#Nostalgia Dinner with Lowell Thomas

My family home from 1957 (year of the photo) until 2017, when my mom moved to a board-and-care house. It's 3-bedrooms/1 bath and about 1100 sq.ft. Over time, the garage became a "master suite" and they squared off the front where the bougainvillea (red flowers) is. This is the site of the dinners and other events in this post.

My dad was a career Navy man. He retired in 1960 after 22-years as a Senior Chief Gunner’s Mate. Gunner’s Mates don’t have (m)any civilian options, so he became a Driver’s Training Teacher. 

But that’s for another blog post.

While stationed on the USS Kidd and the USS Dixie when they homeported in San Diego, he was on a set schedule. When his ship was in port, he was always home by 5:00 p.m. Our family sat down at the kitchen table to eat at 5:00 p.m.

Monday through Friday of each week, our family had a dinner guest. Although he never set foot in our house, Lowell Thomas greeted us right after we said grace. He began visiting in the mid-1950s and continued until at least 1962. 

I remember his daily introduction as, “And now, here’s Lowell Thomas and the news.”

“He started every newscast with ‘Good evening, everybody,’ and signed off with ‘So long until tomorrow’ — which established the practice of newscasters having a trademark opening and closing line.” 

I can’t remember one event Lowell reported. I don’t think that’s important.

What I can remember is the family gathering around our kitchen table, complete with chrome and a Formica top. I suspect we called that meal supper. I‘m not writing about food items in this post. That too is for another day’s blog post.

The closest example I could find that looks like what I remember. I know the chairs had the back pads held onto the supports with screws because once the cardboard inside the chair back got stripped, there was no way to tighten the back to the support.

The radio was big. Not a console, but a substantial piece of equipment that sat on the tabletop. 

AM only radio. I do know our radio had a tuning dial like this one.

Since Lowell Thomas wasn’t tied to a specific network, so I don’t know for certain what station he was on. This clip of him in an interview somewhere in this time frame 

https://www.cliohistory.org/thomas-lawrence/thomas/broadcasting/

Flash forward thirty years.

My wife and didn’t have to try much to have family meals. We lived close enough to my mom and dad that most Sunday dinners were there. They were whole family meals and more. Now that I’m a grandparent, I have no regrets for allowing my kids' grandparents be as much a part of their lives as I could. I wish I could spend more time with my grandchildren.

I know that conversation was abundant at my parent’s home during meals. If you’ve never seen the movie “While You Were Sleeping,” rent, download, borrow, or whatever it takes to see the family dinner scene. That very close to the reality my family lived every week. 

The amount and volume of conversation were magnified on holidays. It was common for Thanksgiving dinner to be a potluck affair with between 20 and 40 attendees. Christmas and Easter were also “ya’ll come“ affairs. Many were close family friends. Others were what my mom lovingly called “strays.” Those were the people in church or the neighborhood without an extended family group to gather with. Now that my mom is in a board and care facility, there are few family dinners with or without strays. 

As my wife and I eat dinner at the counter in the kitchen with our swivel chairs arranged so we can see the TV, I appreciate even more the time and effort my parents went through to foster love and fellowship in my life.

So long until next week when I investigate some menu items at those meals.

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