Changes In My Lifetime - Offset Printing

ADD OLD PRINTING PRESSES FROM 1950

METAL CASTING ETC

 

Being the daughter of the owner and publisher of the local newspaper, The Vernon Daily Record, I witnessed technology changing the world first hand. When I was little, I would go to the newspaper office with Daddy and watch the employees set type manually with metal letters and plates for every story.  They had to melt down silver bars to carve out the plates. Once those were set, the plate was sent to the back to begin the printing on the paper. This area of the building was very dark to me, with the use of the black ink. There were many heavy black machines with moving mechanisms that rolled the paper to be printed. There was also a rickety old elevator that we would ride down to the basement where the HUGE rolls of paper were stored. In the 70s, Daddy changed over to “offset” printing which was more efficient and clean.  He travelled all over the country to learn about the process, and eventually invested time and money to change the Vernon Daily Record over to this process.

Changes In My Lifetime - Computers

 THE WORLD WIDE WEB
1993

World Wide Web: Definition, history and facts | Live Science

Personal computers were unheard of until the 1980s. I was lucky enough to be teaching at that time and part of our in-service training was to learn the computer. Though it seemed insurmountable and confusing at the time, I am blessed to have learned what I did back then, in order to feel somewhat comfortable using today’s technology. The World Wide Web was not used until the 1990s, and once again, I was able to learn alongside my students, sometimes with their help.  They prided themselves of being able to teach the teacher. We were still using card catalogues when I retired from teaching in 2007, yet with the world wide web, we were fighting against students copying and pasting reports. I always felt that it was valuable for students to know how to access information in books. That process may now be a thing of the past.

Changes In My Lifetime - Technology

 COMPUTERS/TECHNOLOGY

The first computers 1950s

Difference engine wallpaper - Computer wallpapers - #36759

First personal IBM PC

A quick look back at the first IBM PC that launched 42 years ago today - Neowin

In September 1956, IBM released the first computer with a hard drive, the IBM 305 RAMAC. The machine weighed one ton and measured 16 square feet. The development of the hard drive was revolutionary and influenced how we use computers in the modern day. So…all during my educational years, 1960-1978, we did things the “old fashioned” way, by hand. Bic pens were released in 1950 and were not even present in my world until the late 1960s. I used pencil for everything, very large pencils in elementary school. I remember using the first cartridge ink pens in Jr. High. I was fairly efficient at changing the cartridge, but it could get messy at times.

 For school reports, we had to access the library and manually find information in books. I adored using the card catalogue and learning the Dewey decimal system, probably because I loved being a teacher’s aide in the 7th grade under the librarian, Mrs. Moore. Every book in the library was cross-referenced in the card catalogue. A report might involve perusing several books, making notes on 3x5 cards, organizing them, then handwriting out the report.

 In high school, I learned how to type. Typing was my favorite class and I was very proficient and fast. I learned on a manual typewriter, and eventually, the school purchased several electric typewriters. We had to rotate in order to have experience on the electric typewriter. We had competitions and I always had one of the best scores of how many words per minute with the least mistakes. Before I left for college, Mother and Daddy purchased me an electric typewriter. Corrections were done with correction film or White Out. With three or four long reports due each semester, that was a lot of work.

Changes In My Lifetime - Challenger

 Space Travel 

THE CHALLENGER

A TEACHER IN SPACE

It Was A BIG Deal!

Christa McAuliffe - Wikipedia

Challenger crew from left to right: (front row) Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair; (back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnik

"I touch the future. I teach."  ~ Christa McAuliffe

Space exploration continued to “skyrocket” so to speak. Though what I’m about to write about did not happen in my childhood, I feel it worthy to add here as it impacted me a great deal in my early days of teaching. I remember it clearly as if it were happening right now. Derek and I had moved back to Austin in 1983, and in 1984 President Reagan announced the Teacher In Space Program to increase interest in the Space Shuttle Program. They began searching for the first civilian, an educator, to fly into space. Christa McAuliffe was selected out of the more than 11,000 applicants and space awareness among schools all across America was heightened. All of us awaited anxiously as Christa began training and preparing to communicate with students from space. January 28, 1986, is a day welded into my memory forever. It was an exciting day to reach the school house that morning, knowing that a TEACHER as a civilian was being launched to teach lessons from space. We quickly began to readjust our schedules, many of us agreeing to combine ranks and view the launch on television together in the library. Then the unthinkable happened. The shuttle broke apart 73 seconds into flight. The shock and horror swept over the building. Shortly, the passing period came and we were trying to comprehend what had just happened and how we were going to readjust our schedule. I went to my classroom to meet my students, and as they entered so did my principal, Mary Bull. What happened now for me seemed like a ‘bullish’ act because she arrived with her pad to do my yearly evaluation which in and of itself is stressful for a teacher. My mind was SWIRLING. As a young teacher, I went into a survival mode of my own. It was a hellish nightmare, as I did what instinct would tell me to do and that was to have the students open their spelling books and proceed, or try to proceed, with a normal lesson on this horrific day. It seemed to me that she was smiling on the inside in a devilish way, watching me scramble to pull it together. Not only was I grieving from the tragedy, now I was pressured in the largest sense as a teacher to press on. It nearly made me ill, physically and emotionally. That year, I had 8^th period off and I couldn’t wait to make an early exit from the building, feeling like I was struggling to breathe. When I made it home, I laid down on the couch, covered myself in a blanket to watch the coverage now unfolding on the television. I don’t remember much else…but I couldn’t help but feel that I had been personally challenged and attacked on this day of great tragedy, more especially in the educational world.

On January 28, 2016, several teachers who competed alongside McAuliffe for a seat on the Challenger traveled to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for a 30th anniversary remembrance service, along with her widower, Steven, and son, Scott. After remarking that 30 years had passed, Steven said "Challenger will always be an event that occurred just recently…”

 I agree!

Changes In My Lifetime - Space Travel

 SPACE TRAVEL

History of All Logos: All Nasa Logos

In the 1960s, amid national tragedies and social changes, America’s space achievements were a source of pride. It was unfathomable during this decade to watch as we put men into space. On May 5, 1961, Alan Sheppard was launched into the earth’s sphere.  It was amazing and terrifying at the same time. This precipitated President Kennedy to announce a formal ‘space race’ against the Soviet Union on May 25, 1961, and by in February 1962, John Glenn lifted off in a rocket to become the first American to orbit the earth.  The large complex in Florida eventually grew into NASA; and with their discoveries and advances in technology, our lives began to change forever.  During the next 2 years, Project Mercury had 6 successful launches with a solo astronaut, followed by the 10 missions of the Gemini Project, where man continued to conquer space with space walks and spacecraft dockings. This was huge national news as we were able to watch the liftoffs and ocean landings on black and white televisions. The Kennedy Center began to build its massive moon launch facility. With the last Gemini mission in 1966, the stage was set for the final march to the moon. Bigger and more powerful rockets were needed to propel astronauts beyond earth’s orbit and on towards the moon. Tragedy struck on Jan 27, 1967 when the first Apollo mission carrying 3 astronauts blew up during take-off.

This proved that there was enough power, but the launch had to be perfected. America didn’t give up, and with Apollo 7, three men were launched for an orbital mission. They circled the earth and returned.  Just 2 months later, Apollo 8 lifted off and on Christmas Eve 1968, man circled the moon and viewed the earthrise from the lunar horizon.  The unthinkable occurred in July 1969 when Apollo 11 carrying Neal Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, landed on the moon’s surface as all the world watched on television. It was breathtaking and nerve wracking to watch this and not know what could/would happen. I remember thinking they may be stuck in space forever, but their nodule lifted off and was able to take orbit and return to Earth without burning up. It was unreal and some wanted to claim that it was fake and didn’t happen. America did win the space race and Kennedy space center became the launch capital of the world.

Changes In My Lifetime - Automobiles

 Automobiles

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My Maverick was red with a white vinyl top. I later called it the AO mobile because I pledged a sorority at Baylor and their colors were red and white.

My grandparents were the first generation to own vehicles. Pappy had to crank his truck to start it. I remember always having a family car, though for many years, Mother and Daddy had only one family vehicle. Probably about the time that we moved to the home on Bismarck, a second car was added for Mother’s convenience of toting kids around. Cars used leaded gas. Price per gallon for gasoline was about .31 cents. In 1996, with passage of The Clean Air Act, we were mandated to purchase unleaded gasoline. The seat belt began showing up in cars in 1968, but no one used them. By 1995, every state had a mandatory seat belt law. I’m not sure that I always used my seat belt until 2000.  We had very few interstate highways so we drove mainly on U.S. Highways and some State Highways.  I learned to drive on the FM (Farm to Market) back roads around Vernon.  These were the roads that we often drove during our Sunday afternoon drives through the country.  I was small and was never really interested in learning how to drive. One Sunday afternoon, Daddy came outside with a pillow in his hand and said, “Let’s go!” I was like, huh? It was that afternoon that I learned to drive a car, with many follow up Sunday afternoon drives to get a feel for the road.  I took Driver’s Education as a full semester course as a sophomore. We studied from driving manuals in the classroom, viewed tape of the actual driving experience and then we began our training in the vehicle where we would drive through the city with our teacher in the front seat. These vehicles were equipped with a brake on the passenger side, just in case our teacher deemed it necessary to brake to avoid an accident. In the summer before my junior year, I took the Driver’s Test with a patrolman.  My first car was a Ford Maverick, red with a white vinyl hood. Gasoline prices had increased to about 50 cents per gallon. On my birthday, Daddy woke me up and said that we were going to Quanah to pick up my birthday gift, a car! He told it was a VW bug. I invited Terri Howard to ride along. When we arrived in Quanah, a red Maverick was on the showroom floor and presented to me as my new car.  I was shocked, but I do have to say, I was a bit disappointed that it had no a/c. Daddy, too, quickly realized that was a misjudgment because of the weather in Texas. By my senior year, he had an air conditioner unit installed below the dashboard and it was a good thing because the next year, I drove this Maverick back and forth to college. Of course, I added an 8 track tape player and speakers.

Changes In My Lifetime - Transportation

 Transportation

Above: Richard Crabtree supplies this photo of a Frisco 4-4-0 locomotive parked at the Vernon depot in 1951.  The Frisco passenger depot was located on the south side of the tracks between Main St. and Cumberland St.

Texas Railroad History - Tower 37 - Vernon

The railroad was still used when I was a little girl. Trains carried mostly grain to the grain elevators and oil to the refineries. Passenger trains also occupied the tracks, as people travelled by train to neighboring towns and occasionally across the nation. I remember going down to the train depot for a field trip with my classmates and riding the train (my first time on a train) to a neighboring town. We turned around and came back, and for me, that was quite a trip! I clearly remember the old train depot.

We also had a Grey Hound Bus terminal and it was OFTEN used by people. I remember taking several trips with mother by bus to see relatives, as it was the most convenient and carefree way to travel. Many times, we went to the bus terminal to pick up family relatives who were coming to Vernon for a visit.

The jet airliner that carried passengers wasn’t invented until 1958 and took a while to catch on for those of us use to taking the train or bus. I remember on several trips with Mother and Daddy to Dallas, that Daddy would take us out on the highway by Love Field and park our car on the side of the road, just underneath where the planes flew over to land on the runway. It seemed surreal to see something so huge and loud and powerful in the air. It was an incredible experience in the 70s to begin using a jet for transportation.  Wichita Falls built a small airport that we used to make a flight to Dallas for our connection to other places. Paula by this time was an air force wife and we would travel by plane to visit her.