Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Wondering about 1959


Why 1959, well I commented on Gypsy’s blog that it was the year that I was in Glacier National Park.  What I didn’t say was the summer of that year was spent traveling with my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin in their Airstream travel trailer.  We lived in Pennsylvania and went to the Wally Byam Caravan Club rally in Colorado Springs in that year.  After which we toured most of the North West U.S. and came home through Canada and down past Niagara Falls and home.  Had the most wonderful time and will never forget it.  Almost three months on the road through some of the most beautiful parts of North America.

I could go on and on about that trip but what else happened in 1959?  Nothing as important as my trip let me tell you!!  There were a few new things that hit the market or made news.  For you doll collectors out there, 1959 was the first year that the Barbie Doll with real cloth clothes (instead of paper) hit the market.  Pitney-Bowes invents an automatic cancelling machine to be installed in post offices which will increase the processing of letters from 16,000 to 27,000 per hour.  Zerox was working on tabletop machine that would copy documents on untreated paper, WOW!!!  And how about security, Mosler Safe Co. developed a surveillance system for banks that used a motion picture camera.  And the one that changed all our lives was RCA and the Army Signal Corps developed a micromodule allowing 27 of these chips to be placed in only one cubic inch of space.

I was in high school back then and that summer was the best summer I have ever had.  It is because of that trip that I became an RVer.  Some of the things that appeared in that year we seem to think have always been around.  I think it is fun to pick a year and see what was “new” in that year.  I do have to say that the summer of 1959 was my most memorable summer ever.  What was yours?  Now, go have a great day and enjoy yourselves and make 2012 a memorable year, you hear?

10 comments:

  1. I don't remember much. I was born on 1958, so I didn't know what to look for yet.

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  2. Do you use anything to PICK a year? I got an email one time that i can do that with. I think it's interesting too.

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  3. Sixbears, will dang, you are just a baby - you sure missed a good time, the 1950's were great other than Korea, but there always seems to be a conflict going on somewhere all the time.

    Trouble, Not usually, but this time I have a big thick book on 1959 and it sure does bring back memories.

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  4. Oh yeah, Trouble, almost forgot to say I got the book at the flea market, where else. . .

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  5. Some of my best kid memories are of stuff done outside with family, camping trips, fishing , But nuthing like you did.
    We had an older aunt and uncle to traveled and camped each summer . I couldn't wait to hear their stories. This had to have been in the 50's and I thought they were real adventurous.

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  6. In 59 I was still in school and working a job after, so my adventures were limited for the most part.

    I've had a job since I was 12, so when I got close to early retirement age, I didn't even think twice about it!

    Had plans to start doing some traveling, but got sidetracked somewhere along the way!

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  7. you young people make me feel like an antique I was born the same year they killed Bonnie an Clyde.The end of the second world war was a high for me.
    The end of World War II in Asia occurred on 14 and 15 August 1945, when armed forces of Japan surrendered to the forces of the Allied Powers. The surrender came just over three months after the surrender of the Axis forces in Europe.

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  8. Ben, I would say that 85 to 90 percent of all the things I have really enjoyed have taken in the out of doors.

    HJ, I was also in school in 1959 and i was sixteen when we took that trip. I even got to drive for a few miles so that i could say I drove pulling a travel trailer.

    Ted, I wasn't born until Feb. 1943 so don't remember much of the war. I do remember my Mom holding me up and showing me my Dad's picture. She wanted me to know what he looked like.

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  9. I think in 1959 you might have been called a trailerite. Have you seen that old Lucy and Desi movie The Long Long Trailer?

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  10. Jimkabob, oh yes, I have seen that about three times. By the way, the Wally Byam club member trailers all had numbers and at that time Uncle Bill's number was 1090 and they called me 1090 Jr.

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