1. A New Home

My Grandma and Grandpa Joslyn were married in January of 1958. In the summer of 1959 my Grandpa started building a home for their future family. They had been living with my Great Grandma and Grandpa Joslyn, but when my Grandma became pregnant with my Aunt Jackie (My Dad’s Sister) they decided that they needed a home of their own.

My Grandma and Grandpa wanted to be able to have a larger family and so they thought that a house of their own would be a great plan. My Grandpa Joslyn is a carpenter and taught at the BOCES school in Medina, New York, so when they began to come up with their housing plans they did not look on the market, they built their own dream house. My Grandpa started building the basement first as the foundation of their new home. The basement was built quickly, but the top of the house took over five years to finish because he worked full time and was only able to work on their house on the weekends. As my Grandpa was building the home he had planned that it would not take as long as it actually did. My grandma was very irritable and very pregnant as this took a while and could not wait to get into the main part of the house.

Part of building the basement was waterproofing the walls so that when it rained there would be no flooding. The fumes from the waterproof coating that they were applying gave my Grandma and Grandpa a high. They had to close the windows around them because it was winter and they quickly became high from the fumes surrounding them. Teens of this decade were experimenting with various types of drugs.  My Grandma told me that she felt that although she had never experienced a high from drugs she related this to what was going on at the time. The picture below shows the basement as it was being built.

2. Weakness Showing Strength

In the early 1960s while the Vietnam War was taking place my Grandpa Joslyn was in the United States Army Reserves. My Grandma Joslyn had just given birth to my Aunt Jackie and their family had just been started.

In October of 1962 the Cuban Missile Crisis was coming to a head and this greatly worried my Grandma because she was concerned that any day my Grandpa would be called in to active duty. Fortunately this did not happen because President John F. Kennedy and his cabinet were able to avert the crisis by dismantling the missiles in exchange for a no invasion agreement. So, finally in April of 1963 the Cuban Missile Crisis came to an end. My family thought that their worries were over.

Soon after my Grandma’s fears of my Grandpa being called in to active duty were relieved; came one of the most terrible day’s in American history. On November 22, 1963 at twelve thirty in the afternoon, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated  by Lee Harvey Oswald. My Grandma said that this memory closely resembles her memory of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. She told me that before both of these terrible events she along with the rest of the country felt that there was nothing that could hurt our nation because of our strength and power. Right before President Kennedy was assassinated she and every other American had no worries and everyone was joyful. This event is very similar to the attacks of September 11th because it showed the world that we, the United States, had a weakness. Although we do have weaknesses our strength is being able to stand back up again as one nation with remarkable power.

3. Being A Mother… Again

On February 10, 1965 my Grandma Joslyn gave birth to my Father, Dean Charles Joslyn. My Grandma had already been a mother to my Aunt Jackie six years earlier, but did not realize that bringing a second baby into the home would change everything.

My Aunt Jackie had been attending school already and asked my Grandma if she could bring baby Dean into show and tell. My Aunt Jackie did not understand why bringing my Father into show and tell was wrong and not okay! My Grandma tried to explain as much as she could, but my Aunt Jackie just became frustrated and angry. Eventually she let the topic go and decided that being a good mother to her baby brother was more important. Quickly she tried to take over the motherly role over my Father and once again my Grandma had to tell her that this was not okay. My Aunt Jackie would walk him around the house in a buggy and pretend he was her new baby. As my Father became older my Aunt Jackie would act like a teacher and try to teach him how to read and write before he could even tie his own shoes.

Although there were many new things that my Grandma had to learn about having a second child in the house she also had previous experience. She knew what diapers to use and what kind of milk to feed him. And even though every baby is different; she was already one step ahead when she brought  my Father in to the family. The picture below shows my Grandpa Joslyn holding my Father.

4. The JOBE

My family is very close and enjoys spending time together. We always celebrate Christmas with my Grandma and Grandpa’s sides of the family each. My Grandpa’s side is a combination of Joslyn’s and Bennett’s. We have always gotten together for various events with the Joslyn’s and Bennett’s together. I love how my family is so closely knit and has a great understanding of family bonding.

In 1965 the Joslyn’s and the Bennett’s together bought a hunting cabin near Pennsylvania. This cabin was not always a cabin,  but it was a old storage area for oil that they would drill in the woods surrounding the cabin. My family decided to name this cabin the “JOBE” because it was a combination of the names Joslyn and Bennett, the two families that owned the cabin. As the years went on my family members all stayed at the JOBE many weekends and holidays together. It was a great place for family bonding and togetherness. The JOBE is a small cabin with nine bunk beds, a wood burning stove, and a small kitchen area; if you could call it that. The JOBE has no electricity or running water. There is a two seated out house and a small creek where we get water to wash the dishes. The water that we drink at the JOBE we have to bring ourselves.

For many decades my family has gone down to the JOBE to hike and to spend time together and to this day I truly enjoy being down in the woods with my family and friends. Hiking, playing games, and making conversation are ways that my family bonds when we are down at the JOBE.

5. First Man on the Moon

On July 20, 1969 the first man stepped on the moon. Apollo 11 was the name of the air craft that took Neil Armstrong and his crew on the treacherous journey to the moon. For every American this was an unbelievable experience and unforgettable. One of these very people was my father who at the time was only four years old, but he can remember this experience very vividly.He described to me how he remembered sitting in the family living room in front of the television with the rest of his family watching this unbelievable action. Sitting with him was my Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Jackie as they each witnessed this remarkable journey. The Apollo 11 mission affected people on a global level and it effected my dad on a micro level. (Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okanzawa-Rey 9)

From this point on my father became hooked on space and science fiction.His interest became more focused on space ships and toys that he would be able to play with at his age. Building model rockets and space ships consumed  his play time. He could not get enough of space adventure. To this day my father still enjoys science fiction and space adventure. One of his favorite movie series in the future became Star Wars and Star Trek. But nothing will ever give an impact on his life like the vision of the  moon landing on July 20, 1969.

My Grandma said  that she sat there watching the television with the family and she was just thinking to herself… Is this really happening? Is this real? A lot of people believed that the moon landing was a hoax, but my father believes with all of his heart that it was real.

6. Brady Bunch

There were many family television shows that were “regular” shows for families each night. My father remembers his family watching the Brady Bunch every Friday night. As a family they would sit around the television and watch this seventies television show about a typical almost too perfect family.

The Brady Bunch aired from 1969 to 1974. The stars of the Brady Bunch are Robert Reed who played Mike Brady, the father, Florence Henderson who played Carol Brady, the mother, and their children, Barry Williams who played Greg Brady, Maureen McCormick who played Marcia Brady, Christopher Knight who played Peter Brady, Eve Plumb who played Jan Brady, Mike Lookinland who played Bobby Brady, and Susan Olsen who played Cindy Brady. Two other very important characters were Ann B. Davis who played Alice Nelson, the Brady’s maid, and Tiger, the Brady’s beloved dog. My father’s beloved Friday night television show was special to him because everything that they did on the show was something that was going on at that time, unlike the cops shows or western shows it was about a typicalseventies family. My father loved this because he was able to relate to the situations as a child.

The video below is the introduction and theme song of each of the Brady Bunch shows. It looks like a typical seventies show introduction. Although the Brady Bunch is a show from a few decades ago I remember watching the reruns when I was younger as well. No matter when you grow up the Brady Bunch will always be a favorite show.

7. Video Games

The 1970s was the beginning of the video game! It all started with the develpment of the microprocessor which is what does all of the processing of the machinery, but in a tiny version of what it was before so that these video games and other electronically operated machines are not such an inconvenience to your every day lives any more.

This was an important invention for the video game because it made it able to be used in the home. Atari eventually used this invention to make their own home video game counsel. Instead of having to go to video arcades or bowling alleys and pay a quarter my Dad said that he remembers when the home video games came out and it was the coolest thing ever!! Many of the video games that became available for the household were, Adventure/Zork, Mastermind, Pong, Breakout, Tailgunner, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Lunar Lander, Hunt The Wumpus, and of course Pac Man.

My Dad recalls that everyone he knew had the game Pong. It was one of the first games out and it was very popular. He had his own Atari game system at home and he absolutely loved it. If it hadn’t been for the invention of the microprocessor and Atari using it to invent their own home game system we would never have invented game systems such as Playstation, Guitar Hero, Wii, Rockband, XBox, Game Cube, Nintendo, and many others. In my house now my Dad bought me my very own Playstation and Playstation 2. It is such a great invention and although it is something that we can play as a family in our own house.

8. Queen

In the 1970s gay liberation and rights movements were beginning to emerge. It was hard for many of these homosexual men and women to “come out” because they had many fears. Some of these fears were due to not being accepted in their own communities, churches, and families. The incident at Stonewall was one of the most powerful movements for the gay liberation movement.The Stonewall incident was when a group of police went to Stonewall bar and raided it because it was a gay bar, but they chose the wrong group because they had finally accepted themselves for who they truly were.

Although he was not at Stonewall one of these men who was finally able to accept himself as a homosexual was Freddie Mercury. Freddie Mercury was the lead singer of the band Queen. Queen was one of the most remarkable  bands of the seventies and was my Dad’s favorite. He remembers my grandpa yelling at him because he would constantly blare their music on the radio in his room. Queen composed many popular songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “You’re My Best Friend,” “Somebody To Love,” “We Are The Champions,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Fat Bottom Girls.” One of the most popular songs that many people know today is, “Another One Bites The Dust.” Freddie Mercury died of AIDS and bronchial pneumonia, which had been brought on by the AIDS virus, in 1991, not even twenty four hours after he had admitted to the press that he was diagnosed with AIDS.

Queen was one of my Dad’s favorite bands and the video below shows one of their most popular songs, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Although Queen was a band from decades ago I also truly enjoy their music as well as many other people from the seventies and today.

9. Space

In 1973 the United States began building a space station in space. NASA was the name of the United States Space Administration. In 1973 they began building their first space station which was called the “Skylab.” This happened before the International Space Station had been built. The Skylab was a United States space station in which only American astronauts were able to live for periods of time. During this time the astronauts would live in space in the Skylab for months at a time. They would observe the Earth and the space around them while they were living in the Skylab.

My Dad along with all other Americans felt that this was so amazing because it was the first time that people were able to live in space. Before NASA built the Skylab astronauts could only take trips into space and visit instead of live. My Dad really loved this idea and thought that it was amazing. When he was younger he thought that it was so cool and he would keep track of it all the time. He remembers that the astronauts had special food that they had to take with them into space because of their living conditions. This food eventually was being sold and my Dad quickly bought some of it and kept it, he thought it was so amazing.

In 1977 with the spark of space travel in the air the first Star Wars movie came into theaters. Star Wars was one of my Dad’s favorite movies. As soon as it came out he was one of the first to be in line to see it. To this day my Dad absolutely loves Star Wars. I think that his passion for these movies began with his love of space travel and the Skylab. The video below shows one of my Dad’s favorite descriptions of the Star Wars saga… according to a 3 year old.

10. Gas Prices Sky Rocket

In the 1970s gas prices began to sky rocket. In the year 1970 the price of gas was 36 cents per gallon but the seventies were going to drastically change these low costs within a matter of a few years. By the year 1979 the price increased to a high 86 cents per gallon.

These prices and their drastic increase was a cause of the 1973 Oil Crisis which had begun in October of 1973. Another name for the Oil Crisis was the Arab Oil Embargo. The Arab people in control of the exporting oil became enraged at the United States decision to help the Israeli people. Because of this the Arab people that were in control of the oil being exported set the prices higher because they knew that the United States would need it no matter what. Much like today as we are in war with Iraq our gas prices continue to jump to extraordinary prices each and every day. Some days they are lower than others, but every American knows that the price of gas will never be as low as it once was ever again.

My Father can remember this vividly because as he was growing up my Grandma and Grandpa would take him and my Aunt Jackie on many trips where they would be required to drive. Whether it was in their camper out in the woods or just driving to their destination for a day. As a result of the Arab Oil Embargo, much like many families today, my Father’s family had to stop taking family vacations in which they had to drive.

He also told me that he lived a full three miles away from his school when he was growing up. He was required to take the bus, because walking three miles to school is quite ridiculous, but because of the drastic increase in gas prices the school began to talk about making all of their students walk to school to save so much money on gas. Of course this did not go over very well with the parents.