1938

Friday—50 degrees, snow predicted for Sunday. You gotta love it! I have absolutely no news so I will relive some of your good old days from 1934-1938.

1934: Class of 1938 enters Dartmouth; Stalin begins purge of Communist Party; future heavy- weight champ Joe Louis, the Bronx Bomber, wins his first fight; and Sophia Loren is born.

1935: Colorful, controversial Louisiana politician Huey “Kingfish” Long assassinated; longest bridge in the world opened over the Zambezi River; Alcoholics Anonymous organized in New York; first practical radar invented by Robert Watson Watt of England.

1936: King George V of England dies—succeeded by son Edward VIII, who abdicates for “the woman I love”; Bruno Richard Hauptman convicted of kidnapping and killing Lindbergh baby; China declares war on Japan; Queen Mary crosses the Atlantic in three days, 23 hours, 57 minutes; population of the United States is 127 million.

1937: Japanese troops seize Beijing and other major Chinese cities; Amelia Earhart disappears over the Pacific; New York Yankees win the Subway Series, defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers four games to one.

1938: German troops enter Austria and Czechoslovakia; 20,000 television sets reported in service around New York; 40-hour work week becomes norm in United States; tennis star Don Budge wins grand slam, capturing all four major titles; the amazing class of 1938 graduates and begins a new era.

2009: Dow is down 40 points to 7,141 points; deficit to be in the trillions; foreclosures at an all-time high along with unemployment; population 305 million and counting—funny how the “good old days” could truly be perceived as the really good old days. Sophia Loren 75 years old!

Stay healthy and know you are always in my thoughts!

29 Decorie Drive, Wilbraham, MA 01095