It’s great being part of the 1% Special Group!
This special group was born between 1930 & 1946 = 16 years.

In 2021, the age range is between 75 & 91.

Are you "still here?" Or do you know someone in the 1%?

Interesting Facts For You To Know

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

You 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.

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

You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You saw cars up on blocks because tires weren't available.

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

You saw the 'boys' home from the war, build their little houses.

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

With no TV until the 1950's, you spent your childhood "playing
outside" There was no Little League.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was really like.

On Saturday mornings and afternoons, the movies gave you 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 or in a niche in the hall (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 which did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening.

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

The Government gave returning Veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow.

G.I. 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.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war,

and they threw themselves into exploring opportunities they had never imagined.

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

They were glad you played with friends by yourselves until the street lights came on.

They were busy discovering the post war world.

You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed,

enjoyed yourselves and felt secure in your future although the depression poverty was deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler.

You came of age in the 50's and 60's.

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, 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 either retired or deceased, and you feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!”



Yes; very privileged; and very grateful.

1947 for me. Pre TV and pre AC. There were no calculators until I got one when working as an engineer in 1970. It was a Wang, if any of you have heard of it. In college I used a Post Versalog slide rule. Many of the men in town and the surrounding farms were veterans. Some had PTSD, which we had no real name for back then. My cousin and I shot cans with the Luger that his dad took off a German officer in 1945. My old KaBar came back from the Pacific.

We shot marbles in the dirt in front of the school, and played mumble-d-peg. Rode our bikes everywhere. Had little to no supervision. It was a simple time.

Based on your thread title thought this was maybe going somewhere else like to march at D.C., Interesting topic.

Glad several of you are still with us.
My mom and dad were born before the dates listed, but I remember them talking about everything on that list. I still remember houses not having indoor plumbing or telephones and no TV's when I was a kid. I also remember taking baths in washtubs, with water hand drawn from the well and heated by the sun. I have been the 3rd or 4th person in the tub. They did however have a couple of new ringer washers that they kept on the front porch.
I still have some Depression Glass that came in the Oatmeal Boxes. My mom saved just about every container and washed tin foil to reuse it.
Kids now don't have any idea how easy they have it.

I will add one. Most women did not work outside the home.

Nice

I was born later than that, but still remember lots of those. My parents were born in 1930. Living in the country several of those were not available even when I was a kid to country kids. Milk, most of the year it came from our milk cow. TV we got one station clear enough to watch on the black and white tv.

I thought you had joined a motorcycle club......

One Percenter. I was thinking money and Oxner.

I was born at home. I picked cotton. I plowed mules.

1943 version
The highlight of visiting my great-grandmother was sitting with the family in her living room and watching the Atwater-Kent radio.
REA electricity came to the farm in 1948 when I was 5.
Several of the men in my little rural community were members of the Lost Battelion in WW2. The survivors didn't talk much about it.
I flew to Houston once when I was a kid. Anyone else fly out of ...Amon Carter International Airport?

1942 here. Yep, I remember all of those things. I remember the polio epidemic because I got it and survived.

Cool history and times, thanks for sharing

Baby Boomer here, born in 56 lots of great memories from that era. Feel sorry for the youth of today, they will probably never know the simple pleasures of life.

1946 for me.

Good luck men. Funny how the years seem to get shorter the older ya get.

'47 for me also and most of the above statement was still in affect for me. Some things I remember were:

22 shells were a penny apiece.

For $0.25 you could get in the movie house, buy a coke and have a bag of popcorn.

Gasoline wars were common and once saw it at $0.09 a gallon.

Grandpa went once a month to get his government food. One of the things he got was a cheese, the same cheese that we now use to make Rotel cheese dip with.

Most of us wild ones had patches on the knees of our Levi's as they were the only pair we had.

Shoes were worn on Sundays and to school.

Mom didn't work, she took care of the family and everyone's Mom's took care of the every kid in the neighbor hood . You could get a paddling from anyone in the area.

Summer's were spent with the grandparents and they expected you to earn your stay.

A/C was sitting in the shade of the porch and being lucky enough to own a fan.

Butch hair wax stings when it gets in your eyes.

Fist fights were a badge of honor whether you won or lost.

When a funeral procession passed ALL cars pulled to the side of the road in respect for the passed one.

I could go on but to sum it up life was great back then.

My best friend was born on 1/23/45,

Holy old thread Batman!

But this thread does have one of my favorite Oxner quotes

1956 for me also, had a fun childhood. Life was simple and for the better.

1943 here

Commodity Cheese, I remember it well Spacejunkie. It was good.

I remember when our first TV got delivered. We were so excited, and we’d watch anything that was on. We kids changed channels. Dad bought a huge antenna. Later we even got a color TV, and watched Bonanza.

I remember when our first air conditioner was delivered and installed.

I remember party line phones, and having just the one phone that was on a shelf.

I only vaguely remember outhouses. The grandparents had one.

All of it was such a big deal, and now we just take it for granted.

Born in 1945 before Germany surrendered and Japan got their second radiation treatment and surrendered.

Different world. TV had just been invented but it was part time during the day. Not many could afford them and the news either came via radio, word of mouth or newspaper.

First computers called the Difference Machine. Nobody thought they would catch on.

WW2 was going and I first saw my father at 18 months old when he returned from Europe and Africa. I still have my parents letters on something called VMail.

Calling a man a liar or cheat was fighting words. A man’s word was his bond.

You knew you were going to be drafted and do 2 or 4 years of military time unless you were 4F(unhealthy or unfit to serve).

Made a hand on a New Mexico ranch at 17 yoa. Learned about rope burns, bad broncs and eating dirt. After awhile, I decided to give college a shot. Not much future there.