Imagine if you will, having all of the knowledge in the world from the beginning of time in the palm of your hand, oh, you have that now. Well growing up in the 50's and 60's, the idea that we could someday type a question on a keyboard, push a button and the answer would magically appear mere moments later was so far into the future that it was considered science fiction. Today all of the information and knowledge you would ever need is in a handheld device called a "cellphone" and everyone has one - except me. Sorry gang but I'm "old school", I have a laptop and can find my way around in it but I'm not tech savvy, MJ at 10 years old knows more than me.
Back in the day we kids would be given a homework assignment to report on some world event, invention or historical personality. We would be given maybe a few days or even weeks to gather all of our information and compile it into a report to be handed in to the teacher but where to get all of this information.
The school library was the answer, it was full of the research material of the day. There were copies of major newspapers from around the country like the New York Times and Chicago Tribune., Washington post. There were magazines like the U.S. News and World Report, Look, Life, Time and Saturday Evening Post. Complete sets of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, thesauruses, dictionaries and reference books of all kinds. This was how history was documented and in grade school we were taught how to access all of these things in the library. Many of these publications are still available but on line. We would spend hours and days gathering information from various sources that would then be transformed into a ten page, handwritten report that would take the teacher 10 minutes to read and grade. It was a way of life for us kids, just another day at school.
Linda was a book junkie when we met, if she wasn't reading for an assignment she was reading for the pure pleasure of it. Not long after I got out of the Navy a salesman came by the apartment and talked us into purchasing a set of very nice Encyclopedia Brittanica with the edges of the pages trimmed in gold. As I remember the set cost several hundred dollars, a lot of money when the two of us maybe made $8000.00 a year but to Linda, it was a bargain. Linda was adamant that our children would be smart and they would need these encyclopedias. The day they came Linda lovingly unpacked them and placed them on a shelf purchased to hold them. She would pick one and scan the contents, stopping to read some interesting article. Each year she would purchase the annual update volume that kept the set current. Needless to say they were her pride and joy, her legacy to our unborn children.
We were married 13 years before our firstborn entered the world, two years later he was followed by his younger brother. In the meantime, Linda took care of her books, personally packing and unpacking the for each move and we moved a lot, by the time the boys were in grade school we had moved about 26 times, several time cross country. At one point, we had to store our belongings. When we unpacked the books moisture had erased the gold trim from several volumes, Linda was heartbroken.
Linda's legacy to the boys went largely unused by them. The education system was not that of the 1950's and 60's, computers were becoming more common place. All of the knowledge of the world was only a type and click away. She decided then to donate then books to the local library or school but they didn't want them as they took up too much space, so they sat in a box in the corner. Our neighbor was an elementary school teacher, she happened to be over one day and asked what we were going to do with the books, Linda had no idea. At this point the teacher offered to take them to her class of 3rd graders so Linda gave them to her, the teacher was happy because her kids enjoyed cutting pictures from the pages of old books and magazines. Linda was heartbroken.
As it turned out, Linda's legacy was the care and love she gave our boys, they are smart because she was their mother. It was her job and she did it well.
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