The celebrated generation reaches its sixth decade when the very first of its members celebrate Sweet 60 today.
By BRADY DENNIS AND CATHY WOS
Published January 1, 2006
[Times photo: Daniel Wallace]
"When I was a kid, you looked up to authority," says Joe Becchetti of Palm Harbor. "Today, it's just the opposite." Portrait gallery
They fought a war, an ugly and costly and deadly one, that shaped them for better and worse and gave them a voice.
They partied and protested. They were brash and idealistic. They promised to bring about change. They questioned authority. They marched for civil rights. They introduced free love, drugs, rock 'n' roll.
They were the baby boomers, and more than 78-million of them were born in the United States between 1946 and 1964.
Together, they endured the turbulent end of segregation, the violence of Vietnam, the assassination of one president and the resignation of another, the thrill of man on the moon, the dawn of the computer age, the British invasion and the Cold War.
Two of their ranks have served as president - Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
And now, the first members of the generation that vowed never to trust anyone over 30 are beginning to turn twice that age.
As the boomers reach retirement, they seem poised to change the world once again, to transform the very definition of what it means to grow old. At the same time, they threaten to devour the nation's health care and Social Security programs and leave future generations to clean up the mess.
Across Florida, hundreds of baby boomers turn 60 today. Seven from around the bay area recently shared their personal experiences, their thoughts about being part of the boom and their hopes for how their generation will be judged by those to come.
Happy birthday.
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Dennis Manning, Tampa
Occupation: Mortgage broker
Hometown: Panama, Illinois
Our generation, I don't know. We started out making lot of changes. But a lot of changes we were making, I don't know how good they turned out to be. We were going to change the world. There was love, peace and everything.
Our generation brought the drug scene in. There were a lot of people that weren't taking responsibility. It was kind of the beginnings of the breakdown of the nuclear family. Like father, like son, you know.
I'm not necessarily proud of that.
I got out of college in the fall term of '67 and was drafted in '68. I went to training in Fort Bliss, Texas. Then to Vietnam. I was there 13 1/2 months as a combat medic.
I didn't want to be there. All I'd done in life was go to school and enter the military. All I wanted to do was come back and party. So I came back and started partying. I was a hippie. We did everything. I was living in California. I hung out with the Grateful Dead. I knew them and I knew their kids.
I was protesting - peace marches and all that went with it. I was running hard. It was a hot time. It was an ugly time. That went on for years and years, until I decided I needed to do something different.
So I became a mortgage banker. I go to bed early and get up really early.
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Janet Herring, St. Petersburg
Occupation: Semi-retired
Hometown: Jackson, Miss.
In Mississippi, we were just flower children, not free-love children. My father would have killed me. Within a three-block area, I went to elementary school, middle school, high school, college and my first job.
My husband was a doctor, and we moved to California in '69. Talk about culture shock. He was an intern in the Air Force. I was very antiwar. When you went through the gates at Travis Air Force base - that's where we were stationed - I gave them the peace sign. Sometimes they returned it, sometimes they didn't.
Then he was sent to Vietnam. It destroyed him. The man that went was not the man that returned. It was the end of my marriage. It was a horrible, horrible time, a time of turmoil.
The war was the primary thing. We saw our friends going and getting killed. It was the first time we could go out and voice our objection to something. It gave us a voice, gave us insight to what else what going on. It made us more aware - there's a world out there, there's other people out there.
I think that we opened our eyes, and in some cases, our parents eyes. That's something we contributed.
It's been an experience. I've lived in very interesting times. It's a generation that cared. We truly, truly cared about this country - that's how I'd like to be judged.
Younger people just think we're old. I had a reunion with my girlfriends. We were laughing about if our mothers could see us now. My mother would not have acted like I do at this age, my goodness.
She would be horrified, because I haven't grown up.
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Mildred Carden, New Port Richey
Occupation: Retired
Hometown: LaGrange, Ky.
I grew up mostly on a farm. I never knew anyone who was on drugs. I was never into the protests. I guess I was very sheltered.
When Kennedy was killed, I didn't want anything to do with anything political. Maybe I didn't believe in the system anymore. We lost a little faith. We lost a lot of innocence. We became more suspicious.
As far as changing the world, I'm not so sure we changed it for the better. In some cases, we did. We made people more aware of what was actually going on outside our own little pocket of the world. For the first time, we started questioning and didn't just accept.
Looking back, I always thought 60 was old. But now that I'm here, it's not old anymore. We learned so much and experienced so much. We have to realize that we are now the older generation.
Would I go back and live at another time? No. I'm happy. I'm satisfied with what I am in life.
We'll never go back to simpler times. That makes me sad, but it will never happen. I look back now and think maybe the hippies did have something there. I joke that I should have joined the commune, out there with the flower children.
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Lillian Ingram, Bradenton
Occupation: Housekeeper
Hometown: Sparta, Ga.
It was a beautiful day when Martin Luther King said, "Free at last! Free at last!" That's the only way I can explain it.
I remember when he died. This person was going to help us with freedom, and now he's gone. It was a shock.
But civil rights changed a lot. It's a whole lot different now. There are more opportunities out there. Things are in the open.
I feel real proud being a part of that.
I don't think there's as much hate in the world as there was. There will always be some, but the world has really changed. There's more choice now, more freedom. I think it will get better and better.
Things have gotten easier, you can just look around and tell.
Every generation is so different.
I think we left the world a better place.
I think we left it pretty good.
Yes.
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Beth Thorbin, Clearwater Occupation: Publix deli clerk
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
We moved to the South in 1959 and we thought, boy, if you were a black person . . .
I remember having separate drinking fountains - one said "colored" - and I was appalled by that. I remember thinking, "How awful." My sister and I, we would drink out of them, just as a small protest.
That changed in my generation. That was positive, a good thing.
I think we brought a lot of positives. We've had a big cultural influence. We were more open-minded; we tried to see both sides - Why can't we talk about this? Why can't we discuss this?
With everything positive and good, there's always a negative, too. Sometimes I think we've come too far. The whole sexual revolution, I'm not sure that's such a good thing. Women's lib, I felt very strongly about that. But looking back, I think it was nice when women could stay home and raise their children.
Our generation, the positives outweighed the negatives. It makes me proud.
What does 60 look like? If I didn't look in the mirror, I wouldn't know I'm 60. I still do the things I did in my 40s. When my grandmother hit 60, she was old. I view it as, there's still a lot of good left. It's either go forward or go back.
Tomorrow is another day.
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Joe Becchetti, Palm Harbor
Occupation: Retired
Hometown: Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
I didn't like any of it - the hippie movement, the protests and all that. I didn't believe in any of that. I didn't think it was necessary.
I was more for country, the military. That's the way I was brought up, very patriotic. When I was a kid, you looked up to authority. Today, it's just the opposite. There's a lack of respect for authority. Now, there's not as much family, not as much religion, definitely not as much patriotism. It started back then, with the protests.
My parents were Italian immigrants. They came to this country to work. They tried to give us as much as they could.
The baby boomers, we did that for our children and consequently spoiled the children. We gave them too much. The things - the cars, the pocketbooks, the stuff - take precedence over family life. You start wanting more, so you end up working more. I'm disappointed in that.
Everything goes in cycles. Everything evolves.
There's good and bad. We're only human.
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Karen Meese, Wesley Chapel
Occupation: Owner, independent trade association
Hometown: New Philadelphia, Ohio
All the things we did, our parents never did. Whatever was going on, our parents seemed to accept that. They were more complacent.
We were a little more wild and crazy. More vocal, more outspoken, more opinionated. We didn't hesitate. We were much more confident. We had higher expectations. We were more driven.
Our generation was not afraid to stand up and be vocal about unjust issues. We weren't afraid to speak out. We promoted the civil rights movement in a very vocal way. We put more emphasis on the need for an education.
Everything isn't always good. There's a dark side.
Families used to sit down together for dinner. Our generation kind of destroyed those traditions. We sacrificed family values to make our mark, to get where we wanted to be. We worked long hours. We wanted our children to have a much higher level of opportunity.
That was a good thing, but somebody sacrifices something along the way. I'm not proud of the fact we were so willing to sacrifice. We've weakened the strength of the family.
On great thing of our generation - we opened a lot of doors. I feel very happy to have been a part of that era. It was a wonderful time in history. I would hate to be born in 2005. I'm worried about my grandchildren and what they might face.
I don't think we're growing older as gracefully as previous generations. My grandmother would never have dreamed of having Botox.
