Bob Sanders: Memoirs of the Class of '49

You’ll recall that last week, I was chiding the ancient members of the Class of ’49, the ones who had stayed home after graduation, about how they had let the town change ...

There’s supposed to be a Falkner’s, where you could buy anything from a heel bolt to a party dress; and a Thos. S. Lollar’s, likewise. There should be two restaurants, the G&H and the Lamar. And a hole-in-the-wall hot dog/hamburger place where they made the best ones on earth. Wimpy’s Place. Where are the two barbershops and the pool room? Where did the two blacksmith shops go?

And I don’t see the big tank on Water Tank Hill. It should be there, and at Christmastime, it should have a huge cross with blue light bulbs hanging on it. Where, oh where is the cotton gin with the warehouses all around it, and the wagonloads and pick up loads of cotton that would be lined up for blocks at cotton-picking time?

For that matter, what did you do with Saturdays, and the crowds that used to flock to town on Saturdays? Many of them would park their wagons on the street west of the bank, where the mighty oaks made a pleasant, shady tunnel with their overlapping branches. What’s this business of cutting down some of those trees? I’m a little disappointed in you, Class of ‘49.

Ah, well. Remember the fun you had rehearsing the senior play? Remember the movies that came out that year? Classics like “12 O’Clock High” and “The Third Man,” and “All the King’s Men?”

If you could borrow your daddy’s car, gas was 17 cents a gallon. Average price of a new car was $1,400. Remember the huge change in cars that year? Up ‘til then, they’d just been putting different grills on the ‘42 model; but the ‘49s were completely different.

Remember those four boys, Pierce, Turner, Demps, and ... can’t think of the other one ... who cut school to go and see the Bob Hope Show, with Doris Day and, especially, Les Brown’s Band?

The picture show came to town when you were in the fourth grade. Tell you what: Why don’t we all go to the Lamar Theater tonight and see Roy or Tex or Gene or The Three Musketeers, the newsreel and cartoon ... and by all means, the next chapter in the serial. Ain’t no way Red Ryder could have gotten out of that stage coach as it went over the cliff.

I’m reading a book that made me think of you ancient Class of ‘49ers. It starts with one guy telling another, “Your grandma wants to see you.”

“Nope. Don’t want to see her.” (She’s a mean old hussey as we later learn)

“But she wants to see you,” the man persists.

“No way. Forget it.”

“But,” (final desperate plea) she’s 78 years old!

Good to almost talk to you, Class of ’49.

Bob Sanders is a longtime radio personality with WAUD in Auburn and writes a weekly column for the Opelika-Auburn News.