I remember 1961. I was 15 that year and learned to drive a stick car, my father's 1961 Ford Falcon. I couldn't wait to get my license. Yes, the world was very different from today. The last surviving Civil War veteran died in 1959 and there were lots of WW 1 veterans around in 1961. The "War" - World War II - was a recent memory. I read a lot of books written by veterans, mostly fliers.
I wish I had written down all the stories I heard from old folks, and wish I had asked my relatives born in Eastern Europe in the 1800s about their lives there.
My uncle, born in 1903, bought a house in the 1930s built by a Civil War veteran when he came back from that conflict. It stands today, and I used to play in the old post and beam barn, which stood on the banks of the Morris Canal.
Now I'm one of those old folks.
