes behind the scenes at the 68-year-old Berkeley, CA, shop California Typewriter, where generations of experts repair and sell manuals and electrics. Tom Hanks owns more than 250 typewriters. His 2017 short story collection, Uncommon Type, has a typewriter in every plot. He has likened the sounds from an Olivetti to “bullets from James Bond’s silenced Walther PPK.”…

Born in Washington, D.C., less than a year before the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, I grew up when the fear of getting bombed by the Soviets was pervasive. At age 3, my favorite place to sit in the whole car was on the hump in the front floor board so I could watch Dad work the pedals on our big Chrysler. This was before mandatory child seats, and my mother thought I was as safe down there as anywhere else. That’s where I was sitting one day in February 1965. We were heading away from downtown on Rock Creek Parkway. A storm had struck the night before, burdening tree branches with ice. Ahead of us was a car with four men wearing furry Cossack hats. Dad guessed they were…

Call me a word nerd, but while browsing the online Merriam-Webster dictionary (for work, of course), I discovered that the following words—3-D, audiophile, barn burner, brownie point, coffee break, fast food, lake effect, nerd, skort, tennies and whirlybird—first hit the printed page in 1951. That’s the same year featured in this month’s Time Capsule on page 12. And while it’s fascinating to imagine how folks ever got through the early 20th century without coffee breaks, the fast-food phenomenon apparently was already in full swing. So, too, was the steady stream of women working outside the home. In “Farm Futures” on page 30, you’ll read about one woman who started her career as an auditor. After she married and moved to a farm, she made sure to put her accounting skills…

During the summer of 1952 I was stationed near Seoul, South Korea, with the 176th Armored Field Artillery Battalion. We received a call that a Special Services division would be arriving shortly after lunch to present an hour of entertainment. They must have gotten wind of our lunch menu and scheduled their arrival after eating with another unit. The farther back you were, the better the chow. All three batteries and headquarters personnel who could be spared headed to a hillside nearby. A makeshift stage rigged from ammo crates was set up along with audio equipment. A couple of hundred men converged, waiting for the show to begin. He arrived on schedule—Eddie Fisher, the singing heartthrob who thrilled American teenagers and their moms back home before he answered Uncle Sam’s…

Seventy-six years ago, I was in my early 20s and ready to conquer the working world. I lived at Lorraine Apartments in Spencer, Iowa, near the old library. My roommate, Leone Shaeffer, and I were literal roommates: Instead of an apartment, we shared the apartment owner’s bedroom on the first floor, while the owner slept on a cot in her living room. We also shared her bathroom. Breakfast was included in our modest rent. Our landlady didn’t charge much, which was good because we didn’t get paid a lot. Weekdays, I walked several blocks daily to the Clay County Courthouse where I worked as a deputy auditor. After work, I would meet Leone, who worked at the American Automobile Association office. We often stopped by The Woman Shop on the…

Rev. Franklin Parker (a legend among area folks) and his wife, our Aunt Al, were host and hostess for the Saturday evening Baked Bean Suppers sponsored by the Chichester Congregational Chuch in Chichester, New Hampshire, many years ago. When we were teenagers, my sister, Polly, and I often pitched in and waited on tables. In spite of a three-year difference in our ages, many people, Mom included, had trouble telling us apart. Once, we decided it would be fun to dress alike and confuse the folks at our tables. Whenever someone asked us for something from the kitchen, we responded, “I’ll tell my sister. She’s assigned to your table.” Much to our delight, it worked. Aunt Al smiled and shook her head at us, realizing what we were up to.…

On the Fourth of July in 1947, my mother, Dorothy, was not looking forward to spending the holiday with her two little brothers at home in Burbank, California. She was 17. She wanted to have fun. Her friend Faye called to say that her boyfriend had a friend, John, from Montana, who had recently completed a tour of duty in Japan. Now training to be an aviation mechanic, John needed a date for the day—would she come along? Mom was shy about going on blind dates but the alternative was worse, so she said yes. They went on a picnic at Griffith Park, then to the zoo, and wound up at the Santa Monica Pier, where there was a carnival. At the target-shooting booth, John easily won Dorothy a treasured…

As a Girl Scout troop leader in a farming community of north central Alabama, I was hard-pressed to find a cookie chairman. All the troop moms had legitimate excuses. Their days were jam-packed from dawn to dusk. I was repeatedly told, “I am so sorry I can’t help.” Desperate, I did what any red-blooded American woman would do. I recruited my husband. As a sales rep, Richard had a flexible schedule. “Piece of cake,” he quipped, as he accepted my offer. I hid a knowing smile. As a former cookie chairman, I knew the challenges the job presented. When a truckload of cookies filled our living room and spilled over into our daughters’ adjoining bedroom, Richard was undaunted. He had managed a mega lumber and building store in Atlanta, Georgia.…

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Girl Scouts have sold cookies for more than a century. Read about their fundraising efforts on page 48, and for a taste of nostalgia, try the recipe below. 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar, plus additional amount for topping (optional) 2 large eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. milk 2 cups flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1. Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then vanilla, salt, milk, flour and baking powder. 2. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll out dough, cut into trefoil shapes, and, if desired, sprinkle sugar on top. 3. Bake in a quick oven (375 degrees) for about 8-10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes 6-7 dozen. • Avon Calling! • Best Grandparents Ever • Mom’s Cooking…

Television comedy erupted when I Love Lucy hit the airwaves on Oct. 15, 1951. Test your memory of the on-screen antics of one of TV’s most popular couples. 1 What radio program inspired the TV show I Love Lucy? 2 Name the I Love Lucy cast from oldest to youngest. 3 In addition to the “lost” pilot, how many episodes were in Season 1 (1951-’52)? 4 What were Lucy’s and Ethel’s maiden names? 5 What was the name of Ethel’s hometown? 6 What was the title of the episode in which Lucy reveals she’s having a baby? 7 In the episode “Job Switching,” where did Lucy and Ethel end up finding jobs? 8 Lucy plays “Glow Worm” on which musical instrument? 9 Lucy’s “mirror” pantomime scene is done with which…

A couple of weeks before Girl Scout Cookie sales officially started, I began hawking cookies by phone, calling neighbors, friends from church and family. I had been in Scouts since I joined as a Brownie several years before. When I advanced to Junior Scout, I sold 200 boxes. Whether it was from a sense of duty, a desire to be the best or maybe a bit of both, each year my cookie sales grew. The cookie chairman, doubting my ambition, would look dubious when I continued to check out more and more boxes. But with our red Lincoln loaded down with Girl Scout Cookies, Mom and I would take to the road. We headed to the rural areas where other Girl Scouts didn’t think to go and a neighboring town…

IT REPRESENTED MY FUTURE AND WAS THE FIRST MAJOR PURCHASE OF MY LIFE. My manual typewriter has been hibernating in my attic for decades. I could never bear to part with it, this little piece of my personal history. I bought my Smith-Corona Classic 12 in 1968, the year I graduated from Solon High School in Solon, Ohio, before I headed off to Kent State University. I’d worked all summer as a waitress at a greasy spoon to save up for it. The color was boring beige and blue, and I thought the name sounded like a cigar. But it represented my future and was the first major purchase of my life. The Smith-Corona stayed by my side for four years and into graduate school, spitting out my papers on…

Back in 2008 in Willard, Utah, I found this truck for sale on the side of the road. It was primer gray and had many modifications, including a small-diameter replacement steering wheel, chrome American Racing wheels, and oversize sideview mirrors like the ones on a semitrailer truck. I had previously owned a 1957 truck of the same make with optional wraparound rear window. I regretted selling it, so I jumped at the chance to own a truck with the same body style. While this vehicle had decent rust-free bones and only 76,000 actual miles, it had a lot of rough spots. I tracked down the owner at a local bar, and we settled on a price of $1,000. I spent the next six years restoring it to factory condition, specifications…