Decades in Review

In 2003, I made layouts for each of the decades we've lived in beginning with the 1950s. (Yes, I'm that old!) I used excerpts from the book "Generations at Work" for the Seminal Events and Cultural Memorabilia to place on the layouts along with our recollections of the time.

And now we end another decade! Here's my latest addition:

 

     At the start of the decade, Dad & Mom still fix Sunday breakfast for Terry & I. We have several visits with Dad's cousin Bernice and her niece Gerry. We had 90th birthday celebrations for both Dad and Mom. Dad passes away at age  92
in 2014.
    Greg moves to Minnesota to reunite with Michelle and complete his PhD. They marry in 2012. When he gets a professorship at USC, they move to Columbia. In 2019 they both land ideal jobs in Sweden.
    Chris graduates high school and college. He graduates early and lands a job at Mylan to start 2015. He buys a townhouse, then a house with a yard where he lives with his labrador Hank.
    I retire in 2015 and Bob leaves the Dominion Post. He drives pilot cars for OSI where the wide load drivers request him as an escort because he's good at it. Bob leaves OSI in 2019. We take lots of overnight trips and camera adventures along with Sunday picnics. We work together to conduct monthly samplings at the Farmers Market for 4 seasons. There we make lots of friends. When Bob retires from OSI, he goes with me on my weekly trips to Moms and our lunch at the Senior Center. I love my water aerobics classes at the local rehab hospital.

In our country: 
Big Data and Big Tech expand.  Consumers prefer credit and debit cards over cash.  Online shopping brings box store and mall closings.  Self-checkout machines become widespread.  US becomes world's largest crude oil producer. Drones, hybrid vehicles, car sharing services emerge.  Soap operas loose popularity in favor of reality shows.  Smart
phones and social media gain popularity.  Gluten free diets are popular. There is an increase in vegetarians and vegans.  Food presentation becomes more important.  Soda sales dip in favor of healthier options.  Michael Phelps becomes the most decorated Olympian.  Baby boomers retire, putting pressure on pension and other safety programs.  An interest in local and organic foods carried over from the last decade are part of green and sustainable living.  In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico explodes, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the sea. In 2011, Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda and mastermind of the September 11 attacks, is killed by U.S. Navy
SEALs.  In 2013 , terrorists attack the Boston Marathon. In 2015, same-sex marriage is legalized in all 50 US states. In 2016, U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump is elected president  In 2018 , the entire West Virginia Supreme court of Appeals is impeached.

"00" Decade

This decade began with the Y2K panic. On 9-11-2001 the World Trade Center & the Pentagon were jet-bombed by terrorists. The US and Allies overthrew and occupied Afghanistan and Iraq. The dot-com stock markets crashed and the "Harry Potter" books were published.

I have so many memories from this decade and pictures to help me remember. The journaling is placed behind the photo of Bob and I. Here are a few highlights: "We began the new century as a family of 4. Every Saturday Bob takes the boys to Pokemon League at the local comic store. Chris still joins me for reading at bedtime (a tradition started with Greg). Bob starts his job at the Dominion Post. Chris decorates his room all Sponge Bob. The boys & I visit Maxine bringing her lots of presents. Greg brings Michelle into our lives. Mom is honored in a Rosie the riveter ceremony and interview. Maxine passes away at age 85. Greg graduates high school with many honors. Dad is honored with many medals from the US Marines for his world War II service. Chris joins a search party when his friend Mikah's autistic brother is lost in the wilderness for days. Greg becomes a gaming journalist. My nephew Cale is born & nephew Brian is married. Chris is elected to state offices in TSA. Michelle graduates WVU with a double major & joins Cummins Diesel. I speak at an International Conference for the Whole Grains Council.

Bob and I work, work, work but so enjoy our time as a couple when we travel and take pictures. I think he appreciates my recording of memories".

December 2010

The 90s

In the later 90s, our careers take a creative turn when Bob goes back into the newspaper business, taking a photography job at the Fairmont Times. I move back to the Health Sciences Center, managing the cafeterias in the old hospital. Our lives were full and good.

In 1992, Gregory enters Kindergarten at the Presbyterian Church,one of many good schools in his young life. Bob & begin dating again, taking mini vacations with Greg or overnights where Greg stays at Grandma Junes'. On February 8, 1993, Christopher Jordan Gay arrives into the world, one month before my 40th birthday. Chris' mind absorbs much through great preschools, observing his older brother and having parents who read to him.

Seminal events include: Operation Desert Storm, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. Memorabilia include: Barney, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Dark Wing Duck, Miami Vice, Pogs & Beanie Babies.

Layout made in 2003.

The 80s

We brought in the 80s in Charleston, WV, where Bob was an award winning news photographer and I worked as a consultant in school lunch and long term care. We moved back to Morgantown in 1982. Bob taught visual communications at Waynesburg College and I was the dietitian in WVU Dining Services. In 1984, we built our house on Mountain Meadow Drive. Gregory James Gay was born on February 23, 1987. While our careers were important to us, nothing was more meaningful than being home as a family.

Seminal Events include: 1980--John Lennon shot and killed. 1980--Ronald Reagan inaugurated. 1986--Challenger disaster. 1989--Fall of Berlin wall. Cultural memorabilia include "The Simpsons", ET, and Cabbage Patch dolls.

Layout made in 2003

The 70s

Bob and I met in 1973 while students at WVU. Bob was a teaching assistant in J120, the photography class I took as a junior. It was love at first sight. We spent our free time together, with cameras in hand. After graduation and my Dietetic Internship in Richmond, we married in 1976. Our careers took us from Morgantown to Huntington, where Bob worked at the newspaper and I worked at St. Mary's Hospital.

Seminal events include the Watergate scandal and massive layoffs in US corporations. "The Brady Bunch" was a popular TV show and platform shoes were introduced.

If you look closely at the photos in the "negative strip" you'll see Bob's famous Streaker photo. Hundreds of students gathered in front of the Mountainlair student union to witness this epic event and Bob captured it on film.

The 60s

In 1962 John Glen circled the earth. President Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 and in 1969 we watched the first man walk on the moon. Hula Hoops were in and "Laugh-in" was on TV.

In school, I made a lot of friends. I was active in Scouts and church youth groups. As a teenager, I was lucky to have a local "Teen Town" where I danced to live bands on Saturdays and DJs on Fridays. I most enjoyed summers. As a family, we went on picnics and to fairs and horse shows. When I was thirteen, we got a pool and my friends would come and swim.

Bob first became interested in photography at age 12. His neighbor, Bill Mucklow, had a darkroom in his house, lent Bob a camera and paid him to develop some of his film. Bob and his friend, Jim Wolfe, took pictures of the Oak Ridge Boys and sold them some of their shots. Bob was an Audiovisual Assistant in high school and took pictures for the newspaper. He even got some jobs shooting weddings.

The newspaper clipping was from the Charleston Daily Mail when Bob was "Cornered by the Camera" by staff photographer Chet Hawes who later became Bob's coworker. 

The 50s

Those of us born in the 1950s remember Ed Sullivan, TV dinners & the polio vaccine. I was to young to remember Rosa Parks and even the Civil Right Act.

Here's some of what I remember from my early childhood:
"We lived in a house near my father's garage. My sister, Terry, was five years older. When she was in school, I sang to records, played on the swing set and played cowboys with the neighbor boy. Going to school at age six was tough for me being separated from my mother for the first time."

Bob remembers:
"I played with toy guns and soldiers, matchbox cars and tanks. I had many neighborhood friends in St. Albans. Steve Woodard was my best friend. In the picture where I'm looking out the window, I was vacationing in Florida and got the mumps. The group shot is my Kindergarten class at St. Andrew's Methodist Church."

Layout made in 2003.

It was easy to look back 40, 50, 60 years ago and summarize events than it was to look back at the last decade!