Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 9/2/1968 to 9/8/1968

Rome City Schools' decision to eliminate new tuition students for the 1968-1969 school year accomplished exactly what the system hoped it would: it reduced student enrollment. Total enrollment dropped from 6,646 in 1967-68 to 6565 in 1968-69--a drop of a little more than 1%. That figure was deceptive, though, because the 6585 included almost a hundred new students whose families had moved to Rome. West Rome Junior High enrollment was 413, compared to 337 the year before; much of that  increase came from the transfer of students from Anna K. Davie, which was being phased out due to desegregation. West Rome High enrollment jumped from 687 to 785, an increase of about 13%; much of that Main High, which eliminated its ninth and tenth grade classes in 1968-69. West End gained only two students, and Elm Street actually lost 22 students.

West Rome kicked off the 1968 football season with a 35-28 win over Westminster on Friday, September 6th. After the game, a sock hop was held at the West Rome gym, sponsored by The Drumbeat (the West Rome High School newspaper). Music was provided by Jaywalker & the Pedestrians. (I have no info on this group--does anyone know of the band was made of up West Rome students or alumni?)

Rome unemployment increased slightly in the late summer of 1968, due largely to Celanese shutting down part of its plant. Almost all of those who were unable to find work were women or men over the age of 55. Outside of this group, unemployment dropped to 3% in the Rome area.

Piggly Wiggly had chicken breasts for 59¢ a pound, Maxwell House coffee for 72¢ a pound, and a one-quart container of Cool Whip for 49¢. A&P had bone-in Swiss steaks for 69¢ each, carrots for a dime a bunch, and a 36 ounce box of powdered milk for 59¢. (We had powdered milk in the house for several years in the 1960s; Mom would use it as a milk extender, mixing it with water and regular milk. I could always tell when I was drinking the real-milk-and-powdered-milk mix, but I didn't much care. While powdered milk by itself was pretty watery and off-tasting, the mix was tolerable, particularly on cereal.) Kroger had chuck roast for 49¢ a pound, Blue Plate mayonnaise for 38¢ a quart, and Campbell's tomato soup for a dime a can. (Tomato soup and about half a pack of Saltines were one of my favorite lunches--and I would have gladly had it for dinner if the choice had been up to me.) Big Apple had sirloin steak for 89¢ a pound, Chicken of the Sea tuna for 33¢ a can, and strawberries for 33¢ a pint. Couch's had ground beef for 43¢ a pound, Aristocrat ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon, and bananas for a dime a pound.

The cinematic week began with Hang 'Em High (starring Clint Eastwood) at the DeSoto Theatre, Gone With the Wind (starring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh) at the First Avenue, and a double feature of How to Steal a Million (starring Audrey Hepburn) and Bandolero (starring Dean Martin) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Secret Life of an American Wife (starring Anne Jackson & Walter Matthau) to the DeSoto Theatre and Hang 'Em High to the West Rome Drive-In, while Gone With the Wind hung around for another week at the First Avenue. (It's really amazing to realize that Rome only had two indoor movie theatres, and one of them was spending more than a month showing an almost-thirty-year-old film rather than bringing in something new. Of course, in those days before VCRs, premium channels, DVDs, blu-rays, and streaming services, this and TV reruns were the only way we could see old classics.)

The Rascals took number one this week in 1968 with "People Got to Be Free." Other top ten hits included "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf (#2); "Light My Fire" by José Feliciano (#3); "Haprer Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley (#4); "Hello, I Love You" by the Doors (#5); "The House That Jack Built" by Aretha Franklin (#6); "1,2,3,Red Light" by the 1910 Fruitgum Co. (#7); "You're All I Need to Get By" by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (#8); "I Can't Stop Dancing" by Archie Bell & the Drells (#9); and "Stay in My Corner" by the Dells (#10).

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour premiered n NBC on Saturday morning September 7th (remember that "One banana, two banana, three banana, four" theme song?). In the days before Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, the Cartoon Network, and other kid-focused channels, Saturday morning TV was the one time slot in which cartoons and other kids' programming ruled the schedule.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 8/26/1968 to 9/1/1968

The last week of August 1968 in West Rome was a slow one. Summer (well, what students call summer--not the meteorological season, but the time between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next) was over, school was back in session, TV was still in reruns, football season hadn't started yet, and the fair was still a few weeks away... Rome in August was a town with too little to do and too much time in which not to do it, apparently.

Rome's late-summer heat wave continued, with temperatures hitting the upper 90s for the first half of the week and lows in the mid-70s. Not only was it hot, it was also quite dry, without even a popup thunderstorm to break the heat. Thankfully, cooler air moved in by the last part of the week, with Thursday highs in the mid-80s and lows in the upper 50s.

School started back on Monday, August 26th. Unfortunately, the late-summer heat wave we were just talking about made for a very uncomfortable first week of school, since West Rome was not air conditioned. While each classroom was designed with a bank of windows that could could open at both upper and lower levels, that didn't do much to cool a classroom down when the air coming in through those windows was in the mid to upper 90s. Even worse, the school system did not provide fans for the classrooms, so it was up to teachers to bring in their own fans if they wanted to keep the air moving in their rooms. (Making it a little worse for me was the fact that the first day of school was also my birthday. Starting school on your birthday is never a fun thing. Not only do you not get to have a lazy day off, but you also are in the company of friends and acquaintances who—even if they knew when your birthday was—have no memory of your birthday because there’s so much first-day-of-school stuff going on.)

Head football coach Nick Hyder was looking ahead at the upcoming season, and he was concerned bout what he saw: the Chieftains were saddled with an incredibly challenging schedule, beginning with a game against prep powerhouse Westminster on September 6th, with Carrollton (who held a record for making it to region playoffs more than any other school in the state) following two weeks after that and Triple-A champion Marietta two weeks after Carrolton. "We just hope we can lean some football from these folks," Coach Hyder said. "A schedule like this should make the fans happy,, but it sure means that the players have a lot of work to do to get ready. Hyder was most concerned about the line of scrimmage. "If the line holds up, we'll play respectable football. But that's the big question mark."

Six more Romans, including two in West Rome, were arrested for selling illegal alcohol. Authorities said that all of the recent arrests grew out of information gathered a month earlier when an illegal still operation was busted up; the operators of the still had records that indicated who some of their dealers were.

Piggly Wiggly had spare ribs for 49¢ a pound, grapes for 19¢ a pound, and Lady Alice ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon. Kroger had fresh whole fryers for 27¢ a pound, Campbell's tomato soup for a dime a can, and a ten-pound bag of potatoes for 49¢. A&P had chuck steak for 49¢ a pound, honeydew melons for 79¢ each, and an in-store baked apple pie for 39¢.  Big Apple had turkey for 29¢ a pound, bananas for a dime a pound, and Banquet 16 ounce chicken pot pies for  19¢. Couch's had pork chops for 59¢ a pound, Van Camp's chili for 33¢ a can, and locally grown tomatoes for 19¢ a pound.

The cinematic week began with Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (starring Robert Morse & Terry-Thomas) at the DeSoto Theatre, Gone With the Wind (starring Clark Gable & Viven Leigh) at the First Avenue, and A Time to Sing (starring Hank Williams Jr.) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought Hang 'Em High (starring Clint Eastwood) at the DeSoto and The Shakiest Gun In the West (starring Don Knotts) at the West Rome Drive-In, while Gone With the Wind hung around for another week at the First Avenue.

The Rascals took number one this week in 1968 with "People Got to Be Free." Other top ten hits included "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf (#2); "Light My Fire" by José Feliciano (#3); "Hello, I Love You" by the Doors (#4); "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream (#5); "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by the Vanilla Fudge (#6); "Harper Valley PTA" By Jeannie C. Riley (#7); "You're All I Need to Get By" by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (#8); "I Can't Stop Dancing" by Archie Bell & the Drells (#9); and "Stay In My Corner" by the Dells (#10).

Crossing Paths

"Move your cart. We can't get through."

He looked up from the cookie and cracker shelf, made eye contact with the stocky blonde woman in her thirties and her burly companion with a shaved head and an unkempt beard, then frowned slightly as he moved his cart. They pushed their cart forward almost instantly, not giving him time to finish clearing the aisle; the carts collided, pushing his cart into the merchandise shelf and knocking over a few boxes of Dare Maple Creme cookies. The couple moved down the aisle toward the front of the store, never stopping; they could have gone down any other aisle with the same results.

He began picking up the cookies, still frowning slightly but saying nothing. I stopped to help him.

"I was hoping to find some fall stuff," I said. "I really like pumpkin spice--but I guess I'm too early." Casual conversation is often pretty good for cutting through stress.

He glanced at me for a minute and then smiled. "Yeah. Me, too. I guess we're too early." He adjusted his black suit jacket slightly, then centered the Windsor knot of his crimson tie. The suit, like the man who wore it, was fastidiously maintained.

"These maple cookies are okay, but they're not pumpkin." He looked at the box as if he was considering it, then put it back in place. "You never know when they're going to put the fall stuff out. Usually, it's before my birthday. Guess not this year."

"When's your birthday?"

"Sunday... next Sunday."

"The 26th?"

"August 26th, yes."

"That's my birthday, too." After decades of knowing no one who shared a birthday with me, this was the second person I'd crossed paths with this week who had an August 26th birthday.

"You're kidding." As he spoke, he pulled out his wallet and slid his driver's license up high enough to show the birthday. 8/26/1923. I did the same. 8/26/1953. He grinned. "Whaddaya know?!"

"So you doing anything for your birthday? Getting together with your family or friends?"

He smiled wistfully. "I've outlived 'em all. My youngest boy died three years ago--he was my last living child. Oldest born in '42, while I was overseas. My girl was born in '44. My youngest boy was born in '46. They all had good lives, but I outlasted them.  My wife passed a long time before that. Even my old home is gone. I've outlived all of my friends... that's the problem with being 95, I guess."

Look him over, you'd guess 75 tops. Assertive posture, articulate speech, an air of self-confidence and independence--nothing but his license said 95.

"Sorry to hear that."

"It's the down side to being 95. Even my old war buddies are gone now. I was in WWII."

"Where were you?"

"Europe. I was on a B-17 for a while."

"What position?"

"Started out as a ball turret gunner. Then we were nearly shot down, and we had to get rid of all the weight we could to try to make a crash landing back in England. They got me out of the ball turret, then one of the guys gave this big bolt assembly a solid hit and he knocked that pin out and the whole ball turret just dropped right out. That thing must have weighed a thousand pounds, maybe more with the guns and everything, and it just dropped. It was gone. And I looked at the other guys and I said, "I'm not a ball turret gunner any more. I'm a radio man. And I was the radio operator from then on. Always thought that if I'd stayed in that ball turret, I wouldn't be here now. They gave us a little parachute, but I decided I wanted a job where you got a big parachute and it took more than one big bolt to drop you out of the sky. And I never really believed that those little parachutes were going to do anyone any good, anyway..."

I could tell he was enjoying this opportunity to share the story. I think he had probably told it before, but not in a  long time.

"You said your old home was gone. Where was home?"

"Up the road a ways--Cedartown."

I grinned. "My wife's from Cedartown. So's my family. We lived there for six years after we got married."

"You're just saying that!"

"No sir! We lived on Olive Street, right off South Main."

"Heading down to the Old Mill and then to Buchanan--I know where that was!"

"Yep. My grandmother owned houses there, and we rented from her until we moved to Cobb County in '77."

"I'll be..."

"Where'd you live?"

"Like I said, it's not there any more. Whole street's been torn down and paved up now. It was called King Street. "

"You're not gonna believe this, but my wife grew up on King Street. Lived there when I first met her."

He started to say something, then just laughed in amazement.

"She lived at 103 King, just behind the little store on the corner. Where were you?

"We were at the other end of the street... 114 King. Left there after I came back from the war, though. GI Bill. bought a house off West Avenue."

"Susan wasn't born then, but her family already lived in the house by the time you moved out."

"What are the chances?... It's a small world, isn't it?"

"It is indeed..." I looked at my watch. "I've really enjoyed talking to you, but I'm afraid I have to go next door and pick up a pizza now."

He held out his hand; I took it and we shook hands firmly.

"I'm in here a lot. I don't live too far away. How about you?"

"We live about four miles from here, but I come in every couple of weeks. Sometimes more."

"If you see me, say hello, won't you? Not too many people say hello any more."

"Yes sir, I will."

I'll see him again. Sure of it. The fall stuff is coming in soon, after all...

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 8/19/1968 to 8/25/1968

West Rome students (and their counterparts across the river) were enjoying their last week of summer this time in 1968, with school set to start back on August 26th. However, this wasn't a totally school-free week: freshmen had to show up for registration at West Rome at 9 a.m., sophomores at 10:30 a.m. (since I was a sophomore this year, I was appreciative for the extra bit of sleep before I had to show up for registration), juniors at 1 p.m., and senior at 2:30 p.m. Elementary and junior high students had to show up at their schools between 9 a.m. and noon to register for the new year. West Rome students who had not attended school in the Rome City system before had to show up at the school on Tuesday at 9 a.m. for testing to determine class placement.  College students at Berry and Shorter still had a few more weeks of freedom, though, since both colleges were scheduled to start back on September 17th. (Since neither high school had air conditioning, it made sense that city schools would wait until the hottest part of summer was over before starting back, but I have no idea why colleges waited until the third week of September to begin classes.)

The dog days of summer settled in this week in 1968, with Rome topping 100 degrees on August 19th. Temperatures "cooled down" to the mid and upper nineties for a couple of days before climbing back above 100 on Thursday, but lows were still hitting a comfortable upper 60s. The heat generated a Monday afternoon thunderstorm that dropped marble-sized hail on parts of Shorter Avenue.

Former students who didn't finish high school but were hoping to get their high school diplomas could sign up to take the General Education Development Test (GED) ate West Rome High School on Saturday, August 24th, at 9 a.m. More than forty people had signed up for the test by Friday afternoon.

Rome police raided a home at 502 Division Street and confiscated many gallons of illegal whiskey hidden throughout the house. Bootleg pints, fifths, and gallons of liquor was hidden in his car's trunk, in the refrigerator, in clothes hidden in the closet, inside the shell of a TV set, inside a gutted stereo console unit, inside hollowed-out books, inside hidden storage nooks in the walls, and more. Not surprisingly, police had reason to suspect that the resident was selling illegal liquor out of his home--but they knew for a fact that he was not watching TV or listening to his stereo!

Someone apparently had a grudge against shaved ice; a snowball stand near the Rome Civic Center was burned down by an arsonist  late Wednesday night. Someone apparently dumped a gallon of gas on the snowball stand, then set it on fire; the suspect left the gas can behind, so police were hoping to pull fingerprints from the can.

A thief managed to enter the office of the Kayo Service Station at 1800 Shorter Avenue during business hours in order to steal a cash deposit back containing almost $500.

Piggly Wiggly had chuck roast for 39¢ a pound, potatoes for a dime a pound, and Merita bread for 15¢ a loaf. Kroger had chicken breast for 59¢ a pound, Irvindale ice milk for 39¢ a pound, and bananas for a dime a pound. A&P had Oscar Mayer hot dogs for 59¢ a pound, blueberries for 33¢ a pound, and Poss beef stew for 39¢ a can. Big Apple had sliced calf liver for 25¢ a pound, Luzianne coffee for 49¢ a pound, and lemons for 39¢ a dozen. Couch's had Armour Star bacon for 59¢ a pound, okra for 15¢ a pound, and Nabisco saltines for 37¢ a box.

The cinematic week began with The Thomas Crown Affair (starring Steve McQueen) at the DeSoto Theatre, Inspector Clouseau (starring Alan Arkin) at the First Avenue, and The Detective (starring Frank Sinatra) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (starring Steve Allen, Jim Backus, & Pat Paulsen) at the DeSoto Theatre, Gone With the Wind (starring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh) at the First Avenue, and A Time to Sing (starring Hank Williams Jr.) at the West Rome Drive-In.

The Rascals took the number one slot this week with "People Got to Be Free." Other top ten hits included "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf (#2); "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors (#3); "Light My Fire" by José Feliciano (#4); "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams (#5); "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream (#6); "Turn Around, Look at Me" by the Vogues (#7); "Stoned Should Picnic" by the 5th Dimension (#8); "I Can't Stop Dancing" by Archie Bell & the Drells (#9); and "Stay In My Corner" by the Dells (#10).

The Beach Boys released on the most offbeat albums of their musical career this week in 1966: Stack-O-Tracks, an album that featured the backing tracks for fifteen of their songs, sans vocals. In the days before karaoke, a lot of hopefuls practiced singing their favorite Beach Boys songs to these instrumental tracks.

One of the strangest Westerns in comics history was released this week in 1968. Bat Lash ("Will He Save the West... Or Ruin It?") was the creation of Sergio Aragones, Dennis O'Neil, and Nick Cardy; the character was introduced two months earlier in Showcase #76, but DC didn't wait for sales figures from the tryout issue before launching Bat Lash #1. (Maybe they should have, since Bat Lash wasn't the Western hit that DC had anticipated, since the series would be cancelled after only seven issues.) The book's roguish hero was reminiscent of Maverick as reinterpreted through 1960's youth-culture eyes.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 8/12/1968 to 8/18/1968

Population growth was boosting West Rome (and East Rome) enrollment so much that the Rome City School Board announced that they could not accept any new tuition students for the 1968-1969 school year. Those who had attended West Rome or East Rome as tuition students for the '67-'68 school year would be allowed to continue, but if any student decided to return to his/her "home school," that student would not be allowed to return to the Rome system as a tuition student. Superintendent M.S. McDonald said that there were 52 tuition students at the two high schools.

New teachers to the Rome City School System were invited to attend the Red Apple Luncheon at East Rome High School. The Rome Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored the luncheon, which continued with a tour of the Rome area, including a stop at the Boys Club of Rome for refreshments and a musical performance.

Normally, high school football players would have begun pre-season practice two weeks before school started--which would have been this week in 1968. However, with new Georgia High School Association rules prohibiting high school football games prior to Labor Day, area coaches decided to wait an extra week before starting practice. That mean that Chieftain football players had one more week of summer to enjoy before reporting for practice on August 19th (and that practice could not include pads, since the new rules prohibited practice in pads before August 26th)--and considering that the highs this week in 1968 were in the mid-90s, you can be pretty sure that the players appreciated the time off the practice field! The players didn't get a totally free week, though: coaches had players report to the high school gym at 8am for two hours of calisthenics.

The Rome Health Department moved to its new facilities on West Tenth Street this week in 1968. The new facility was almost three times the size of the original facility, allowing the medical staff to assist far more Romans. (I still recall getting various vaccinations at the health department facility, as well as my blood test for our marriage license.)

Rome and Floyd County police officers joined with federal agents in raiding an illegal liquor operation located on (get ready for it) Booze Mountain Road. The still's operator had over a hundred gallons of illegal whiskey in his home and garage. Naturally, authorities destroyed the booze and the still.

Car thieves targeted the usually-packed Gala Shopping Center parking lot, with three car thefts reported this week in 1968. All three cars were a year old or less, and two of the three were late-model Chevrolets. Police encouraged drivers to be sure that their cars were locked and that the driver had the keys with him or her; in every case, the cars had been left unlocked, and in one of the cases, the drivers left the keys under the front seat of the car.

Cato's opened its Gala Shopping Center location on Thursday, August 15th, 1968. All opening weekend visitors were encouraged to enter in a free drawings for a variety of clothing giveaways.

Piggly Wiggly had ground chuck for 69¢ a pound, okra for 19¢ a pound, and Maxwell House instant coffee for $1.39 a jar. Big Apple had round steak for 79¢ a pound, cantaloupes for 33¢ each, and a five-pound bag of Dixie Crystals sugar for 39¢. A&P had pork chops for 59¢ a pound, Poss beef stew for 49¢ a can, and Valencia oranges for 69¢ a dozen.  Kroger had fresh whole fryers for 29¢ a pound, Morton frozen cream pies for a quarter each, and Kroger bread for 18¢ a loaf. Couch's had Oscar Mayer hot dogs for 39¢ a package, bell peppers for a nickel each, and Nabisco saltines for 37¢ a box.

The cinematic week began with The Detective (starring Frank Sinatra) at the DeSoto Theatre, Dark of the Sun (starring Rod Taylor) at the First Avenue, and Planet of the Apes (starring Charlton Heston) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Thomas Crown Affair (starring Steve McQueen & Faye Dunaway) to the DeSoto and Inspector Clouseau (starring Alan Arkin & Peter Sellers) to the First Avenue, while The Detective moved to the West Rome Drive-In.

The Rascals took number one this week in 1968 with "People Got to Be Free." Other top ten hits included "Hello, I Love You" by the Doors (#2); "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams (#3); "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwofl (#4); "Light My Fire" by José Feliciano (#5); "Stoned Soul Picnic" by the 5th Dimension (#6); "Turn Around, Look at Me" by the Vogues (#7); "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream (#8); "Grazing in the Grass" by Hugh Masekela (#9); and "Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan (#10). What an amazing week for great music!

Cheap Thrills by Big Brother & the Holding Company was released this week in 1968. The album featured some pretty solid instrumentation, but the real cause for its success was the performance of the group's amazing vocalist, Janis Joplin, who would soon leave the group and become a rock superstar in her own right.

A Life in Four Colors Part Forty-Five

As I've said before, comics have played a major role in many of the most important parts of my life. I had no idea just how major a part they would play, though.

In December of 1967, I made my usual comics purchases. One of those comics was Batman #199, a rather forgettable issue with an eye-catching cover that shows Batman desperately trying to purchase a copy of a Batman comic book. DC (and in particular, editor Julius Schwartz) loved that sort of story: come up with an offbeat cover with a preposterous image or situation, then have the writer deliver a story to match. 

The comics-reading experience always included the letters column; I enjoyed seeing what other readers had thought of prior issues. So once I finished the comic, I flipped to the letters column--and my eyes were immediately drawn to two words. 

Cedartown, Georgia.

Cedartown, located just a half-hour from my home town, was very familiar to me. My parents were born in Cedartown; my maternal grandmother still lived there, and we visited her once a month or so. I had stayed with my grandmother for a week a time during the summers when I was younger, which meant I knew the town. I knew pretty much every store that carried comic books. I had probably bought comics in the same store where this mystery letter writer bought comics.

It had never occurred to me that there might be someone in Cedartown reading comics and then writing letters of comment. So I looked above the city and state to see who this mystery fan was.

Susan Hendrix. 

I was doubly surprised. While I had known girls who read comics (Tricia Mullinax and Debbie Ezelle were two childhood friends who were also comics readers), I hadn't known any girls who were interested in actually writing about them, in either fanzines or letters of comment. Oh, I knew that there were girls reading comics--one of the most prominent letterhacks (the term used for those who frequently wrote letters of comments to comics) was Irene Vartanoff--but I didn't ever imagine that any of them might live in my general area.

Cedartown was a local phone call from Rome. Without giving it too much thought (if I had, I probably would have chickened out) I looked up Hendrix listings in Cedartown. There weren't that many of them. So I began calling; when someone would answer, I asked for Susan.

One wrong number. Two. Three. Four. Then came call number five.

"Just a minute," the boy who answered the phone said (I would learn later that it was Susan's brother, Wayne). Then he turned away from the phone and called loudly for Susan. A moment later, a girl's voice said hello.

I don't really remember precisely what I said. I didn't have that part planned out very well, I guess. I remember asking if this was the Susan Hendrix who read comic books. She hesitated before saying yes. I then asked if it was the Susan Hendrix who wrote a letter to Batman. More hesitation, then another yes. Then I told her my name, told her that I read comics, too, that I also wrote letters of comment, and probably blathered on for several more minutes. We talked about comics a little; we talked about the factual error in Batman #195 that inspired her letter; we talked about our interests in science fiction and music. And I asked if I could write her a letter to tell her more about myself. She said I could... and she said she'd write back. (I didn't need to ask for her address; back then, the letters columns included full addresses. 103 King Street. Less than two miles from my grandmother's house.)

Months later, as we got to know each other better, Susan told me that her first thought was that someone from her high school had seen her letter and was calling to mock her. She came very close to hanging up when I asked about reading comics.

I'm very lucky that she resisted that first impulse.

My life changed that day, although it would be several more months before I would get an inkling of how significant that change would be. We would talk and write letters to one another for six more months before we would first meet--a meeting that took place at my grandmother's house in Cedartown. 

(Three years after that meeting, Susan and I would get married... but that's another story, and I don't want to get ahead of myself. So you'll have to wait a while for that part of my tale...)

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 8/5/1968 to 8/11/1968

The 1968-1969 school year hadn't begun yet, but band practice worked off a different calendar. Chieftain band members reported to the band room on Tuesday, August 6th, at 9am to begin practice so that they would be ready to go for the first football game. Students wouldn't report back for classes until August 26th.

The FBI joined the Rome and Floyd County police departments in their search for "Shug" Green, the burglar they had dubbed "the sneaker thief" due to his choice of footwear during his crimes. The thief, who was believed to be responsible for more than three dozen burglaries in the Rome area in the year prior, was suspected to be hiding in the Rome area.

Apparently Green wasn't the only burglar operating in Rome, though: while police were searching for him, someone else broke into Bradshaw Tire Company and stole almost $200 worth of tools from the shop area.

The North 2nd Avenue Bridge was closed to traffic this week while workers repainted the structure. They tried leaving the bridge open while they began painting, but apparently Rome residents weren't thrilled with paint-spotted cars...

The hottest weather of the summer settled in on Georgia this week in 1968, with temperatures hitting the mid to upper 90s every day of the week. There were a few scattered thunderstorms, but not enough to break the heat.

Back to school shopping was underway this week, and that meant that it was time for a price war between Super Discount Store and Big K. Super D had boxes of crayons, packs of notebook paper, Bic pens, scotch tape, Elmer's glue, composition books, and packs of note cards for 14¢ each. Big K took an additional two pennies off that price, offering the same selection and more for only 12¢ each.

The cinematic week began with The Green Berets (starring John Wayne) at the DeSoto Theatre, Boom (starring Elizabeth Taylor) at the First Avenue, and Speedway (starring Elvis Presley) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Detective (starring Frank Sinatra) to the DeSoto Theatre, Dark of the Sun (starring Rod Taylor) to the First Avenue, and Planet of the Apes (starring Charlton Heston) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Piggly Wiggly had fresh whole fryers for 27¢ a pound, corn for 6¢ an ear, and Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite for 33¢ a carton plus deposit. Big Apple had chuck steak for 49¢ a pound, Wesson Oil for 39¢ a quart, and white seedless grapes for 33¢ a pound. Kroger had pork chops for 49¢ a pound, Kroger sherbet for 39¢ a half-gallon, and Star-Kist Tuna for 29¢ a can.  A&P had smoked ham for 35¢ a pound, lettuce for 19¢ a head, and honeydew melons for 79¢ each. Couch's had chicken breast for 49¢ a pound, Van Camp's pork & beans for 18¢ a can, and Royal Sun orange juice for 33¢ a quart.

The Door took the number one slot this week in 1968 with "Hello, I Love You." Other top ten hits included "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams (#2); "Stoned Soul Picnic" by the 5th Dimension (#3); "Grazing in the Grass" by Hugh Masekela (#4); "People Got to Be Free" by the Rascals (#5); "Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan (#6); "Lady Willpower" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap (#7); "Turn Around, Look at Me" by the Vogues (#8); "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream (#9); and "Jumping' Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones (#10).

The Vision made his premiere in Avengers #57 by Roy Thomas & John Buscema. The android Avenger was inspired by a Golden Age character, but Thomas & Buscema kept little more than the name in their comic book reinvention of the hero.