WELCOME  TO THE

 GOWANDA CENTRAL SCHOOL - Class of 1961

The 1% group

This special group was born between 1930 and 1947, a period of 17 years. In 2022, the age range is between 75 and 92 years. Are you, or do you know, someone "still here?"

Interesting Facts For You . . . .

You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900's. Now less than 1% of the US and Canadian populations.

Most of you are within the last generation to climb 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 bacon fat into tin cans.

Everyone saved their newspapers for the war effort.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you "imagined" what you heard on the radio.

With no TV until the 1950s, you spent your childhood "playing outside."

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).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.

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.

New highways would bring jobs and mobility.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.

You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played by yourselves.

They were busy discovering the postwar world.

You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed ourselves and felt secure in your future although the depression poverty was deeply remembered.

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, the taught fear of 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."

More than 99% of you are retired, and you feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

It's great being part of the 1% Special Group!

Amen!

1943 Remember When.....

A Nostalgic Look Back In Time:

1943 Timeline:

• January   The sale of pre-sliced bread is banned to reduce bakeries'demand for metal parts.
• February  Singer Frank Sinatra debuts on radio's Your Hit Parade.
• March       The Rogers & Hammerstein musical Oklahoma opens on Broadway.
• April          The National Football League adopts the free substitution rule.
• May            Norman Rockwell's Rosie The Riveter 1st appears on the cover of       the Saturday Evening Post.
• June           Leslie Howard is killed when German raiders shoot down his plane.
• July            The first withholding of tax from U.S. pay checks occurs.
• August       John F. Kennedy saves the crew of PT-109 after a Japanese destroyer splits the boat in two.
• September   Allied troops invade Italy's mainland.
• October        Chicago mayor Ed Kelly opens the city's new subway system.
• November    Dimouts end in San Francisco, but many lights continue to remain off.
• December     President Roosevelt appoints General Eisenhower Supreme Commander of the  Allied Forces.

 1943 World News

• Mussolini and his officials resign and then he is imprisoned.
• Soviets make gains in recapturing territory, breaking the siege of Leningrad.
• General Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign an armistace.
• japan withdraws from Guadeacanal.
• Iran declares war on Germany.
• Roosevelt visits Casablanca, Morrocco, becoming the first United States President to visit a foreign country in wartime.
• In Ottawa, Dutch Princess Juliana gives birth to the 1st royal baby to be born in North America, Margiet Francesca,

"Times like these teach us a new gratitude for the simple things in life. A quiet evening of rest, a friendly game  with a next door neighbor, good talk, good refreshment these make a welcome interlude of sanity in a seething world. For millions of Americans that interlude becomes calmer, happier, more content with a glass of friendly Schlitz." The Beer that made Milwaukeee famous. Just the kiss of the hops.

1943 Sports News

• World Series Champion: New York Yankees
• U S Open Golf Winner: Not held in 1943
• Pro football Champion: Chicago Bears
• Indianaplis 500 Winner: Not held in 1943
• Stanley Cup Winner: Detroit Red Wings
• NCAA Basketball Champion: Wyoming
• College Football Champion: Notre Dame
• Heisman Trophy Winner: Angelo Bertelli from Notre Dame
• Canadian Grey Cup Champian: Hamilton Flying Wildcats

Remeber when.. Red Sox Player- Manager Joe Cronin sends himself up to pinch-hit in both games of a doubleheader and hit a three - run home run in each trip!!

Life Espectancy - 62.9 years

The Board Game Clue is in vented by a Solicitors clerk Named Anthony Pratt.

1943 Cost of Living

  1943 Music 

1943 Movie Favorites

Casablanca: Academy Award winner

Shadow of doubt

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Heaven Can Wait

Phantom of  the Opera

Frankestein Meets the Wolf Man

*Source of 1943 information was Seek Publishing 

Hope you enjoyed a little nostalgia, Donna

2021 HOLIDAY LETTER

              From:  108 Stone Manor Drive, Somerset, NJ 08873

Dear family and friends,

December marked a painful change in our fortunes when JoAnn died on December 17 after living for several years with the burden of Parkinson’s Disease. We miss her desperately and have tried to carry on as best we can. Due to the pandemic and my recent health problems, we are planning a memorial service for her later in the year.

I have not yet recovered from my fractured knee and low back pain associated with my auto accident in 2020. I was also hospitalized this year from the end of November. I originally went in for spinal surgery, but my recovery was interrupted by a fall in the rehab center resulting in a broken femur. After two months in the hospital and a rehab center, I finally returned home on February 1, 2022, and will need several more months to heal completely.

I am no longer able to drive my beloved big old car and must rely on my beloved daughter and few friends, which can be a burden to a previously independent person. Our daughter, Lory has been a saint in caring for her mother and me. She is also working from home as a freelance editor. Jason is still Jason and did not take much responsibility for his mother who loves him.

The past year has been an academically productive one for me in terms of presenting several video lectures and publishing several articles. With my failing health (diabetes, renal disease, hearing, eyesight, and memory as well as my inability to walk safely) I have regretfully decided to cut back on my academic activities. However, we have help with the household chores and have a spare guest bedroom for our visitors. We continue to cherish our old friends and our beloved relatives.

Love and best wishes,

The Frenkels

lfrenkel@uic.edu