The Baby Boomer Era

As meetings of the 50th Reunion Committee become "mini-reunions", we've discovered how much we have come to value the "era" in which we grew up--the peaceful 50's and early 60's, where we spent our formative years. As we think of our childhood now, it was a wholesome time for our country, with the post-war years of opportunity, growth and optimism. Most heads of households (read that "Dads" in most cases) had jobs, we were becoming a more educated nation through the GI Bill,  families could afford homes and cars and a good standard of life.  And babies were being born at an amazing rate creating our generation of "Baby Boomers" (generally defined as those born between the years 1946-1964). 

For better or worse, we ushered in the "boomer" era and the country has been challenged since in trying to accommodate our number. (By the end of the 1940s, about 32 million babies had been born, compared with 24 million in the 1930s. In 1965, four out of ten Americans were under the age of twenty. Source: Wikipedia)  From the school years, when schools couldn't be built fast enough to make room for us, until now, in trying to accommodate us as geriatrics, we Baby Boomers have challenged our world every step of the way. We're a powerful segment having 80% of the net worth for our nation, and the over 50 population is the third-largest economy in the world! (Source: AARP Magazine, Nov. 2013) We've participated in a lot of change--some good; some not so good--but each generation has to accept the challenges put before them in their time.  I don't know that our world asked more of us than of previous generations, but we may have thought so at the time.

It's hard to believe it has been fifty years since we heard Mr. Anderson announce President Kennedy's assassination over the intercom to our classrooms early in our senior year.  I'm sure we all remember how shocked and numb our nation was, how schools and businesses were closed and we all sat home in front of our televisions watching images that are still vivid in our minds half a century later. It rocked our secure world and crossed a line over which our childhood sense of security and trust was put violently and sadly behind us.  

This fiftieth anniversary of President Kennedy's death marks that time as the media continues to search for the truth and new materials are unsealed for the public.  The images on t.v. are as familiar as if they were yesterday and take me back to my family's living room where we sat watching the days of mourning--President Johnson being sworn in with Jackie Kennedy in shock at his side aboard Air Force One, crowds visiting the Capitol Rotunda where President Kennedy lay in state, the funeral procession following the horse drawn caisson from The White House to St. Matthews Cathedral, the gravesite with a perpetual flame.  I can't help but wonder how different we and our nation might have been had President Kennedy lived on?

In 1983, as the twentieth anniversary was marked, The Seattle Times asked for reader response and, as a young mom, these were my thoughts at the time: 

At the time, our world was pretty insular and small but we were beginning to think about how that would all change in a few more months, in that unknown future after high school. As we mourned the loss of our President our world grew more serious and our young minds began to question and doubt.  Many think it was a loss of innocence for our generation and our country. We learned some grown-up lessons about life going on and began to pull plans together for the holidays and ringing in a new year.  We knew the New Year would bring high school graduation for us--the first of the "baby boomers"--and our adult lives would begin.  

FIFTY YEARS PAST BLAST:  
HEADLINES -- NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 1963
Like a time capsule from fifty years ago, here’s a blast from our past:  world news headlines, cultural trends, and Glacier happenings from our senior year.

NEWS HEADLINES 

--Nov 1  South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated along with his brother in a coup d'etat.

--Nov 22  U.S. President, John F. Kennedy Assassinated in Dallas, TX.  Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson, succeeds him.

--Nov 24  JFK's alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, murdered by nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, in a killing seen by millions on t.v.

--Nov 25  JFK, the 35th U.S. President, laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery following a mass at St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Cathedral.  The leaders of 92 nations attended the funeral, among them Charles de Gaulle of France and Prince Phillip of Great Britain. Fifty Navy and Air Force jets flew past the gravesite followed by the president's plane, Air Force One, which dipped its wing in final tribute.

John F. Kennedy's grave site and the eternal flame at Arlington National Cemetery.  JFK had visited Arlington Cemetery for Armistice Day, just 14 days before he was laid there to rest. 

Photo from Arlington National Cemetery Website. 

--Nov 29  President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the death of JFK. 

--Dec       Kenya gains independence (formerly British East Africa)

--Dec 8    Frank Sinatra Jr. (age 19) kidnapped in Lake Tahoe, NV. He is released three days later unhurt in LA after his father pays $240,000 ransom. Most of the money was recovered when the FBI arrests three suspects.   

--Dec       U. S. Congress authorizes issue of JFK half-dollar coin

--Although full-scale involvement in the Southeast Asian conflict was still two years away, by the end of 1963 over 100 U.S. personnel had died in Vietnam.

MOVIES you might have gone to see: (source: Wikipedia #1 U.S. Films by week)

• A New Kind of Love -- Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (the third top grossing film of the year, after "Cleopatra" and "How the West was Won") - Spencer Tracy and an all-star cast
• The Incredible Journey
• Fun in Acapulco -- Elvis Presley (Featured the Top 10 Billboard hit "Bossa Nova Baby" and reached #1 on the national weekly box office charts a week after the assassination of President JFK.  The film would be Presley's last release before the arrival of Beatlemania and was the top grossing movie musical of 1963.)
• Charade --  Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn
• The Sword in the Stone (the last animated Disney film released before Walt Disney's death)

Books on the NY Times Best Seller List:  (top five 12/29/63)

• The Group, by Mary McCarthy
• The Venetian Affair, Helen McInnes
• Caravans, by James Michener
• The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morrs L. West
• The Living Reed by Pearl Buck

TV events and programming: 

• All three tv networks started pre-empted programming covering the JFK assassination and funeral coverage

• News of the assassination, and later the funeral procession, were the first tv broadcasts across the Pacific Ocean (via Relay 1 satellite).

• November 23 - UK BBC TV broadcasts its famous dramatic Kennedy tribute episode on "That Was the Week That Was".

• William Hartnell stars in the very first episode of "Doctor Who" (An Unearthly Child) on BBC November 23.  So many people complained of missing its premiere due to JFK's assassination that the episode was repeated before showing episode two.

• A murder is televised live when Jack Ruby kills JFK's suspected assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald on live t.v.

• December 7 - Instant Replay is used for the first time during the live transmission of the Army/Navy Game by its inventor, director, Tony Verna.

• For the first time, most Americans say they get more of their news from tv than from newspapers.

• The tv remote contrrol is authorized by the FCC.

Programs You might have watched:

• Mack & Meyer for Hire
• Professional Bowlers Tour
• The Greatest Show on Earth
• Mr. Ed

Music you would have heard (on your transistor radio?): 
(Source: Billboard #1 Singles 1963)

Click on title and then click on link to listen...

• Sugar Shack, Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs (Billboard #1 single for 1963)

• Deep Purple,  Nino Temple & April Stevens (won Grammy award for Best Rock & Roll Record for 1963)

• I'm Leaving It Up to You, Dale & Grace ( This was the #1 song when JFK was assassinated in Dallas, TX.  Dale & Grace were in Dallas on the day of the assassination and scheduled to perform that night as part of Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars (with Bobby Rydell, Jimmy Clanton, and Brian Hyland), and moments before the assassination had waved to the president's motorcade from a vantage point near their hotel.)

• Dominique, The Singing Nun (Dominique outsold Elvis during its stay on the Hot 100.  It was the second to last #1 hit before the British Invasion, The Beatles, The Kinks, Rolling Stones and The Who would dominate U.S. music charts.)

Around Glacier as reported in the November & December Avalanche:"

• "Moments to Remember" was the theme of Glacier's third annual Homecoming held November 1, 1963. Our senior class prepared for the festivities including an assembly, half-time at the Glacier/Highline football game, and the Homecoming Dance ruled over by Homecoming Queen, Gwen Cox, Jr. Princess Pat Skolrud and Graduate Princess, Sydney Nick of the Class of '63.  

Homecoming Queen, Gwen Cox

• The Debate Team opened their 1963-64 season against Franklin Pierce and Evergreen at Evergreen and had two wins and two losses.  Glacier won the affirmative against Evergreen and the negative against Franklin Pierce.  Steve Tredway and Janet Prince, seniors, formed Glacier's affirmative team and Cheryl Crawford and Jeanette Desimone, also seniors, composed the negative team.  In the December Avalanche they could boast a 3 win 5 loss record after the second tri-school debate against Renton and Kent-Meridian.

• Torch Club was in full swing planning projects such as a pickle sale, a car wash, a dance and a Christmas candy-cane sale to help the school get out of debt.  Torch Club requires members to maintain a 3.0 GPA for membership.  Torch Club officers for '63-'64:  President: Jim Thompson; Vice President: Carol Waller; Secretary: Penny Cramer; Treasurer: Sue Holiday. 

• Dan Solway earned two top honors at GHS Awards Assembly, selected by his teammates as both team Captain and team Inspirational Player.  

• Cross-Country Track Team selected Don Brandt, as their captain that year.

• Glacier ends the football season in sixth place with a 4-5 record after a play-off game against Lakes who finished fifth.  

• Glacier basketball turnout had 48 players trying out for the team with Mr. Fred Minahan's first year as varsity coach. The first basketball game (a practice game) was at Foster December 6.

• The "Betty Crocker Search for the American homemaker of Tomorrow" test was announced by Miss Wilder, GHS adviser, for December 3 in the Glacier cafeteria.  All senior girls were eligible and the girl with the highest score from each high school in the state would represent that school in a state competition competing for a $1,500 scholarship and educational tour.  Tests were scored by Science and Research Associates o Chicago, IL.  

• A new Honors Math Analysis class was announced by Mr. Hubbard, Acting Math Dept. Head, brought about by the continuance of the honors math course started in 1959 when in 9th grade the honors student took Algebra II and III; as a sophomore honors geometry, and as a junior Algebra IV and Trig.  The class of '64 was the first to have honors Math Analysis.  

• Vicki Hosteltler, President of Glacier Red Cross Club, appeared on KING TV representing all the Red Cross Clubs of Seattle to show how young people help provide community services.  Vicki spoke about the school's contribution in helping to support a family in the Highline District, visiting hospitals and preparing first aid kits to send to disaster areas.  

• Kelly Farmer appeared on TV too on the Kathryn Wise Show dancing ballet to promote the Dorothy Fisher Dance Concert scheduled for late November. 

• The girls weighed in on boys' apparel in a November Avalanche column and seemed to agree they liked dark tapered pants and the collegiate look but they didn't like short pants, white socks, and UW jackets.  

• Boys retaliated in December and had some opinions in common in not liking girls to wear too much make-up, extreme hair-do's, nylons with runs in them, and they didn't like boots or socks of any kind.  And they seemed unanimous in thinking girls' skirts were too long. Mr. Hubbard, on the other hand, said that "any girl knows the more mystery about her the more curious the boy".  

• And along with the rest of our country, Glacier mourned the death of our President.  The full cover page of the December 2 Avalance appears below:  (click on the image to enlarge)  

Like high school seniors everywhere in our nation that year, Thanksgiving took on new meaning as we tried to accept violence in our country and discovered that "life goes on".  Tri-Hi-Y, the Service Club and Letterman's Club made plans to go Christmas caroling  for shut-ins and "older people", and we all made plans for Christmas and looked forward to the holiday break and ringing in a brand new year -- l964 -- the year we would graduate and rule the world!  Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all as we look back as "older people" at our past!

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November 22, 2013

Diana (Stillwell) Carew