THOSE DAYS ARE GONE FOREVER... OVER A LONG TIME AGO

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PICTURED ABOVE: Jerry Kanis at the McLean Drive house on the event of his 8th grade graduation, spring of 1957

There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “May you live in interesting times”. I believe our generation, the fourth generation of the Cincinnati Kanis family, did just that. We were fortunate enough to have grown up during the “Golden Age of America”.

Post World War II America was a sunny and serine. We lived in a safe haven where you could play in the neighborhood all day and not come home until dark, just as the streetlights and the lightning bugs began to glow. Our parents really didn't have to worry about us.

Life seemed so simple then, and so perfect. It was like living in a television show. Grade school was like “Leave it to Beaver”, high school, “American Graffiti” and college, “Animal House”. Our heroes were Roy Rogers and Buck Rogers, Batman and Superman and Rose and the Reds. Our vices were drinking Coca-Cola (when we were allowed to have it) chewing bubblegum and playing with baseball cards. It was a pretty innocent time. But as the Steely Dan song goes; those days are gone forever, over a long time ago.

Before my parents passed, I made sure they knew just how appreciative I was for such an incredible childhood. Life is much different now. Kids today are so busy today and technology has taken over their lives. Sadly, our grandchildren and great grandchildren probably will never know anything like those wonderful years.

So I feel it’s important to pass on what we can to that next generation. Hoping that, in some small way, they will be able to grasp what a great time it was back then in America.

- Jerry Kanis