Recalling the 50s: A farm kid's musings

by Kathryn M. Pearce

During the 1950s, the United States was a strong military power with a booming economy: However, it was also in a period of conflict. The civil rights movement was starting, the baby boomers were making their appearance, nuclear capabilities in both Russia and the United States were being expanded, the cold war had exposed its ugly head and there was a fear that communism was spreading. In the 1950s, Russia launched Sputnik, televisions invaded most homes, the guitar introduced us to rock n' roll and Pez found its way to the United States. The rates of unemployment and the rates of inflation were low and wages were high as latent consumer demand was met by increased production. However, improvements on the rural family farms lagged behind the progress that was being made in other areas. This is an autobiographical account of my life on the family farm throughout the 50s. I was born in 1946, the first of the baby boomers, and I grew up on an extremely modest farm in the central part of Minnesota. We were a normal family in a small rural community dealing with the same problems and harboring the same misgivings that other farm families tackled. These stories are about my childhood, but this is not a children's book. Although some of the chapters would be appropriate for children to read, others address issues that young children shouldn't have to face, including confronting a pedophilic aunt, eating the farm animals who were pets, murdering gophers to earn money and receiving medical treatments that were more appropriate for animals than they were for humans. Many books have been written about the children who grew up on farms in the 50s. This "tell all" book addresses issues that children confronted that are not included in the "feel good" books. The factual history may, in some cases, be upsetting, but it is an important historical read - one that will probably not be repeated as the 50s children age into oblivion.

208 pages, Paperback

Published June 2, 2017

About the author

Kathryn Pearce has been doing extensive genealogical and historical research for families for the past fifteen years, preparing numerous research reports for individuals and indexing many historical records for familysearch.org.

What started out as an interest in family history has turned into a passion. Kathryn loves to make the genealogical data in the family histories come to life by providing the stories that can be attached to the names in the research reports.

As a child she grew up on the family farm near Henning, Minnesota. After high school, she attended the University of Minnesota where she obtained her master’s and specialist degrees. For more than thirty years she taught high school and college students and facilitated curriculum development in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. She currently lives in Cold Spring, Minnesota. However, she still enjoys staying at the family retreat in her home town.

Her many teaching and facilitating experiences taught her that book lovers appreciate exciting, interesting stories. Her biographical stories and her historical novels take the readers on many fascinating journeys.

She recently wrote several biographical stories that are featured in Heroes in the Family Fight for War Pensions. The book focuses on the ancestors of Amherst Douglas Wait and takes readers back to the 1600s when Amherst's ancestors helped settle Plymouth Village.

She also writes the middle grade Minnesota Young Impressions Series: Jake's Big Game, Minnie's Big Move, Val's Big Escape, Al's Big Haul, Emily's Big Scare and Isabel's Big Lesson. Each of these books is the result of research about families in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

All of the books are available from Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com as well as from other book retailers.