Dear Elders, You cute Elders look rather happy. Were you always like that for the most part? Like, say, did you all go to your high school senior prom and have a ball? With whom? And, if not, why not?
Signed,
A Wallflower
Steve Leavenworth
Dear Wallflower,
Yes, I have been generally happy most of my life. Yes, I went to the senior prom in high school. Her name was Lorna. We split up that night. After the war, I met up with a friend who started going with her. While he was flying B-24s all over the CBI theater, she wrote him that she was going with some guy (a draft-dodger) who had bought her a fur coat. She sure was a prize . . . NOT!
I met plenty of young women during the war, but I never was in one place long enough to get serious.
Roioli Schweiker
Dear Wallflower,
Neither I, my husband, nor my children went to our senior proms. Years later I chaperoned one. The history teacher was my “date.” (I taught science.) He was a gracious gentleman, and it was an interesting evening. Some of the boys even invited me to dance.
Bill Twibill
Dear Wallflower-No-More,
I love being called cute and elderly at the same time . . . how about you and me kicking up our heels one of these days so I can show you what a great time I had at my New York City senior prom in 1956. I in my rented tuxedo and corsage for my date, limosine to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and dancing under the stars in the beautiful Starlight Room. Then on to the then-famous Copacabana nightclub with Sammy Davis Jr. entertaining the crowd. The last thing to do in NYC was to go on the Staten Island ferry for 5 cents and sneak in some “necking” while crossing the Hudson River from NYC in about 10 minutes.
Her name was Vivian, and she conveniently lived in Staten Island where her stern father met the ferry. I returned home at about 3 a.m.
I really do remember that fun-filled evening although I have absolutely no idea where I got the money for all that extravagence. So, now, dancing queen, get out your dancing shoes.
Jan Stickler
Dear Wallflower,
I don’t know if I would equate happiness with attendance at the senior prom, but maybe that’s just sour grapes. I did not attend my senior prom. I was dating a boy in the Army at the time and he couldn’t get leave that weekend, so I sat at home. I don’t know what I did that evening, but missing the senior prom did not seem to leave any lasting scars, though I tend to get a bit emotional whenever I hear the song “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation.”
Casper Kranenburg
Dear Wallflower,
Yes, you are right, we all look happy because each picture was taken right after we received our annual retention bonus and benefits package from the editor of the Insider. The celebration was held in an oceanfront resort in the tax-free Cayman Islands where we all received a huge check made out to cash and keys to an exotic car that was safely parked in the Concord downtown parking garage until we came back. Of course, the Insider private jet flew us back and forth in relative comfort. Now it’s back to work and try to remain looking happy.
