Showing results for "robert chapin"

The year was 1960, and I was barely 14 and about to graduate into the 8th grade. Beverly Jones was my neighbor, the most beautiful girl in school and I desparately wanted to take her to the prom.I was a member of a group of 5 geeks who just wanted to raise caine, and girls were not a priority - until Beverly came into my life.I previously agreed to assist in a prank of running a pair of mens underwear up the school flagpole - but when Beverly asked ME to the dance all of th...

In 1964, I attended The New York World's Fair where Ford Motor Company and Lee Iacocca were about to release the newest driving sensation: The 1964-1/2 Mustang.Like most teens, I was drawn to the car like a magnet, and seeing it at The World's Fair for the first time was one of the most exciting events ever.I was driving a 1957 Ford Fairlane Convertible Retractable Hardtop. I was not in a positon to consider a new car. My dad passed away several months previous and while aw...

It was 1968 and I was in Vietnam. Constantly tempted to smoke marijuana, I finally gave in to the demands of a fellow soldier - I will not call him a friend!The best place to smoke the Asian Jane was in the outhouse. We met inside a stall, I had my pants down around my ankles and as I lit the joint - the hot match dropped down onto my hairy legs into the fuel and what an explosion!Beneath each toilet was a 55 gallon drum with approximately 2 gallons of fuel. Each day the "p...

It was a time when we did not have to lock our doors, and as teenagers, we thought life was all about us. On November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and we all watched the coverage and mourned his loss.We graduated in 1965 and in our recent 45th reunion reminisced about that fateful day and how it effected our memory this many years later.There are events in this world like the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Martin Luther King assassination, Bobby Kennedy,...

The Abenaki Indian Tribe is awarded 15,000 acres in a U.S. Supreme Court decision for land taken illegally by the U.S. government in 1850. Their goal: to construct the world's largest casino inOgunquit, Maine, a quaint New England seaside village of 1200 in winter and explodes into the largest gambling casino in the world.The influx of people required to run the casino and support services (65,000) are absorbed into the bordering towns.Richmond Rand an ex-Marine sniper...

1964, Lyndon, The Beetles, gas at $.35 per gallon, bread $.54, a new house $20,000, a new car $200. I was 17 years old and my first job was for Mr. D. at a mom and pop Red & White grocery store.My first car: a 1957 Ford Fairlane hardtop convertible. The aroma of the fruits and soap powders forever burned in my brain.Vietnam, college and now I am 65 years old, and still a poopoofnick...

This is the true story of an experien ce I endured as a left handed person in basic training at Fort Dix New Jersey in March of 1966.On our second weekend of liberty - spent at McGuire AFB next door to Dix we had the opportunity to drink alcohol and have a good time.I was dressed in civilian clothes and of all things a red bandanna. Why the bandanna I do not know.Upon returning to the barracks it was my turn to wash the Uncle Sam issued white underwear and t-shirts....

I always wanted to be a radio announcer and following discharge from the army in 1970 I fulfilled my dream of attending one of the most prestigious schools in the country: The Connecticut School of Broadcasting.I excelled in all phases of on air personality and when I graduated at the top of the class was fortunate to have been hired before classes finished.The school was founded by Dick Robinson an on air personality in a town where I was chosen to fill his position when h...

The year was 1955, granddad was 62 years old and I only 9. He was a coin and antique dealer in Western Massachusetts and in this year - 1955 he packed me and a lunch into his 1954 Nash Rambler Cross Country station wagon and travel the back roads of New England in search of the elusive 1955 doubled die penny.One bank stop produced 100 of the error coins worth $40,000 EACH - today.

In 1961, we had a Rexall Pharmacy in our town. The aroma of the elixers and marble counter with four swivel chairs where teens congregated.The book rack where boys and girls flipped through the magazines of the early 1960's.The soda fountain where Mrs. B. added more fizzy water than Coke syrup - the result - when I attempted to impress Marilyn Snell - was to have it propel through my nose spraying the contents of my mouth onto the counter and Marilyn's dress.That wa...

Preston Cunningham is assigned to Vietnam in spite of his 4 year guaranteed tour in Germany. A cryptographer, Preston was assigned via remote status to The office of The Vice President - Hubert Humphrey at The White House.In Vietnam, true to the Army's attitude of "hurry-up and wait", he was ordered by his commanding officer to scrounge (beg - borrow - or steal) whatever necessary to make the war machine tick. Often trading helicopter parts for a skid of booze or choice steaks....

The year was 1954, and living in small town in Central Massachusetts our father was known as the "town drunk". He could not hold a job, was abusive to my mother and seldom home.Mom worked two jobs to put food on the table and the newest invention - the TV had just been introduced. She wanted her three children to enjoy a "bit of happiness", and although our father was unemployed, he somehow managed to purchase the TV.Following three months of Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, T...