Are You a One Percenter?

 

At least two commercial news organizations have run a story about the current generation of seniors in the United States. They report that those of us born during a 16-year period have survived a time period that saw remarkable changes across the nation. Both* of these organizations have called seniors from this generation “the one percenters.” Here’s why. They have agreed that those who are older than 77 but younger than 94 deserve special notice. They have put end points on this generation as beginning in 1930, the beginning of the Great Depression, (although it really began in 1929) and the end point of fighting in 1946 (although World War II ended in 1945). T the two end points constitute a 16-year span of life in the U.S. They note that 99 percent of those born during this 16-year span are now dead. If you are reading this, you are one of those lucky one percenters who have survived and are willing to spend your time reading about others who are still moving.

Us one percenters share an extraordinary number of firsts that Americans can brag about if we survive the current crop of political leaders in Washington D. C. Here is a list of some noteworthy facts and firsts for American one percenters.

·       You are the smallest group of children born in America since the early 1900s.

·       You are likely the last survivors of the Great Depression and/or World War II and you share a number of life changes as a consequence of those two tumultuous events.

·       You are the last to remember ration books for gasoline, sugar and shoes plus other things that were in limited supply due to the War.

·       You were the last to have a milk box on your front steps.

·       You were the last generation to have a radio but not a television. You imagined what you heard on the radio. With no TV, you spent your time playing outdoors.

·       You may have had a single telephone in your house, and it was attached to a wall where most of the family had access to it with no privacy. You had a party line, meaning that the neighbors could listen in if they wanted.

·       There were no computers. They were called calculators or slide rules.

·       Most highways were primitive by today’s standards as there were no Interstate highways or lane divides on roads passing through your town.

·       You walked to school and shopped downtown.

·       Polio was a feared disease that seemed to prey on children.

·       You were the last generation to experience a time when and most people expected the future to be better than the past.

You grew up in the best of times. More than 99 percent of you are now retired and enjoying the benefits of changes that began with the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt: think Social Security, FEMA, and other national plans that help common folks. Those improvements for seniors, like Social Security, are now under assault and may not be available to the next generation if the current President and his minions achieve what they want.

If you have already reached the age of 77, you have outlived 99% of all the other people in the world who were born in this 16-year period. You are a 1 percenter. Enjoy yourselves.

*The two resources I used for this blog were the Pendelton Times newspaper published in West Virginia and WRNI, a consortium of four radio stations in New Jersey. The Pendleton Times deserves special notice.

Special Group: One Percent Born Between 1930 – 1946

 

William Luther and Myra Alice Simmons were married Nov. 6, 1920. William Luther (Nov. 23, 1895 – Jan. 26, 1982) was the son of James Harvey and Polly Margaret Bowers Simmons. Myra Alice (July 13, 1897 – Jan. 26, 1956) was the daughter of Emanuel and Jemima Frances Simmons Mitchell. Their children were Leota M., Frances Margaret, Stelman Carlon, Norman Luther, Doris May, Herman Strobel and Sheldon Ona. (This piece was written by Paula Mitchell, Franklin,A W. Virginia)

History of the Pendleton News

The newspaper was founded in 1913 as an independent newspaper by West Virginia resident William McCoy. By 1921 it had a circulation of 1,715, no doubt including William and Myra Luther.

On April 17, 1924, the gasoline engine of the press at the Pendleton Times ran out of fuel. The operator, rather than waiting for the engine to cool, put gasoline into the hot tank, causing it to burst into flames. The townspeople went to their nearby reservoir for water to contain the fire, only to find the supply of water was not enough to provide the needed water pressure. Unchecked, the flames quickly spread across the downtown of Franklin, West Virginia. The rapid spread of the conflagration combined with the inadequate water supply resulted in a blaze fierce enough to provoke town officials to use dynamite to check the advance of the fire. Alas, the dynamite made things worse. By the morning, as the Associated Press put it, the town was "all but eliminated from the map".

Bill McCoy died in 2008, at 87, after a long tenure as the paper's publisher. The paper was operated by Bill's son, John McCoy, until 2022, when it was sold to Mountain Media. So far, the Pendleton Times/Mountain Media firm has avoided any other fires like the 1924 blaze.