I was born December 29, 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri. My parents were Carl Wendall Turnbough and Norma Lee Scott Turnbough. I inherited my Dad's first name and my Mom's middle name -- Carla Lee Turnbough. I remember my mom saying that she really thought the nurse delivered me rather than the doctor. Five years later, my brother Gary Kevin joined the family. I've always wondered why they named him Gary but called him Kevin. Our worry biggest worry was whether to play inside or outside.
Mom did all the laundry, meals, housecleaning. Dad worked and paid all the bills.
Though I do not remember it, 1948 was the year that Harry Truman legally ordered discrimination in the US military to cease and Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood. The Hollywood Ten, a group of writers, producers and directors were called as witnesses in the House Committee's Investigation of Un-American Activities. They were jailed for contempt of Congress when they refuse to disclose if they were or were not Communists.Columbia Records introduced the 33 1/3 LP ("long playing") record at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It allowed listeners to enjoy an unprecedented 25 minutes of music per side, compared to the four minutes per side of the standard 78 rpm record. Tennessee Williams had just written "A Streetcar Named Desire." T.S. Eliot and Williams both won Pulitzers that year.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar. My mom made the best pizza in the world -- from a box -- Chef Boyardee. My first pizza in a restaurant was much later in the small town of Mexico, Missouri -- at Bello's Pizza.
The 50's political landscape in the world was clearly defined between the Soviet dominated East and the capitalist West.The cold war became a grim reality because both sides had the power and technology for a Nuclear holocaust, but neither side believed any war could truly be won.
I grew up in a consumer-driven economy that seemed to have no bounds. Mr. Potato Head really was a real potato -- not a plastic potato. There were no Rubics cubes just plastic number puzzles where you only had to put 12 numbers in order inside their black plastic tray. You did not go shopping with a credit card or a debit card. You paid cash or wrote a check! Gumby and Poky were toys and a tv show. There were only three tv networks! NBC, CBS, and ABC.
I remember small, local grocery stores, playing outside until dark, no worries about being kidnapped or shot, fireflies everywhere, stay-at-home Moms, small houses, one car, family meals, great TV shows. We had limited news coverage of most of my world until the mid 60's. Perhaps it was easier because we didn't have the sensational news drama that scares us today. I went to all white schools and wondered why because in my family there was no hatred or bigotry. I blindly went through my youth being friendly to everyone.
So, you could say, yes, life was better and easier because we chose to live it that way.
