April 2024

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
Is it just me or does it seem like time sure flies for you too? Yes, I know, time flies when you’re having fun. That could be true for me because I’ve been having the most fun being the editor of Good Old Days for two years now. I truly enjoy all you
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
FROM the MAILBOX
The September/October 2023 issue of Good Old Days showed a vintage advertisement for Tootsie Rolls. For years I have passed out Tootsie Rolls to trick-or-treaters. To all the little ones they would just be candy, but to me they were once breakfast, l
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Good Old Days
Editor Kathy Lynch Art Director Brad Snow Associate Editor Melissa Moeller Senior Graphic Designer Nick Pierce Copy Manager Kristan Seitz BCopy Editors Mary O’Donnell, Emily Oliver, Läna Schurb Publishing Services Manager Michelle Harger Senior Produ
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
Easter Love at My Grandparents’ Apartment
I loved Easter vacations in the late 1960s and early ’70s. My mom took my sister and me on an Amtrak train to her native Milwaukee, where we had a week of card playing, nonstop relatives and endless food. We stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Dejnowski,
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
The Legend of Sugar Brown
I was on Grandpa’s porch when I heard an unusual sound coming down the gravel road. I ran over to the fence to greet the approaching sound. My 6-year-old eyes grew wide with excitement as I saw a farm wagon that had rubber tires instead of iron rims
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Flashback Fun!
Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1965. The original lyrics were 10 pages long; Dylan reduced them to four verses and a chorus: “How does it feel? … To be on your own, with no direction home, like a complete unk
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Time of My Life
I n the 1950s and ’60s, middle school didn’t exist—only junior high and high school. Our local junior high included grades seven through nine, while the high school consisted of grades 10 through 12. At the end of my ninthgrade year, I headed to Aust
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Wagons for Easter
A basket with eggs, candy and maybe a few small toys was what a kid usually got on Easter morning when I was growing up in the 1940s in Iron River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. But on Easter 1949, my cousin and my little brother got an unusual surpr
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Concord Hymn
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,Here once the embattled farmers stoodAnd fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept;Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;And Time the ruined br
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Making Hard Times Work
In 1933, I walked to Dundee Elementary School in Michigan. From the first day of school until the last, I loved every day and the teacher, Miss Terrille. One day I came home from school and saw my dad sitting on the front porch steps crying. I said,
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
The Gumball Caper
I was 11 years old in 1951 and attended sixth grade at E.C. White Grade School near the junction of Brookside Boulevard, Main Street and 48th Street in Kansas City, Mo. I had a job delivering over 500 newspapers to houses and 10-story apartment build
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Rewind
What popular kids’ television show was hosted by Buffalo Bob Smith? Find the answer on next page. Can you match these popular 1959 songs to their performers? 1. The Battle of New Orleans 2. 16 Candles 3. Mack the Knife 4. Come Softly to Me 5. Donna 6
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best was originally a situation comedy on the radio. Its stories were built around the Anderson family and life on Maple Street in the fictitious Midwestern town of Springfield. Who in America didn’t know the Andersons? As creator and sc
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
A Green Witch in the Easter Basket
At a certain house in Downers Grove, Ill., in 1975, the Easter Bunny accomplished his goal. Baby Jon’s basket contained a few cloth books, a stuffed bunny, and a Big Bird rattle. Kristin, age 3, had a fancier basket containing colored eggs—both real
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
Life In The Mountains Of East Tennessee
In the mountains of East Tennessee during the 1950s, life changed with the seasons. In late spring, winter clothes, including the dreaded long johns, were taken off and stored for the next winter. Most enjoyed was the removal of our big high-top brog
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
A Rail Adventure
I had an epiphany in late December 1966 when I saw a short film clip of a crowded trolley car on Philadelphia’s local evening news. It was the last run of the Red Arrows trolley line to nearby Ardmore. It made me both elated and sad. I had always bee
Good Old Days Magazine5 min read
Spending Easter With the Best Peeps
Easter celebrations have always been the most memorable for me with my extended family. Growing up in the early 1970s, I remember waking up early with excitement on Easter morning at Granny and Papa’s large two-story home. The house was packed full o
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Baby-Blue From Dress
In the 1960s in my hometown of Aurora, 111., it was not uncommon for high school girls to have dresses custom-made for special occasions like prom and homecoming. In some cases, the cost could be less than an off-the-rack dress that needed alteration
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Our Door Was Always Open
I once thought my folks invented the opendoor policy. Our door was always open. Whether it was a neighbor searching for his cow who’d escaped through a low spot in the line fence, a student selling magazine subscriptions, or a Watkins salesman, all w
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Something Special for All Three
I grew up in a small southern Minnesota town back in the mid-1960s and ’70s. My dad worked a full-time job in addition to working on the small hobby farm where we lived. With four children, my family did many things to help us get by. The first thing
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
In This Issue
Words are forward and backward, horizontal, vertical and diagonal. adventure baby basket bill birthday bunny cleaning clothesline dance eggs family graduation ham household job laughs mower party passage shop wagon waitress welcome window
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
A Kid’s-Eye View of Hard Times
It’s difficult to view myself as having grown up in hard times in the 1950s in Long Beach, Calif., when the biggest disappointment I faced as a young child (and thought of as deprivation) was that we didn’t have a fenced yard, and Mother couldn’t aff
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Flashback Fun!
The first athlete to break the 4-minute mile was Englishman Roger Bannister, on May 6,1954. Born into a working-class family, he gained educational opportunities through his athletic prowess. In 1955, he wrote The Four-Minute Mile, describing his exp
Good Old Days Magazine5 min read
BITS & PIECES
The most memorable and happiest birthday I remember was my 7th birthday, in April 1948.1 wanted a bicycle so badly that I rode my tricycle around balanced on two wheels. Money was very tight, as we had just moved from Oregon back to Ohio and into our
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Paying Bills Was a Social Event
I was fresh out of high school when I took a job at a childrens clothing store in my hometown of Iron River, Mich., in 1958. It wasn’t my first job. I had already been working for a couple of years as a waitress at a local restaurant and as a carhop
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Picture THIS
Dick’s mom thought it best for him to put his feet up on his big-wheel trike after working the fields all day in the 1950s. Susan's mother-in-law, Elvina Davis, seen here at her sewing machine, sewed for all the family. SEND US YOUR PHOTOS! We invite
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Easter Memories
Easter was always an exciting time for our family. Every year, my four sisters and I would go shopping for new Easter outfits. These outfits included a dress, gloves, hat and a shiny new pair of patent leather shoes with a matching purse. Mom and Dad
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Popular 1958 Films
1. South Pacific_________________________ 2. The Big Country_____________________ 3. Gigi_______________________________ 4. Auntie Mame_______________________ 5. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof__________________ 6. No Time for Sergeants_________________ 7. The
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Simply Charming
Long before life’s memorable moments were posted on social media, they were embedded in charm bracelets. Charm bracelets have been around for centuries and existed long before written history, with the first ones dating back to ancient Egypt. Evidenc
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
Sons of Liberty
July 4, 1776, is a date that every American knows is special. It was the day when the Continental Congress, representing the 13 American colonies, issued the Declaration of Independence, officially severing ties with Great Britain to form the United
Good Old Days Magazine1 min readAmerican Government
Flashback Fun!
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail was written in April 1963 and published the following month. King had been arrested for taking part in nonviolent marches protesting segregation in the South. The letter stated, “Injustice anywhe
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Easter For A Large Family
Our family was fairly large, with Mom and Dad, four boys and three girls. Aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides of the family lived nearby in the area around Springfield, Ill. We always got together on Easter Sunday. All of us, nieces and nephews a
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Hard Times Party
There was going to be a party! In the height of the Depression during the 1930s, this didn’t happen often. But it was Uncle Doc’s birthday, and a party was called for. My dad’s brother, Uncle Doc, a master carpenter, was one of the many out-ofwork pe
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
My Sole Responsibility
While growing up with six brothers, mowing the grass in our backyard was my sole responsibility. We had a backyard enclosed by a chain-link fence that formed a 20-yard by 20-yard square at the back of the house. That way, Mom could let my younger bro
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Flashback Fun!
NASA announced the names of America’s first astronauts on April 9, 1959. They were: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton. ■
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Memories From a Cardboard Box
In the early 1950s, I was a toddler of about 2½ years of age. My brother was 8 years older and my sister 4 years older than me. Most of the time, I was an observer of their very busy lives or a pest getting in their way. On one particular afternoon,
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Flashback Fun!
On June 24,1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine shiny saucer-shape objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier in Washington state. The story was printed in newspapers across the nation, and the term “flying saucers” became part of the
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Birthday Surprises
I wasn’t sure if it was because of something wonderful or a crisis, but I gradually came to realize that Dad was shaking me awake. “It’s very early. Get up quietly and come downstairs,” he whispered. “You’re not going to school today.” Then wide-eyed
Good Old Days Magazine3 min read
Spring Cleaning
Spring cleaning changed when heating houses during the winter went from wood and coal fuel to propane and gas, and later, to electricity. Woodsmoke and coal dust settled over everything during the winter when the house was shut up to conserve heat. G
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Aunt Laverne's Journal
April 1,1933—Cleaned up the house, then got ready and went to St. Joseph. Went to Food Show. Home about 5. April 6—Dad found out he won a ton of coal at the Food Show. Now have a good start for next winter. April 14—A good old Friday. Pretty today an
Good Old Days Magazine2 min read
Everyone Needs a Buddy
Yeah, yeah, I know. There are times you want to get away on your own—taking a walk, retreating to your favorite chair, pedaling around the block, or slipping away to listen to the birds, watch the sunset or look at the stars. That’s me, too, in the C
Good Old Days Magazine4 min read
Children And The War Effort
The so-called Silent Generation (19281945) are currently in their 80s to mid90s. The oldest Silents grew up with both the extreme economic deprivation of the Great Depression and the terrifying upheaval of World War II. Some say memory is sugarcoated
Good Old Days Magazine1 min read
Flashback Fun!
Andy Griffith and Don Knotts (Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, 1960-1968) first worked together in 1955 in the Broadway play No Time for Sergeants. They reprised their roles for the feature film of the same name i
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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