By Betty Carlisle

Special to The Gazette

Headlines in the 1960s heralded hippies, the youth counterculture, anti-Vietnam War protests, civil rights riots and sit-ins, the British invasion of music, the Woodstock Festival’s summer love fest and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Robert B. Kennedy.

Memories of Medina County residents born in the turbulent 1960s reflect a more serene slant on the decade of excesses. Children of the ’60s spent very little time watching their family’s one television set with six stations, and they treasured a few special toys that lasted throughout their childhood. The acrid news of political and social upheaval was neutralized by playing outdoors with neighborhood friends until the streetlights flickered on and sent them running home to a close-knit family.

“There was a hard core separation between adults and children,” said Ron Spears, a partner at Marco, Marco and Bailey who was born Feb. 23, 1969. “There was a shielding of adult level issues like divorce and unwanted pregnancy from children because while the adults talked the kids went outside and played.”

Television and toys

By the 1960s, television shows and commercials started to aim for young audiences. The rise in discretionary income made purchases of toys advertised by Fisher-Price, Hasbro, Mattel and Kenner a possibility.

“My favorite toy was a Mrs. Beasley doll that I carried around,” said Medina City School teacher Carol Parsons, a child of the ’60s who owned the doll made popular by the CBS show “Family Affair” that aired 1966-1971. “She had yellow hair, glasses, a dress made from blue fabric, soft arms and when you pulled her string she spoke about a dozen phrases. I loved her so much.”
Boys had their favorite toys, too.

“G.I. Joe and Steve Austin male action figures were pretty big,” Spears said. “You could look through a hole in the back of Steve Austin’s head and see through his bionic eye.”

“Two of my favorite toys were a pedal car fire engine and a pedal car replica of a Chevy,” said Cary Blakemore, a UPS employee who was born Aug. 11, 1966. He recalled spending a lot of time outdoors playing, especially football and baseball. “I played with a Fisher-Price lawn mower that made the noise of a real lawn mower, and probably played the most with G.I. Joes and a set of little green army men.”

While Julie Blakemore, born Oct. 1, 1969, recalled playing with a child-sized kitchenette set and with a Fisher-Price farm set and schoolhouse that featured the little wooden people, her favorite childhood toy was a Drowsy doll — a talking doll introduced by Mattel in 1964.

“She had blonde hair, a plastic head with eyelids that closed when you tipped her, and she was made from pink fabric with white polka dots,” said Blakemore, a gymnastics coach and a self-described tomboy who remembered jump roping to chants during recesses and collecting baseball cards that were thrown against a rock in a popular flipping game.

Big Wheels and banana seat bikes

“I rode my bike everywhere,” Blakemore said, referring to the trademark bike of the ’60s that had a banana seat and raised handlebars. “It was safe to ride around, and nobody worried.”
Also popular in the ’60s were the Big Wheels.

“Everyone had a Big Wheel made out of hard plastic that you could spin out on,” Spears said. “You’d see kids riding them up and down the streets.”

It wasn’t unusual for kids to spend most of their free time outside.

“There were always eight or nine neighborhood kids out playing at a time,” said David Parsons, who is a UPS employee and a child of the ’60s. “We’d play baseball and football.”

Few fast food feasts

When families did go out to eat, it often meant a trip to the Golden Arches.

“McDonald’s used to be a big thing,” was David Parsons’ memory of eating out that was echoed by other children of ’60s.
“It was a treat to go to McDonald’s once in a while,” said Julie Blakemore, whose family, like others, ate their meals at home or at family-owned restaurants in town.

“There weren’t many chain restaurants,” said Spears, recalling that trips to McDonald’s were also a treat for his family — even prior to the arrival of Happy Meals. “The restaurants were owned locally by someone in the community.”

Cedar Point, the Cleveland Zoo, Chippewa Lake Park, Sea World, and even visiting the Blue Hole in Castalia, Ohio were considered highly anticipated family outings. Sunday dinners shared with the extended family and attending family gatherings for birthdays, weddings and holidays were typical forms of entertainment.

“If you can remember anything about the sixties, you really weren’t there,” said Paul Kanter of the Jefferson Airplane about the turbulent decade of the 1960s. Fortunately, the memories of those locally who were children of the ’60s proved otherwise.

Carlisle may be reached at accent@ohio.net.