When Grandma passed away quite unexpectedly (at least to me), we found while rooting through her most personal of things that she had saved a copy of the Times Leader (or Times Record...I forget) dated December 8, 1941. At that time, that yellowed newspaper was 39-years-old.
I wanted it. So did my Mom. And that turned out to be the only thing she not only laid claim to, but that she had taken from the abode after Gram's funeral.
After my Mom passed away at age 49, I took possession of that aged newspaper, which was then 47-years old. Much like her mom before her, my mom saved a newspaper from what she considered to be the seminal moment of her lifetime, a Times Leader dated November 23, 1963.
Even though I was a 5-year-old in kindergarten, I remember the day Kennedy was assassinated simply because my mom stared at the reports on the TV and cried all day long. And simply put, I wanted to watch some Bowery Boys, Little Rascals, or Mighty Mouse.
And while I still have the Pearl Harbor and JFK newspapers, I've added a copy of the Challenger disaster print reporting, as well as the papers from 9-11. Oh, and that Pearl Harbor paper is now 70-years-old.
When I was a sprat, we would kill marauding make-believe "Japs" in the back yard. All these years later, I've got no quarrel with any of them. But I've still got that newspaper. Weird.
Later
I wanted it. So did my Mom. And that turned out to be the only thing she not only laid claim to, but that she had taken from the abode after Gram's funeral.
After my Mom passed away at age 49, I took possession of that aged newspaper, which was then 47-years old. Much like her mom before her, my mom saved a newspaper from what she considered to be the seminal moment of her lifetime, a Times Leader dated November 23, 1963.
Even though I was a 5-year-old in kindergarten, I remember the day Kennedy was assassinated simply because my mom stared at the reports on the TV and cried all day long. And simply put, I wanted to watch some Bowery Boys, Little Rascals, or Mighty Mouse.
And while I still have the Pearl Harbor and JFK newspapers, I've added a copy of the Challenger disaster print reporting, as well as the papers from 9-11. Oh, and that Pearl Harbor paper is now 70-years-old.
When I was a sprat, we would kill marauding make-believe "Japs" in the back yard. All these years later, I've got no quarrel with any of them. But I've still got that newspaper. Weird.
Later
1 comment:
Having seen newsreel footage of people crying at Roosevelt's funeral and Kennedy's services one has to wonder if Americans today would still have that emotional reaction to a President's passing. I am referring to any sitting President in our modern age. Hopefully, we will never have to find out.
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