OUR TIME

This page is about growing up in the '60's and '70's in Greenville - the years we attended Greenville Schools - the years we ruled the world!

It's intended to jog memories - make you smile, make you laugh, make you think or maybe even make you cry.

We start with a timeline of the things that were going on during our high school years:

Then we add the sounds, the music of those years. Do you remember singing and dancing or just cruising to these songs?

Next, we add our own recollections, our memories of GHS and Greenville.

MEMORIES OF GREENVILLE

Cruisin' Broadway for babes & boys

Maid-Rites & the Wall-O-Gum (which is still growing)

Mr. Kludy & his cannon

Flag Rush - a great local tradition that lost it's way and died

Little Kings & the Little King Open at Rick Macci's

The greatest winter sport ever, throwing snow balls at cars

Ink & Dink

Dances in the Park Pavilion (that no longer exists)

Fireworks at Harmon Field

CPO Jackets

When girls would still be seen in curlers & scarves

Going to McGreevey's (Broadway & 3rd St.) for a Cherry Coke

Having a choice of flicks at the State or Wayne Theater

The free kiddie show at the State Theater on Wednesday afternoons during the summer - you got a ticket from numerous businesses around town

The band 'Sunny Good Street' playing at lots of school-sponsored dances

Dunn's Hobby Shop with it's giant slot car track

Sledding down Memorial Hill

Toilet-papering Mr. (Mousie) Morrison's home - he always said it was "Beautiful!"

Buying 45's at Murphy's for 69 cents - and albums for just a few bucks

Murphy's, the Boston Store, Fourman's and Barr's all had a basement

Santa, his sleigh and reindeer on Fourman's each Christmas

A giant REAL Christmas tree on the circle each year

The Hasty Tasty (now the Colony)

Mabel's Toy Fair

The elevator at the Palace with it's own operator

The Hamburger Shop that had Frosties way before Wendy's even existed

Snell's Diner

McVay's Sporting Goods

Driving all the way out to the 'country' to go to Frisch's and going over the speed bumps - Sherry Baker Echeman

I remember this well (my mom was a carhop here when she was in high school), but does anyone remember what this place was called when we were in high school? It was a pizza/ sub place if I remember correctly. The twins might remember a kitten incident here one night. CD

Ferd's A&W Rootbeer Stand where everyone hung out. The old fashion car-hop place with real glass mugs!!! I flipped enough hamburgers in my lifetime and made those good old fashion Chili Dogs. I was so sick of food in those days, maybe I should go back to those times. Was a lot skinnier then - Connie Cool Swartz

The Park in the Summer - it seemed like everyone was there, day and evening. You were either at the pool, or 'up top' watching everyone at the pool, or between the pool and the Round House. In the evenings, add the softball field and everyone saw everybody! Drive through the Park now during the summer and it's a ghost town outside of the 'new' pool.

The Park in the Winter - Skating on the big ponds in the park - scores of people, nice fires to keep you warm, plenty of room for hockey games and casual skating, lit up at night - a wonderful thing for our town that died when the ducks took over the park! The fact that this doesn't still exist is a shame for Greenville...

Lastly, we can reflect on our time and how things in the world have changed.

Someone sent the list below a while ago. I've added some of my own thoughts. I agree with it and relate to it for the most part - and I long for the 'good old days' of the '60s & '70s. I think this country has gotten way too politically correct, litigious, protective and intolerant of everything - actions, speech, etc.

And our world has also become 'tech crazy'. The cell phone, PC, game system or IPOD that didn't exist during our youth and that you bought yesterday will be obsolete tomorrow.

Am I becoming a geez (I'm beginning to get that AARP crap in the mail), or is life happening just a tad too fast? Do some things in the youth culture seem out of control? Our kids and grandkids say NO. And regardless - nothing will stop it!

MEMORIES OF OUR TIME

After we were born, our cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints with side rails we could stick our heads through.

We had no childproof devices on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets.

When we rode our bikes and skateboards without helmets, and no one died.

We would ride and even stand in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We felt safe hitchhiking and picking up hitchhikers.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle purchased from a store. Did God intend for us to buy water?! NOT!!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We drank pop from ice-cold 16oz glass bottles. Did anything taste better on a hot summer day than Coke or Mountain Dew from a glass bottle?

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter; ate endless amounts of candy and drank pop with sugar in it, but few of us were overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back home when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day if we were out-and-about because there were no CELL PHONES! And we were OK and came home safe and sound.

We did not have Playstations, Gameboys, Nintendo's or X-Boxes, but we always found something fun to do.

We had 3 TV channels - no video tapes or DVD's - and we always found something to watch. And if not, we actually read!

Again. we had no cell phones - and the world didn't end if someone couldn't reach us RIGHT THIS FREAKING MINUTE!

We had no personal computers, Internet or chat rooms, but were always in touch with our friends that mattered.

And we had lots of friends and when they weren't home we went out and found them.

We fell out of trees, got cuts, broke bones and chipped teeth, and there were no lawsuits.

We got paddled in school and were probably better for it - without litigation.

We made up games with sticks and ate green apples and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out any eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.

We played army and Cowboys & Indians with lots of toy guns and few of us grew up to be serial killers.

Halloween was actually cool! When we went out for Treat-or-Treat it was actually at night - when it was DARK - AND SPOOKY! Our parents weren't right there on the sidewalk wearing sunglasses while we approached houses in suffocating parkas over our costumes...and we didn't have to have our loot x-rayed.

We soaped windows, not keyed cars.

AIDS was a diet candy.

A Metal Head was someone into Sabbath or Zepellin - not someone with 2 dozen piercings in their face.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone always made the team. Most of us who didn't make the team learned to deal with disappointment (as did our parents)- and we turned out just fine. Imagine that!

The idea of parents backing us up and suing the establishment if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And our generation produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, artists and inventors ever!

If you'd like to add to either of these list, press this button

In for some more nostalgia?

click here - very cool link