To read part one, click here.

1949

Immediately after the wedding in Richmond, Grandma and Grandpa drove across the country to Denver, Colorado where Grandpa was stationed as an Air Force mechanic.

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 authorized the construction of Interstate 70 east of Denver, the first interstate highway to begin construction under the act, but it was not yet complete when they drove west.

When Grandma was pregnant with her first child, the first monkey went to space, but died on impact landing back on earth.

1950

Grandma became a mother at age twenty, naming her first child Cheri. Birth control pills wouldn’t be invented for another decade.

While Grandma became a mother, the U.S. developed the first atomic bomb.

In the same year, the comic strip Peanuts debuted in newspapers, Walt Disney released Cinderella, and Shirley Temple resigned from show business.

Cigarette filters were introduced for the first time to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals ingested.

Cheri was only a few days old when Grandma and Grandpa drove back across the country from Colorado to move back to Richmond.

There were no baby seats at the time. Instead, they pulled a drawer out of a dresser and put baby Cheri inside the drawer in the backseat of the car as a makeshift bed!

There were long stretches of land and towns were few and far in between.

Grandma once told me, “Whenever we would stop for dinner, the waitresses would want to hold our baby. They’d say, ‘Eat, enjoy, we’ll watch your baby.‘ And I would say, ‘Thanks, here you go.’“

Grandma told me the waitresses passed her baby around, taking turns holding Cheri and sometimes they would disappear into the kitchen.

“Half the time I didn’t know where Cheri was, but it was fine. They’d bring her back with the check and we’d leave,” Grandma chuckled. “That probably wouldn’t happen today.”

1951

Grandma was pregnant with her second child.

Color TV was invented and the first dogs went to space and made it back alive.

1952

Grandma gave birth to her second child, my Aunt Cathy, in Virginia. This was in the midst of the “Baby Boom” after WWII. It is estimated that 3.9 million babies were born in 1952.

While Grandma juggled taking care of two babies, the United States successfully detonated their first hydrogen bomb and Dwight D. Eisenhower became President.

The deadliest polio outbreak was recorded with nearly 58,000 cases of polio reported. A U.S. physician invented the first vaccine and tested it on himself and his family, but it wouldn’t be widely available to the public for another two years.

The following were invented that year:

• The airbag
• Mr. Potato Head
• A video tape recorder
• Roll on deodorant

1954

It wasn’t until Grandma was 26 years old that racial segregation of children in public schools was deemed unconstitutional in a historic case of Brown vs. the Board of Education.

However, Virginia would not begin desegregating schools for another four years, as the politicians used a strategy called “Massive Resistance” to prevent it. Instead of integrating, they’d close schools.

Scientists discovered and agreed that smoking caused lung cancer. The Surgeon General’s warnings didn’t bother Grandma much, who smoked in her kitchen and on the sofa every day. 

1955

The polio vaccine was distributed to the public, effectively ending the outbreak.

1957

When Grandma was 27 years old, the first artificial satellite Sputnik was created.

The new Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) was built using artificial islands to connect the the tunnel under the ocean. The construction of the HRBT helped transform Virginia Beach from a tiny resort town with a population of about 5,000 residents into one of the state’s largest cities within the next five years.

Several of her grandchildren and great grandchildren would later be born in the newly established metropolis.

Grandma hated this tunnel. She was terrified of driving under the ocean.

By the time my Grandma died, the population of VA Beach reached nearly half a million.

1960

When Grandma turned 30, she gave birth to my mom. Named Dorothy Gail (but NOT after the Wizard of Oz!!). Mom was born during an election year when John F. Kennedy won and became the youngest man ever elected President.

On the way home from the hospital, Grandma and Grandpa stopped at the polls to vote. The election workers brought a ballot out to the car so Grandma could vote.

For the first thirty years of Grandma’s life, segregation was law, but this was changing. Segregation in public transit was declared illegal in 1930, and let’s just say my Grandma was not a fan of integration.

It would still be another two years until the Equal Pay Act for women would pass.

At this time, contraception was invented, but it would be illegal for married couples to use for another five years.

1961

At 31 years old, the first humans entered Earth’s orbit in space.

1962

When my mom was two years old and my Grandma was 32, the first cassette tape was invented.

This photo is of my Grandma driving their motor boat with my mom in a diaper in a director’s chair that could easily fly off since it is not attached the boat. Not a life jacket in sight.

Grandma and Grandpa went out boating and camping nearly every weekend on The Great Wicomico River and Gwen’s Island. My mom told me it was less about being in nature and more about being social, as they went camping with other family friends. They liked to fish and would cook crabs for dinner.

One of their family friends was so good at water skiing that she would ski all day without ever getting wet. The water was full of stinging nettle jellies, so she would sit at the end of the dock with her skis, get pulled up into standing position and her husband would drive the boat so close to shore when she was done that she could just jump right onto the sand stay perfectly dry.

My mom remembers that it was Grandma’s responsibility to prepare for the boat trips. Each Friday, Grandma spent all day going to the grocery store, packing the coolers and the car, packing all of his clothes and all the kids clothes, and loading all the gear up so that when my Grandpa got off work, he could get in the car immediately and drive to the lake. And when they got back, it was Grandma’s responsibility to put everything away, do all the laundry, clean out the coolers, unpack the car and cook dinner again.

In 1962, safety wasn’t taken as seriously as it is today.

9-1-1 was not even in operation yet. They of course carried no cellphones or GPS while on the boat, since neither were invented yet.

Color photography would not become mainstream or widely used by the public for another 10-20 years.

1963

When Grandma was 33 years old, she gave birth to a baby girl and named her Janice Carol.

Janice died shortly after birth. It’s unclear what happened, and Grandma didn’t talk about it much. The only thing Grandma said throughout the years was, “We should have taken legal action,” leading us to speculate that there may have been a doctor error during the birth.

Janice Carol is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, a famous cemetery that overlooks the James River in Richmond, Virginia. Since Richmond was the Capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War, more than 11,000 Confederate soldiers’ remains are memorialized there with a 90-foot tall granite pyramid built in 1869. 25 Confederate generals and the Confederate President Jefferson Davis is also buried there.

This was nearing the end of the “Baby Boom” era, where more than 4 million babies were born every year from 1954 until 1964, when the boom finally tapered off. By then, there were 76.4 million “baby boomers” in the United States, which made up almost 40 percent of the nation’s population. (Statistics courtesy of History.com).

1964

The Civil Rights Act passed when Grandma turned 35, outlawing segregation in public places, businesses, and employment.

1968

At 38 years old, Grandma’s gave birth to her final child, Kathryn.

Kathryn was born into a year of political unrest and turbulence. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, violent riots broke out in Washington D.C. and Baltimore.

Kathryn was another election year baby where Robert F. Kennedy was also assassinated, benefiting Richard Nixon who was elected. 

Aunt Kathryn was also born in the midst of the Race to Space. The most popular movie of the year was 2001: A Space Odyssey, setting the stage for man to land on the moon next year just before Grandma turned 40.

“Hey Jude” by The Beatles was the hottest single of the year. But according to my mom, Grandma never listened to music.

Safety became more relevant this year:

• The first 9-1-1 call was made
• Seat belts were deemed mandatory in all new cars produced, as well as headrests to prevent whip-lash injuries. But drinking and driving would remain legal for another 20 years.

1970

At 40 years old, the nation celebrated its first Earth Day, the first commercial flight was made, and Nixon banned cigarette commercials. The Surgeon General’s warnings didn’t bother Grandma much, who still enjoyed a pack a day along with a full pot of coffee and a piece of chocolate cake for breakfast.

You may be looking at this photo and wondering what’s up with the blonde kid’s haircut?

That’s my mom, and she told me the story of going to sleep one night with bubble gum in her mouth. She woke up the next morning and it was stuck in her hair. Grandma left early for church so it was up my Grandpa to get her ready.

My mom said, “He thought if he put butter in my hair then the chewing gum would easily slide out…that did not work.”

Hence the short haircut.

The Famous Bear Story

I’ve heard this story countless times throughout my life but it still makes me laugh. Grandma and Grandpa took all four daughters on a camping trip to Mount Pisgah in North Carolina. When they got there, the ranger told them, “Make sure to hang your food in the trees.”

Grandma and Grandpa laughed and promptly ignored the ranger’s advice. Their camper was a pop-up, so two beds extended out both sides of the camper with poles underneath them to stabilize the beds.

They all went to sleep and woke up with the camper rocking back and forth. My mom instantly thought of the chocolate covered peanuts Grandma always kept with her and figured the bear was trying to get inside the camper for Grandma’s peanuts.

My mom told me, “I remember my daddy waking up. He grabbed his pistol, which he named Betty. He was waving it around yelling what’s going on? He didn’t have his glasses on! So we’re all ducking and yelling. He tried to open the door but he couldn’t because the bears were against it.”

The bears knocked down the poles underneath Cathy and Cheri’s bed so they are bouncing up and down the most. Neighbors heard what was going on, so they came to help by banging pots and pans together. The bears left, but ate everything in their cooler.

Rather than getting a ticket, the rangers gave them coupons to a local restaurant since all their food was gone.

1973

Grandma’s oldest daughter, my Aunt Cheri, got married when Grandma was 43 years old.

Cheri met her husband, Randy, on the beach in Virginia Beach. Randy was a Navy guy and Cheri was on vacation with her college sorority. They met and were quickly engaged and married.

My Grandpa Jack walked Cheri down the aisle, unlike at my Grandma’s wedding, who’s father refused to walk her down the aisle (read part 1 if you missed that story).

1974

It wasn’t until Grandma was 44 years old when it became legal for women to get a credit card in their own name.

All four of her daughters were born without the right to have a credit card, but that changed when Aunt Cheri was 22 years old, Aunt Cathy was 20, my Mom was 10, and Aunt Kathryn was 2.

In the same year, Aunt Cathy got married to her husband Ken. They were both in seminary so getting married over Christmas break worked well for them.

“It was really hard for Grandma to pull our wedding together since it was three days after Christmas,” Cathy told me.

Grandma spent the Christmas season meticulously shopping to pick out the perfect present for everyone, wrapping each box with beautiful ornate bows. She was a host, and loved to bake Christmas cookies, decorate the tree, and cook dinner for family and friends. It was her busy, stressful time of year. Cathy is pretty sure that Grandma made all of the bridesmaid dresses too, or at least most of them.

“I don’t know how she managed that with Christmas involved, and she still had two children at home to take care of. Amazing. Grandma never mentioned how hard it was to pull the wedding together until years later,” Cathy said.

Aunt Cathy and Cheri wore the same wedding dress, and both were walked down the aisle by their father.

1976

Grandma became Grandma at age 46 when her first grandchild, my cousin Becky, was born.

My mom remembers her and Grandma going over to help Cheri for a night or two. When they left, my mom remembers Cheri asked Grandma to stay and help.

My Grandma shrugged, waved her hand, and said, “You’ll figure it out,” and left.

In the same year, the first Apple computer, the first commercial digital camera, and the first ink-jet printer was invented.

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