Private First Class “Sweetie” spent 1967 in Pennsylvania working as
hospital lab technician compliments of the U S Army. I was 16/17 years old, he was 19/20. We met the summer before, but within three
weeks of our meeting Uncle Sam sent him a “we want you” notice. After boot camp, he was sent seven hundred
and fifty miles away, but thanks to the U.S. Postal Service our courtship
continued. A first class stamp cost 5
cents, and 8 cents to send a letter “air mail”.
Seeing a letter in our mail box from him made my heart skip a beat. Many letters sharing our deepest thoughts and dreams were written and received by the two of us. It was how we learned about one another, and our main way to communicate.
One day, probably a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, the
telephone rang. As typical, our home had
only one telephone, and ours was centrally located in the living room. I raced down the stairs from my bedroom to
pick it up before my mom or dad would, and heard sweetie’s voice on the other
end. Wow – I almost fainted. He called long distance from Pennsylvania! Just to talk! It was an inconceivable concept as the cost
to make a long distance call was very expensive. As it turned out, the long distance telephone
operators were on strike, and sweetie’s brother who worked in management at AT&T
was called in to man the lines during the strike. He managed to hook the two of us up. I still don’t know exactly how he did that,
but boy oh boy was my heart pounding! It
was wonderful.
Within a week or two the telephone operator strike ended,
but our phone calls didn’t. About every
two or three weeks, the phone would ring, and as usual I’d race to pick it up
hoping it would be my Private Sweetie Pie. We continued sharing our deepest thoughts and dreams. Because he would call from a "pay phone" he started calling “collect” meaning the operator would not put the call
through until I would say “yes” to accept the charges. Of course I said yes.
The calls were expensive, but once a month, a money order would arrive by mail
from “sweetie” payable to my father to cover the cost. I no longer had to race
to pick up the call, my parents would always say “yes” and accept the charges but I still did!
Communication was much different back then. I’m glad I experienced
it. That makes me smile.
1967:
Median household income was $7,143 a year.
Lyndon B Johnson, president and Hubert H. Humphrey, vice
president.
The Graduate, Bonnie
and Clyde, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, Cool Hand
Luke were top movies.
Popular music was The Beatles, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band.
Super Bowl: Green Bay d. Kansas City (35-10)
World Series: St. Louis Cardinals d. Boston Red Sox (4-3)
NCAA Basketball Championship: UCLA d. Dayton (79-64)
