The following piece was written and presented at the reunion by Dorothy New Koons. May it serve as a catalyst for you to commence your own sentimental journey into your life's experiences - especially the days of your childhood. As I prepared this for the web site I couldn't help but remember our class co-sponsor, Jimmy Dorrell. This is simalr to what he would have delivered had he been with us. If you haven't read his books - do so - they are priceless. It took me forever to prepare this for the web site as I kept flashing back to my own memories of the 1950s and 1960. My life changed after the fall of 1960, as I'm sure yours did as well, and have been eloquently outlined in our profiles pages. -gr-
Rising Sun - 1960
In 1960 Rising Sun was like a thousand other small towns in the Midwest. There were still stores on Main Street such as Danbury's, Gibson Hardware, Lettire Hardware, Dibble Hardware, Fashion Shop, Espey's and the dime store. We had three grocery stores, two grain mills, a farming implement dealer, six gas stations and garages. W had numerous restaurants and Maurer's Drug Store. We also had Fessler's Dairy Queen. We even had two new car dealers; Stows and Greens. We had three manufacturing places, Whitlock's, Brown Tool and the Cross Factory.
We did not lock our doors in 1960. There was no need. Parents let their children roam around town without a worry about their safety. When you walked down Main Street you were acquainted with everyone you met.
In 1960 men did not go to beauty parlors for haircuts. Theyt all went to Mase Uhlmansiek's Barbershop. The gossip that came out of there rivaled anything that the women could come up with.
We did not have any drug problems. The most anyone did was a few beers and smoke. By smoke, I mean Winstons or Kools. There were none of those "funny" cigarettes. We only had a police chief, one patrolman, Sheriff and one deputy. That's all we needed, we had very little crime.
Imagine a time without computers or the Internet. If you needed some information for a school project you had to go to the library. Now every classroom has their own computers or a central area accessible to everyone. We were really excited when we got electric typewriters versus the manual type. No one writes letters, it's all emails now. A hundred years from now there will be no letters such as the ones George Washington and Abraham Lincoln wrote. It's all in cyberspace.
Imagine a time without cell phones. We still had operators to make our calls. In the country we had phones that hung on the wall. You had to ring the crank and the operator would come on. At one time the two main operators were the Niemeyer sisters. If you made them mad you could crank the phone all day and they wouldn't answer. Things got better when John Wayne's mom, Helena, became an operator. You could call her and find out where the fire was or who won the out of town ballgame. Sort of like Sarah on Mayberry. Now our phones have cameras and can access the internet. The teenagers all text on their cell phones, and a lot of adults. My fourteen year old granddaughter will no doubt develop carpel tunnel syndrome on the fingers of both hands....
We did not have cable or satellite television. We only had three stations. We thought that was great. Now with satellite TV we have over 280 stations. My husband complains that there is nothing on TV to watch. Some people did have color TVs but most had only black and white. There was never anything vulgar or in bad taste on television in 1960. Even married people like Desi and Lucy had twin beds.
Most kids did not have their own car. Some did, but mostly you had to drive the family car. Gas was only .25 or .30 cents a gallon. If your friends pitched in a quarter you could drive around all night. You drove around town first. If nothing was happening you drove up the road to Frisch's. You drove around the lot and if you saw anyone interesting you pulled in. The waitress took your order, bringing it back on a tray she hooked on your car. For a couple of cokes you could hang around for quite a long time. Sometimes a car load would go right up the road to the popular auto drive-in. For one price a whole car load could get in. If you were feeling really daring you could drop in at the teen hang-out in Aurora called the devil's den. Sometimes you were welcomed - sometimes not.
If a fellow took his girl friend out for a movie and a bite to eat it would only cost him $5.00, or less. Now just one ticket to a movie costs almost twice that.
1960 was a fun time too be young. We did not have any knowledge of assassinations or the Vietnam War. We were just teenagers having a good time. It was fun, but I don't think I would want to do it again !!!!
Dorothy Koons
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June 18th was a night we'll always remember
With classmates we'll never forget
The Class of '60 Reunion is history - Long live the Class of 1960 !
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High school is often called the greatest time of our lives. High school is full of fun activities like sports, dances, dating and learning to drive. It would be folly of course to think of high school as all fun and games. Many hours were filled with hard work in class, studying and writing exams. A number of us suffered tragedy with the unexpected loss of a classmate or friend which often brought an unwelcome sense of reality into our world. High school is over quickly however, and we move on to other responsibilities and friends. High school reunions are a great way to relive your high school years and reconnect with old friends and June 18 and 19 the Class of 1960 did just that - in grand fashion. High school is a time of many great or not so great memories. At our 50th we reminisced about the sports, the dances and the silly irrelevant drama of high school with the people who experienced them. We celebrated our triumphs and struggles together. Many joys come and go but friendship is forever.
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Where it all began many years ago for the Rising Sun half of the class
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Cass Union School - The academic beginnings for a good portion of the Class of 1960 .
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Most of our high school years were spent on High Street
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Opened in 1959, it is hard to believe that in 2010, 50 years have passed since the first students, some excited, some nervous, entered through the doors into the brave new world of Rising Sun High School, a brand new state of the art edifice of bricks & mortar which throbbed with the collective heartbeats of students and teachers alike. We ARE the Class of 1960. Shiny and new in 1960, Rising Sun High School still stands as a monument to all those who passed through and continue to pass through its doors
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You are listening to MOMENTS TO REMEMBER - the Class Song for Rising Sun High School Class of 1960 - Performed by The Four Lads - Enjoy !!
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