Halloween Past

Gary, Indiana, October 1966

"A strange thing is memory, and hope; one looks backward, and the other forward; one is of today, the other of tomorrow. Memory is history recorded in our brain, memory is a painter, it paints pictures of the past and of the day." ~ Anna Mary Robertson Moses

I found these pictures in a photo album the other day. This was a teen Halloween party in the basement of our parsonage in Gary, Indiana. We moved to Pennsylvania in 1967 so this was taken the fall of 1966. Don't you love the lineup of witches, hobos and ghosts? Oh, yes there on the far right is Batman, hands clasped at his cape. That would not be a teenager, that would be my brother Stephen, 4 year old caped wonder. Yes, he is bigger than a four year old. He has always been taller than kids his age and being the preacher's kid he went to everything, including the teen parties with his older sister. I was thirteen.

The thing is I don't remember the names of most of these kids. Maybe I can't remember them because the costumes hide their faces, but that's not the only reason; I never felt close to the kids in our church there. We weren't in the same school and the group was small. Many were older teens and even the friend I remember, Valerie B. was younger.

But, the costumes teens wear to the church Halloween party now are similar to those then. And of course we all know that "Batman is Forever". Then I saw my "costume"; the cowboy hat and the white go-go boots. How long did these boots stay in style? Oh, my and those awful bangs. What was I thinking?


Plaid skirt, yellow shirt, cowboy hat and go-go boots? Not very original or interesting.

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