07 June 2014

Announcement: Winner of Flashback to the 60s Contest

Congratulations to Cindy Brennan, whose Memory of the 60s was selected at random as the winning submission for our Flashback to the 60s contest. Cindy wins a free registration to the 2015 Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. Congratulations!!!

Cindy Brennan
Top 10 List of why the 1960's are Forever Etched in my Memory

1. Measles, Mumps and Chicken Pox. We all had them as there were no vaccines. At least we didn't get polio since we were the first generation to take the vaccine on a sugar cube.

2. Sneaking out of my home while wearing these forbidden fashions: neon pink fishnet stockings, white Go-Go Boots and a miniskirt!

3. Meeting my lifelong best friend Leslie - while competing in the talent contest at the Butler County Fair. She won the grand prize, but I got a best friend for life.

4. Singing Beatles songs really loudly as I swung on my swing set. I was certain they could hear me in Liverpool!

5. Watching Neil Armstrong (who was from my Mom's hometown of Wapakoneta) walk on the Moon. It still gives me Goosebumps to this day!

6. The civil rights movement and the racial riots going on in the town next to me. We couldn't go to church a few times because of this. I didn't understand it then, but I sure do as an adult.

7. Christmas Eve, after church, at my Grandma and Grandpa B's - where we crammed 25 people into a 700 square foot space. Some of the best times of my life.

8. Living in Atlantic City, N.J. during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember my Mom and Dad staying up all night because they felt we were in jeopardy because of where we lived. Hiding under our desks in school to practice for Bomb Raids that fortunately never came.

9. Our silver aluminum Christmas tree with red ornaments. You don't find those in 2014!

10. Having both parents, all 4 Grandparents and 1 Great Grandparent alive during most of that decade. If only I had grasped the enormity of how precious that was at the time.