Good Old Days Magazine

Launched in 1964, Good Old Days is the original nostalgia magazine, featuring reader-provided stories and recollections from days gone by. Good Old Days is targeted to home and family interests, including crafts, nostalgia and home décor

Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Editor's Note
As the years seem to go by faster and faster, the best part continues to be all the new memories we create as we move along. In this issue of Good Old Days, we revisit our Christmases of the past, share wartime stories, and even a few “Where were you
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Good Old Days
Editor Kathy Lynch Art Director Brad Snow Associate Editor Melissa Moeller Senior Graphic Designer Nick Pierce Copy Manager Kristan Seitz Copy Editors Mary O'Donnell, Läna Schurb Publishing Services Manager Michelle Harger Senior Production Artists E
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
FROM the MAILBOX
Reading the Good Old Days May/June 2023 issue, “The Red-Tailed Hawk” by Douglas S. Clark sure brought back memories from way back. About 73 years ago, when I was about 5 years old, my dad took me to Grandpa's beautiful house, located on a hill in Wes
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
The GI Haircut
My brother Amos is two years my senior. He always has felt that this seniority gives him the authority to advise me about everything I do. I have become so accustomed to it that I call him before making any decisions. When World War I broke out, he t
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
The Christmas Present That Kept On Giving
Christmas excitement started early when we were kids in Dearborn, Mo., in the early 1960s. Mom and Dad would come home from shopping with mysterious packages that somehow disappeared. And there were songs and lines for us kids to memorize for school
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Sputnik 1
In October 1957, our entire neighborhood and, indeed, the entire region where I lived in Pacifica, Calif., was abuzz with excitement. The Russians had beaten the United States into space, successfully launching an artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, int
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Where Were You When…
Interesting Facts About Sputnik The USSR launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, which was about the size of a beach ball, into orbit around the earth on Oct. 4, 1957. It marked the beginning of the space age. The launch suggested that th
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
On the Way Home
Dec. 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy,” marked the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese and the entrance of the United States into World War II. Sometime later, in the town of South Beach, Staten Island, N.Y., the family of Nicholas De Ve
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
Letters to Santa
Christmas events in the 1940s didn't start until about two weeks before the big day in our family. That was when my mother got out her pencil and paper and helped me write my letter to Santa. A day or two before Christmas, my dad would bring a freshl
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
A USO Kind of December
It was a December evening long ago. Dad was home from another gritty day of work and had nestled into his Barcalounger. He was watching some guy named Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News. Mom was in the kitchen washing dishes from supper, and I w
Good Old Days Magazine1 min readInternational Relations
Where Were You When…
Interesting Facts About the USO President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought together some service associations before America entered World War II. He did this in hopes of raising the morale of the men and women in the military while increasing support f
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Rewind
Who first sang the song White Christmas, which has sold over 50 million copies? Find the answer on next page. During World War II, the U.S. government created posters, such as this one for Christmastime, to promote the purchase of war bonds. Question
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Fruitcake
As a child in Barrington, R.I., in 1964 and every other year of the early 1960s, I thought of Thanksgiving as a day to get through. The roast turkey, mashed rutabagas and potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin and mincemeat pies were delicious,
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Share Your Stories and Photos With Good Old Days Readers!
Have you ever wondered who the writers and photographers in Good Old Days magazine are? They're people just like you who enjoy reading and sharing sweet memories of the past. You can be part of this magazine too! Send us your heartfelt true stories a
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
America's “fabulous freelance insurance investigator” was one of radio's great sleuths, pursuing both stolen goods and villains with a vengeance. Johnny Dollar was hired by various insurance companies to apprehend poisoners and drug smugglers, or to
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
My Dad, JFK and Me
I can still remember the sound of my father's voice the night John F. Kennedy was elected president. Dad was a Dust Bowl farm boy from Texas who ran away to join the Navy at 17. With a deep backwoods drawl, he explained to me how much courage and bra
Good Old Days Magazine1 min readAmerican Government
Where Were You When…
Interesting Facts About the Kennedy Assassination On Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy was shot as he rode in a motorcade through downtown Dallas. The youngest person to be elected president and the first Roman Catholic presi
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
In This Issue
Words are forward and backward, horizontal, vertical and diagonal. album angel brave carol catalog cookies double draft fireplace flag gift historical lights military photograph program radio santa serve snow song spirit stocking sugar
Good Old Days Magazine5 min read
From Grandma With Love
Autumn departs in a swirl of leaves and stunning sunsets as winter announces its arrival with frost that sparkles like diamond dust on rooftops at sunrise. My thoughts turn to cozy things like crackling wood fires on the hearth, piling extra quilts o
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
A Toddler During World War II
In Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 3, 1942, I turned 2 years old, and Daddy enlisted in the Marines. Before Daddy left for the war, he had photographs made of all of us—him, Mother, my sister, Jo Ann, and me. The pictures were taken in the photographer's yard.
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
A Date With Infamy
Even though I was very young at the time, there is a day that is lodged in my memory, never to be forgotten. My mom, dad and I were living on the second floor of a tenement house on St. Vincent Street in St. Louis. We had moved there in 1940, but I w
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Where Were You When…
Japan attacked the American military installation at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Not only did the attack surprise everyone—it came early on a Sunday morning—but it also brought the United States officially into the war. Here are some other
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Mr. D and Me
About 1954, I started learning how to drive, but I was not yet age 16, so I couldn't take the driver's training course that was offered at my Mankato, Minn., high school. However, since we lived in a house with a very long driveway, I could at least
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Holiday Movie Role
1. Doris Walker in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)_____________ 2. Father O'Malley in The Bells of St. Mary's________________ 3. Elizabeth Lane in Christmas in Connecticut______________ 4. George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life___________________ 5
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
My Little Brother
In 1943, when I was 3 years old and an only child, living with my parents in Iron River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, I wanted a little brother. My friends had little brothers, so I figured I should have one too. That was during World War II, and ju
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Glad They Met!
My parents, Nellie Beard and T.W. Daniels Jr., should never have met. She was 2½ years older and, before he was on the scene, had planned an elopement that was foiled by car trouble. T.W. didn't attend 71st High School in Fayetteville, N.C., until hi
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Sharing the Beatles
One Monday in 1964, a couple of months after the assassination of President Kennedy, I went into Mrs. Hoffmaster's sixth-grade class to find that some of the girls had filled the blackboard with sentiments like “We Love The Beatles” and “Beatles Fore
Good Old Days Magazine5 min read
BITS & PIECES
I come from a large Italian family, and we knew how to celebrate Christmas! We would gather at my grandmother's— the entire clan of aunts, uncles, and cousins of all ages. I remember one particular Christmas Eve when I was about 6 or 7 years old. My
Good Old Days Magazine1 min readInternational Relations
Where Were You When …
Interesting Facts About the Cuban Missile Crisis For 13 days in October 1962, the United States and the USSR were embroiled in a conflict centered around the deployment of Russian nuclear missiles and a general military buildup in Cuba. As part of th
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
A Kielbasa Tradition
When I was a boy growing up in a Polish family in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in the late 1950s and ‘60s, we had a Christmas tradition of smoking kielbasa, popularly known as Polish sausage. It was a big job that started weeks before the holiday. Even in earl
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Christmas Season Starts With Songs
Like most kids, my brothers and I knew that the day after Thanksgiving was the official start of the Christmas season. Long before Mom baked her Swedish bagels and spritz cookies, and days before we bought our Christmas tree, my older brother, Rex, a
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Picture THIS
SKIING GIANT HILL Submitted by Michele Ivy Davis of Escondido, Calif. When Michele was about 7, her parents bought her a pair of short skis that strapped over her rubber boots. After a few tumbles, Michele was able to whiz down the “giant” hill in fr
Good Old Days Magazine2 min readAmerican Government
THANK YOU, VETERANS Honoring All Who Served
The holiday originally named Armistice Day, observed on Nov. 11, was designated to celebrate the ceasefire agreement leading to the end of World War I and to remember all those who fought in that war. In 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
Meet the Smith Family
The 1944 Technicolor musical Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland, is often identified as a Christmas movie because of the popularity of the song it introduced, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, but it's really a film about an entire yea
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Favorite Season
Growing up in Detroit in the early 1950s, our neighborhood was crammed with kids. There must have been 15 kids on the street where I lived, so there was never a dull moment year-round, but particularly in the fall and winter. We used the street and f
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
Two Christmas Pageants
On the first Saturday in December, I hurried downtown with my sisters to see the Santa Claus parade. Santa stopped on the square and handed out small bags containing hard candy, chocolates, an orange, and peanuts, walnuts and pecans (all in their she
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Santa Sees Double
Twas three weeks before Christmas and all through the store, there were joyful holiday decorations galore. That store was Sears and Roebucks near the city of Pittsburgh, where I grew up. That store was where my identical twin sister, Sally, and I, wh
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
A Fun and Comical Christmas in Germany
It was December 1969, and we were all living in Germany, on Patch Barracks Army base in Stuttgart, to be exact. There were our parents, James and Ruth, and three of us kids: Melanie, the oldest at age 15; me, age 12; and the youngest, Jimmy, age 9. M
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
Caroling In The 1940s
I was raised in Kennedy, Minn., where the winters were long and bleak. Even though we had no television to entertain us on those long winter evenings, there was plenty for kids to do. In that cold, dark season, we could go iceskating since some kind
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Night of Wonder
On Christmas Eve 1932, at Bethesda Evangelical Lutheran Church on the north side of Milwaukee, Wis., all the classes in our elementary school took part in the highlight of the year-the Christmas Eve program. I had attended our beautiful red-brick Got
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Q&A: ON YOUR MIND
Each issue on this page, we will feature a question that will be sure to prompt a flood of heartwarming memories. Send your 100-words-or-less responses ASAP to Editor@GoodOldDaysMagazine.com or to Good Old Days Q&A, 306 East Parr Road, Berne, IN 4671
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Good Old Days®
This month on the Good Old Days Facebook page, people are sharing all sorts of wonderful memories. See some of the fun below, and be sure to join us at Facebook.com/GoodOldDaysMag. FRIENDS on Facebook We asked our Facebook friends this question: What

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