Do You Remember?

Like a trip back in time, we present these memories to help get you in the mood...

Lyndon Johnson was inaugurated as President, and Hubert Humphrey as Vice President (although when we started our senior year, there was no vice president - Johnson had succeeded John Kennedy following his assassination).

Miss America was Vonda Kay Van Dyke of Arizona.

Winston Churchill died that year. So did Nat King Cole and Malcom X (who was assassinated).

Charles DeGaulle was elected President of France. Ferdinand Marcos was elected President of the Philippines. John V. Lindsay was elected Mayor of New York City.

President Johnson signed the Medicare bill, and started the troop build-up in Vietnam. Anti-war demonstrations began on college campuses across the U.S., and Congress made it a federal offense to burn your draft card. The Supreme Court upheld the status of conscientious objectors.

Gemini 4 astronauts White & McDivitt did 60 orbits of the earth, and Ed White "walked" in space.

The Beatles played before 55,000+ at Shea Stadium. Their singles, "Help" and "Yesterday" were atop the charts, along with Frank Sinatra's "It Was a Very Good Year", the Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", and the Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin Feeling".

Big at the box office was "Dr. Zhivago" and the Beatles' "Help". The Best Picture at the Oscars was "The Sound of Music". On Broadway, "The Odd Couple", "Man of LaMancha" and "Cactus Flower" were packing them in.

Families gathered in front of their (black & white) TVs for "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Get Smart", "I Spy", "Hogan's Heroes" and "I Dream of Jeannie". On the funny pages, Trixie, infant daughter of Hi & Lois, was starting to crawl (...some things never change).

Robert Downey, Jr., Brooke Shields and Charlie Sheen were born in 1965.

Gatorade became available to the rest of us (and not just Florida football players).

L.A. (Dodgers) beat Minnesota (Twins) that year 4 games to 3 to win the World Series. Any ball player making $200,000 a year then was a REAL superstar (now, that's pretty mediocre). Michigan beat Oregon State in the Rose Bowl 34-7. Jack Nicklaus won the Masters. Gary Player won the U.S. Open. Willie Shoemaker rode Lucky Debonair to victory in the Kentucky Derby. Cassius Clay knocked out Sonny Liston in 48 seconds.

Buying a home in Springfield in 1965 would cost you about $21,500 in the Sherwood subdivision, or you could get roughly the same 3-bedroom home on Churchill Drive just south of Jefferson for $26,400 (location, location, location!). Barker-Lubin would build you a 2-car garage for $839. You could get central air from Dawson's for $326.50 (and that included the "A" coil, condenser and 15-feet of pre-charged line).

A new 9-passenger Volkswagen station wagon (the original minivan) was $2495 at Chetson VW. You could get a nicely equipped Mustang convertible for about the same price. Gas for riding around the city was 32.9 cents a gallon at every Standard station in town, and if you were lucky, a classmate would fill your tank for you!

At the grocery store, Castor's sold pork chops for 69-cents a pound, steak was 79-cents, ground beef - 3-pounds for a dollar. Chase & Sanborn coffee was $1.19 for a 2-pound can. Bread was 21-cents a loaf, milk was $1.05 a gallon. Eisner's gave S & H Green Stamps.

While the minimum wage was $1.25/hour, the average American's income was $6,469. Gold was $35 an ounce, silver $1.29. The Dow Jones average closed out the year at 910!!!

If drive-in movies were your thing, you could load all your friends in the car (plus a few in the trunk) and head for the 66-Drive-In where (the week we graduated) Steve McQueen was starring in "The Blob" for a dollar a car-load. Next stop, McDonald's on MacArthur, where hamburgers were 20-cents, fries 15-cents and a coke 15-cents. Coke was a dime a bottle in vending machines.

For prom, you might have sent your date a dozen roses ($6.50) and taken her to dinner at The Mill at 15th & Matheny, or the Red Lion in the Leland Hotel (where dinner might have cost you $15-$16 for both of you).