50 Years Ago: The Class Of 1956 Senior Picture

Row 1: Lucy Roe, Bonnie Brown, Joan Marquit, Bill Drebitko,
Camilla Acello, Rose Brainerd
Row 2: David Kishpaugh, Carol Parliman, Elizabeth Proudman,
Margie Kohler, Betsy Snyder, Shirley Mueller, Mrs. Alice Edwards
Row 3: Gerald Hubbard, Donald Tompkins, Walt Micha, Pete Hughes, Charlie Wyckoff, Forest Ballard

Photographs remind us of what we now think we once were
As the days and weeks and months and years all speed by in a blur.
Gilboa Central Senior picture, 1956
Central means that we all came from way out in the sticks.

Duck & cover, polio, "The Diary of Anne Frank "
Hungarian rebellion suppressed by Russian tanks.
With Elvis on the radio, James Dean at the drive-in
Young Peoples Meetings, roller skating, necking was a sin.

Then Camelot and brothers John & Bobby met their fate
Then "The Pill" and Vietnam, and then there's Watergate.
We lived and loved and failed and won and somehow made it through
Now here's some pictures black and white that look a lot like you.

Most of these folks lived through life's strange mists and lights and fog
And are on my distribution list for this looking backwards blog.
And as the weeks and months and years all speed by in a blur
Photographs remind us of what we now think we once were.

Fifty years ago, in 1956, Dwight D. Eisenhower, signed legislation that inserted the words "Under God" in the Pledge Of Allegiance, made "In God We Trust" our national motto and signed a bill for the Interstate Highway system.
Elvis Presley hit the charts for the first time with "Heartbreak" Hotel, played in his first movie, "Love Me Tender”, “Payton Place” was the best selling book and videotape was introduced by Ampex. The first hydrogen bomb was dropped on the Bikini Atoll, General Electric introduced the “Snooze Alarm”, Fidel Castro landed in Cuba with 82 followers, Yul Brunner was best actor, Ingrid Bergman best actress, and “Around The World In Eighty Days was the best picture. Mel Gibson, Paula Zahn, Olga Korbut, Bjorn Borg, Tom Hanks, Martina Navratilova, Larry Bird, Steve Harvey, Bill Maher, and Johnny Rotten were born. Connie Mack, Alfred Kinsey, and Bela Lugosi died.

In Gilboa, New York, 18 kids, mostly without a clue, graduated from high school and I was one of them, graduating last in my class with an average of 64.49, just enough to round up to a passing 65.