MARIE WUJEK Advertisement

I have the privilege of writing the Back Then column you have been seeing in the Friday edition of the Pahrump Valley Times for the last four weeks.

The intent of this column is to have it run every Friday, however, last Friday's column ran in Wednesday's edition. Honestly the column was overlooked for last Friday's paper.

This column will be the cornerstone for a Friday community page that we are formulating.

Bound editions of the Pahrump Valley Times go back to 1971. This is the reasoning behind the 36 years ago this month, when the paper was published monthly; then follows 30 years ago this week as the PVT became a weekly publication, and so on.

This page will also contain photos submitted to the PVT from local residents, follow-up articles of Back Then highlights and other fun stuff.

Writing this column takes me back to the past as well. In 1971 I was a freshman in high school and the Vietnam War had been going on for as long as I could remember.

The biggest concern I had was making the cut for the junior varsity cheerleading squad my sophomore year. I remember the senior boys were required to fill out a draft card prior to graduation and attend assemblies where recruiters were on hand to talk with them about enlisting in the armed services.

Thirty years ago this week takes me back to a time I can really remember. I graduated from high school in 1974; I married my first husband in August of 1974, which ended up being the same day Richard Nixon resigned as president of the United States.

I then moved from Arizona to Idaho in September. That year brought a boatload of change to my life. I had my first child 14 months later. Back then disposable diapers were used when you went on a trip; day to day you used cloth diapers that went into a diaper pail with diluted bleach water to be washed over the weekend and hung to dry on a clothes line in warmer months or a wooden rack in the house during the winter.

I bought my first home in 1976, a modest three bedroom, one bath ranch home on an acre in Kuna, Idaho, 30 miles from Boise. We paid $21,000 for our house through a federally-subsidized loan program called the Farmers Home Administration; our payments were $149 a month.

I remember gas was 33 cents a gallon and my car averaged 16 miles per gallon, so it cost me about $1.32 a day to drive to and from work. My grocery budget was $25 a week and that's also what I paid for daycare for my son.

I turned 21 in 1977. My first and last consumption of champagne occurred on my birthday that year; instant headache and hiccups were not my idea of fun.

My phone bill was $8 a month and I had a party line, which means I shared a line with another family; I could tell by the ring sound if the call was theirs or ours. This was way before answering machines, voice mail and text messaging.

I remember furthering my education through the CETA program (offered by the government) and PELL grants. These were not monies I had to pay back; I just had to show up and pass the class to stay in the program, so different than the student loans today that can take a lifetime of working to pay back.

I bought food at the grocery store, meat at the meat market, sundries at the drug store and clothes at Penney's. I made everything from scratch. You didn't just whack a can on the counter and presto chango you had eight biscuits ready to bake.

Back then all of the interest you paid, whether it was on a car loan, Penney's credit card, line of credit, you name it, you could deduct it all on your tax return, not just the interest paid on your home.

I remember my son's first grade class had 18 kids in it; on his birthday he needed 19 cup cakes, which included one for the teacher.

Nowadays I hear class sizes can exceed 30 students. I remember Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Monopoly, card games and coloring books, not video games, dungeons and dragons, and My Space web pages.

Yes, writing Back Then is a privilege for me. Not only do I get to learn about the history of Pahrump, but, I also get to take a trip back in time and reflect on what was going on in my life then, good or bad.

I understand why my folks always looked back on the good old days with such fondness and ease. Hearing their stories about when they were 20, I thought they were from the Stone Age.

Thirty years ago, you didn't have the conveniences you have today, the one-stop shopping, crockpot meals in a bag, ATM cards, computers, remote controls for everything and so on.

Seems with all the conveniences available to me now, I have less time than I did then to enjoy the things I didn't have time to enjoy before, since every task took more time to complete, if that makes any sense.

Funny, when I had six stations to choose from I could always find something to watch on TV, I Love Lucy, Big Valley, etc.

Now with 186 channels I can't find a thing to watch. We really like our DVR because all the good stuff comes on after our bedtime; the DVR records programs for us to watch when we choose.

There have been great changes from yesteryear, but, sometimes, I still miss the good old days.