Born   in the 1925s to the mid 45, we exist as a very special age group.

We   are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900s.

We   are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war which rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

We   are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

We saved tin foil and poured fat into tin cans.

We   saw cars up on blocks because tires weren’t available.

We   can remember milk being delivered to our house early in the morning and placed in the “milk box” on the porch.

We   are the last to see the gold stars in the front windows of our grieving neighbors whose sons died in the War.

We   saw the ‘boys’ home from the war, build their little houses.

We   are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, we imagined what we heard on the radio

As   we all like to brag, with no TV, we spent our childhood “playing outside”.

There   was no little league. Any disputes were resolved on the sand lot.

There   was no city playground for kids. The woods and fields were free to roam.

The   lack of television in our early years meant, for most of us, that we had little real understanding of what the world was like.

On   Saturday afternoons, the movies gave us newsreels sandwiched in between westerns and cartoons.

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. Hacking was  a cough.

The   ‘INTERNET’ and ‘GOOGLE’ were words that did not exist.

Nnewspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on our radio in the evening by Gabriel Heatter and later Paul Harvey.

As   we grew up, the country was exploding with growth.

The   G.I. Bill gave returning veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow.

VA   loans fanned a housing boom.

Pent up   demand coupled with new installment payment plans opened many factories for work.

New   highways would bring jobs and mobility.

The   veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics.

The   radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands. (And they were Honest).

Our   parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into exploring opportunities they had never imagined.

We   weren’t neglected, but we weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus.

They   were glad we played by ourselves until the street lights came on.

They   were busy discovering the post war world.

We   entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where we were welcomed, enjoyed ourselves and felt secure in our future though depression poverty was deeply remembered.

Polio   was still a crippler.

We   came of age in the 50s and 60s.

The Korean War   was a dark passage in the early 50s and by mid-decade school children were ducking under desks for Air-Raid training.

Castro in Cuba and Khrushchev came to power.

We   are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.   The war was over and the cold war, terrorism, “global warming”, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with unease.

Only our generation   can remember both a time of great war, and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

We   grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better. We seem to be going the opposite way today. Our young people are not taught this History. The emphasis seems to be on our past “White Privileged Society” and our “Destruction of the Environment” that needs major correction today.

We are “The Last Ones”.  More than 99 % of us are either retired or deceased, and we feel privileged to have “lived in the best of times”!!!  WILL IT DIE WITH US???