The "Life In The Good Ole Days" Story

It was an ordinary day.  A very ordinary day back in the year 1955.  Reading a magazine that had a section devoted to a variety of different years in the United States history.   I picked one of the years to share with you so  you could envision what it was like years ago.  Now, for some of us, myself included, the year 1955 wasn't that long ago for us.  I was 11 years old at the time and in grade school at Milton Brecht elementary school in the Manheim Township School District.  My teacher that year was Mrs. Ryder, the mother of one of my school friends, Randy.  Another of my friends was Jerry Herr who lived a few blocks from my home on the last block of North Queen Street, a stone's throw from the Lancaster Train Station.  Funny, but I just talked to Jerry a few days ago, asking how he was doing and how his wife Sue, another graduate from High School with us, was doing.  We talked a few minutes about all our ailments and then wished each other a 'Good Bye!' with a promise to talk again next week.  As far as the year 1955 goes, well...some of the top TV shows that year were: The Lawrence Welk Show, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Gunsmoke, Cheyenne, Mister Peepers, The 64,000 Question, I Love Lucy, The Ed Sullivan Show, You Bet Your Life, Dragnet, I've Got A Secret, and My Little Margie.  A few movies that I can remember from that year were: The Man With The Golden Arm, The Trouble With Harry, Kiss Me Deadly, and Rebel Without A Cause.  A few of the prices of items that I can remember were: Postage Stamp was $.03, a gallon of gas was $.29 cents, a pound of bacon was $.65 cents, a loaf of bread was $.18, coffee was $.93 a pound, eggs were $.61 a dozen and milk was $.92 a gallon.  A few other items I can remember were the Salk polio vaccine was approved, President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack and Vice President Nixon served in his place, the Salk polio vaccine was approved by the FDA, and Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger and is arrested, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  I also remember watching  Elvis on TV, Disneyland opened at Anaheim, California,  the first McDonald's opened, and James Dean died in a car accident at the age of 24.  So where were you in 1955.  Perhaps just a thought in someone's mind.  Can you remember what it was like when you were 11 years old?  Where did you live, go to school, etc.  Fun to go back in time, especially since I can still remember most of what happened in 1955.  Now if I had picked 1943...well, I too was only a thought in someone's mind at the time.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.