Earliest Big Event You Remember

[jasonwx]

Boy we heard about the 1918 pandemic it took my grandfather a young man of 32 who left an immigrant wife with 4 young kids .My dad was the eldest male at 9 and was the man of the family all during the depression . My grandmother and grandfather owned a tailor shop and gramma carried on then worked for a fine Women's Department store .

All 4 kids got advanced degrees and became something : My dad was an Insurance Company Director, My uncle became CEO of Pepperidge farms / Chef Boyardee and American Home Foods inc, ,one aunt became Dean of Nursing at a college and the other aunt was Executive Director of NYC Catholic Charities .

Inspite of the tragedy ,Gramma was just an awesome woman who was active and YOUNG AT HEART till the end .She lived her days out in Florida and Lake Placid in the summer where she worked for Frances Brewster a high end womens store in placid and Palm Beach . She was a beach lover so the college kids knew her as Granny and often asked her to mend their stuff. She was a piece of work with a heart of gold and a wicked sense of humor .She remarried in later life to a retired man.

One kinda sad little vignette about how this pandemic affected my 9 year old dad : My dad when i was a man appologized to me for absolutely no reason at all, he thought he was not a good dad because he HAD NO ROLE MODEL DAD growing up and had no childhood ( he was a fabulous role model and very caring , we kids and his grandkids JB and his sister loved him .

But my grandpa was gone before my time , i miss not having EITHER grandpa . My moms father died in 1936 when she was about to leave for college .So that 1918 pandemic and its residual aftermath affected our family as it did many others back in the day .

Wow what a interesting family..Thanks for sharing

 

[Warp daddy]

Thank you Jason, i feel very blessed . Mom and dad had a summer camp on Oneida Lake.

So when i was in college and working summer jobs i lived with Gram in the city so i could be near The Queen of the Hop who i was dating at the time . Gram gave me her car to use and the 3 of us often took off on various ADVENTURES in the Dacks , where she owned a camp on OtterLake near Old Forge ( which btw i liked much more than Oneida Lake , yeah i was a piss pot hahahaha)

SHE WAS so damn much fun to be with ,WAY AHEAD of her time attitudinally .?

 

[sig]

bucky dent home run to beat the sox's in a one game playoff. yankee fan for life

 

[Campgottagopee]

I remember as a kid in elementary school we would have fallout shelter training. A loud siren would sound off, we would all line up in the hallway then teachers would lead us across the street to the church where we would shelter in the basement. It was pretty creepy.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

in elementary school we would have fallout shelter training.

Hah, ditto in Camillus, NY. I also remember bomb scares where we had to quickly leave the school and wait a couple hundred yards away while the SWAT team searched the building. I guess it was the 1970s version of active-shooter events.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

bucky dent home run to beat the sox's in a one game playoff.

I was watching on WPIX. Funny, I always thought it happened in the top of the ninth inning, not the seventh. The Yankee TV team of Bill White, Phil Rizzuto, and Frank Messer was the best.

 

[Warp daddy]

I remember as a kid in elementary school we would have fallout shelter training. A loud siren would sound off, we would all line up in the hallway then teachers would lead us across the street to the church where we would shelter in the basement. It was pretty creepy.

Oh yes we had that too, and had the kneel down under our desks ( hmmm couda been the origin of the phrase " bend overand kiss your ass goodbye " ?) just sayin'

 

[Campgottagopee]

@ JD and Warp --- LOL!!!

It was def early 1970's for me and to this day still think about it.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

to this day still think about it.

I still see these faded old signs regularly and they continue to creep me out, reminding me of going into the dark school basement to hide.

 

[marcski]

I'm with Camp and James here; I remember all of that stuff. What do you think is worse for a kid, having fear of Nuclear War or active shooters and pandemics?