Column: Future Shock

Dear readers,

Just like Billy Pilgrim, I’ve come unstuck in time. It happened last Saturday. The moment I opened the door at the local Knights of Columbus I noticed something in the air. 

Patchouli! 

I hadn’t smelled that sweet intoxicating scent in years. I instantly knew I was in the right place. It was my 50th high school reunion.  

I was transported back to 1973 as I caught a whiff of Hai Karate mixed with notes of Jade East. I think Brad Fix or Dennis Hirschauer were wearing the Hai Karate and Danny Greene had probably splashed on the Jade East.

Next, I smelled a fragrance with a top note of Hyacinth and base notes of Musk and Vanilla. It had to be Charlie.

“Charlie” perfume was introduced by Revlon in 1973. I still remember model Shelley Hack from the TV commercial. It was a fragrance advertised to empower women. 

I’m guessing it empowered women to repel the effect that Hai Karate had on them. I wasn’t sure who was wearing the Charlie. I think it might have been Linda Cordrey or Denise Hardin.

I then saw Melanie Gahimer and was jolted back to when we first met in 1964 at Morrison Park. I lived on Shelby St. in those days and Melanie lived on S. West St. I also spotted Karen Johnson who lived on 2nd St. 

I made it back to 1961 and saw several kids from St. Joe grade school including Kevin Zerr, Sue Thornburg, Patty Higdon, Terrie Weintraut, Tony Wilson, Robert Burns, and Steve Marcopulos. 

I felt like a character in that elegiac Twilight Zone episode “Kick the Can.” It seemed a little weird being young again, but it was nice seeing all my old friends.

When we were in high school, “Future Shock,” a novel by American futurist Alvin Toffler was a best seller. A popular assignment for students was to write what life would be like in the year 2000. Almost all the students in my class, including myself, predicted a future with robot maids and flying cars just like on the Jetsons Saturday morning cartoon. 

I predicted we would all be vacationing on the moon.

The turn of the century happened 23 years ago. My house and all the others on W. Mechanic St. still look about the same as they did 50 years ago. In fact, most of the houses on Mechanic St. don’t look much different than they did 100 years ago. 

During my high school years, 24 Americans visited the moon and 12 of them went for a walk. Everyone tuned in to watch Neil Armstrong take his “one giant leap for mankind.” 

Eugene Cernan was the last person to walk on the moon in 1972 and his name only appears in trivia games. It looks like it might be awhile before I vacation on the moon. 

I was suddenly jolted back to the present when I noticed a display with the photographs of the 71 deceased members of our class. Bill Towne was among them. Bill was in the same Cub Scout den as me in grade school. Our Den Mother was Mrs. Skogland. My fondest memories from Cub Scouts are being at her house and her playing music for us on a player piano. 

Her son, Mark Skogland, was also in our Cub Scout den and he was at the reunion. Mark said that not only is my Den Mother still alive, but she still has the player piano. He gave me her phone number. I think I’ll give her a call. 

I remember Sandy Talbert, a member of our class now deceased once said, “it’s all about the people.” 

I think she was right.

Note: A special thanks to those members of my class who took the time to plan the reunion: Sue Thornburg Berauer, Paula Phillips Chappelow, Denise Hardin Coffey, Dave Fagel, Brad Fix, Danny Greene, Linda Cordrey Hampton, Teresa Sprong Heffner, Dennis Hirschauer, Kathy Baughman Huffman, Karen Johnson Jackson, Elaine Mellis, Melanie Gahimer Meloche, Patty Higdon Schonfeld, Jane Neeb Shelton, Carol Wiley Showers, Mary Dile VanSickle, Debbie Hasecuster Westerman, Terrie Weintraut Young, and Kevin Zerr.

See you all next week, same Schwinn time, same Schwinn channel.

Get the most recent Shelby County Post headlines delivered to your email. Go to shelbycountypost.com and click on the free daily email signup link at the top of the page.