Edenville Owls

The radio in our living room was about four feet tall. It was made of dark wood. It had legs and a lot of ornate carving that made me think about church. We used to sit in the living room every night and listen to it. My father would often read while we listened, but my mother and I mostly sat and looked at the radio. I sort of always wondered why we did that.

I remember we listened to stuff like One Man’s Family and The Kraft Music Hall. But mostly I remember events. I was really little when we gathered around to hear about some king who was quitting to marry some woman who was American. Everybody seemed shocked, but it seemed like the right choice to me. I mean, if he loved her...

All my life I listened to President Roosevelt on the radio. I remember actually thinking he was in his den, sitting by the fireplace while he had his fireside chats with us. Nearly all my life I had listened to the war news on the radio. Germany invades Poland. Japs bomb Pearl Harbor. Allies invade Normandy. Germany surrenders. Japan surrenders.

Then in April of 1945 President Roosevelt died. And in September of 1945 the war ended. So when I entered the eighth grade that fall, right after Labor Day, while the Tigers were playing the Cubs in the World Series, everything seemed to have changed.