On July 13, 2012, my two daughters surprised me with a big box of wrapped gifts, informing me it was exactly 80 days until my 80th birthday and I would be able to unwrap one gift a day. The gift items would commemorate a year in my life in some way. This is what I received this week.
1947 – A 1947 magazine article about the Cincinnati Reds’ star pitcher, Ewell Blackwell. I’ve always been a baseball fan and was particularly devoted to the Reds in 1947. As usual, we had a pretty poor team but then Ewell Blackwell came within two outs of consecutive no-hitters (I’ve never forgiven Eddie Stanky of the Brooklyn Dodgers for ruining that moment) and dazzled everyone that season.
1948 – A set of leaflets showing the wonderful hair styles that could be achieved with cold wave permanents. I always had naturally curly hair and never needed a permanent, but I remember my mother and sister trying every means to having pretty hair – and they succeeded.
1949 – A 1949 baby care book which I would have loved when I had my first child in 1954. This is really interesting to me but there’s a bonus –
…there’s a letter from the old French Bauer Dairy in Cincinnati which I can add to my collection.
1950 – My youngest daughter copied 26 songs from the 1950s, chosen by my oldest daughter who remembers hearing a lot of them when she was growing up in the 50s.
1951 – A 1951 baseball card for Cincinnati Reds third-baseman, Grady Hatton. Ewell Blackwell, mentioned above, was a super-star, but the one all the girls liked was Grady Hatton. He was young, single, and handsome. I’m sure he made the Ladies’ Days at old Crosley Field a lot more crowded than they normally would have been.
1952 - A special piece my oldest daughter made from an Altoid tin. I was 20 in 1952 – not old enough to vote but I admired Dwight D. Eisenhower from World War II days. The inside of the tin shows a picture of me showing off my I LIKE IKE pin.
I was more of an Eisenhower fan than I was a Republican and I was so thrilled when he won. I posted about that 1952 election here.
1953 – My youngest daughter knit a great dusting mitt from a 1953 pattern.
Here is the link to my daughter’s blog for the pattern and information:
http://wardenslog.blogspot.com/2012/08/celebrating-80-yearswith-knit-dusting.html
All of my posts on this wonderful celebration are listed in Family – My 80th Birthday in my index on the right hand side of the page.
