By Nan Donovan, columnist
I am really surprised and ever so happy about finding one of the newspapers from 1978. It was in a box that I’ve had all those years. I finally got to it as I had decided to downsize.
In 1978 I was working for The Juniata Sentinel in Mifflintown, Pa. There was only the first section of the newspaper I found. It was yellowed with age, there were holes where it was folded, but the printing was all well preserved.
There was a story of mine on the front page. That’s probably why I had it. I was going to cut it out later and put it in one of my scrapbooks. I never got the chance and it was thrown in that box, forgotten for the time.
Now, 56 years later, I found what I had long ago forgotten. I unfolded it carefully. I was surprised to see some of the prices, but then again, the factory workers at the McAlisterville, Pa. dress factory were only getting about $2.50 an hour, weren’t they?
Anyway, Weis Market on the back page advertises bacon for $1.69 a pound, pork chops for $1.39 a pound, and chicken, 12 choice pieces, for 43 cents. I found an advertisement from Henry’s Furniture Store for their largest mattress for $88. Zimmie’s Restaurant Menu, a complete three-course dinner for $1.90. Remarkable, isn’t it?
Then I went on to read some more of the old news. The Juniata County jail had not passed their inspection, again. The Miffin Dry Cleaning was under new ownership, and they specialized in dry cleaning drapes. It’s hard these days to even find a dry cleaners, and the drapes…who sends their drapes to be cleaned? There are so many materials that we throw them in our machines, dry them in a machine and without ironing, hang them back up. Time saving, but what do we do with all the time we have saved? Saving time, that’s for another time.
Were the times remembered and the prices of that day a reminder of things to come? Will we look back on today after 50 years and think the prices of today were cheap? The crime keeps getting worse day by day. Will we see an answer…something we can do about it?
Yes, I am glad I found the newspaper, but it was at a very bad time of my life. My husband, Teddy, died six month before, and it was the 18th of December, just one week till Christmas and my house caught fire.
Will my life keep going like this?
We all have the bad times, when we think they will never end. But chin up, they do. If you are going through one of the bad times now, get help. Don’t go through it yourself. If it would help, send me a note. I have no license or other requirements for helping anyone, but I do have a way of looking my problems square in the face and saying, “The heck with it.” Almost always there’s something I find in my little problems that’s funny, that I have to smile about. Or quit thinking about it. Tomorrow is another day and tomorrow you just might find the solution to your problem.
Till next time, be safe.
“The Right Age” is a weekly column written for senior citizens by 84-year-old Nan Donovan, who has lived in the Shenandoah Valley for 45 years. She has worked for newspapers, as well as radio and television stations, including WLCC. She moved to the Valley from Pennsylvania.
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