I am writing this column on the 66th wedding anniversary of my parents, the late John Wade Bullard and Mary Lou Taylor Bullard. They were married on June 8, 1956, in Statenville, Ga. The judge's secretary was out for the day and mama typed her own marriage certificate. I think it cost them $25 and that included a tip for the judge. Daddy was almost 29, mama was 22.
Life in 1956 was very different than today. Gas was 29 cents per gallon. Dwight Eisenhower had just been elected for a second term. The first pavement for the interstate highway system, which would prove to be the death nail for small communities where US 41 and 90 were, had just begun construction.
The salvation of Lake City and its continued meteoric rise in population was the late Ralph Powers, a prominent businessman who, for many years, owned the Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Cadillac dealership in Lake City. Powers was the Chairman of the state highway commission for many years. He had the foresight to see that Lake City grew towards the interstate. Other communities didn't. In Cuba, a man named Fidel Castro began a revolution that would topple a nation and cost the United States billions in investments. By 1968, Miami would be a very different city.
In our area, agriculture was the pillar of the economy and flue cured tobacco was king. Live Oak was the largest flue cured tobacco market in Florida. Markets were located in Lake City, Jasper, Madison, Alachua and High Springs. During the months of July and into August, the sing-song chant of the tobacco auctioneers could be heard resounding in sweltering warehouses. "Sold American" meant new school clothes, new automobiles, the grocer, doctors and dentists got paid. One of the best selling books of 1956 was “Peyton Place” by Grace Metallious. Some of the top tunes were "Blue Suede Shoes" written by Carl Perkins and "Don't Be Cruel" sung by Elvis Presley.
Dr. Sabin invented an oral machine for polio. Who remembers taking polio sugar? Public schools and all public facilities were segregated. Most small county seats had a few Jewish people and most of them owned department stores. In Live Oak, Gibbs, Fleets and Gilmores. In Jasper, A. Levin and Sons. In Lake City, The Lovely Shop. Ladies wore hats and gloves to church. You knew who the pastors and educators were; they dressed up in, suits, dresses, coats and ties. Air conditioning, except for at the movie theaters, was almost unheard of. Hand fans advertising funeral homes placed in churches were not there for looks.
Folks made one trip per week to town to buy groceries and supplies. Five dollars a gallon for gas will soon get us back there again. The local newspaper was read from cover to cover. People lived to read the social columns. Wedding articles covered entire pages of the newspaper. In Jasper, the newspaper included the hospital admission and discharge list. Very few people had telephones. Suwannee County had more of these than most of its rural neighbors because of the presence of North Florida Telephone Company. The late Otto Wettstein was the President of North Florida Telephone.
Banks were all locally owned. Banks had counter checks. Businesses all closed on Sundays and many on Wednesday afternoons. The steer room at the Dixie Grill in Live Oak, the dining room of the Colonial Hotel in White Springs, the Wayside and Red Barn Restaurants in Lake City were all fine dining, as well as the J and L Inn on the state line north of Jasper.
Folks visited on Sunday afternoons. Relatives came and visited two or three weeks at the time during summer months.
It was a more leisurely, slower paced life, 66-years-ago and this went on into the 1960's. Twenty five dollars, including a tip for my parents' wedding, lasted until 1993 when my dad died. A look back...mama in a light blue silk shantung suit with matching hat, white gloves and orchid corsage. Daddy in a charcoal gray Hickey Freeman suit. Young people looking out at a future that would see unprecedented prosperity, social change and major technological advances. Their photo from long ago looking into a north Florida only remembered by a few.
From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs, wishing you a good day. So thankful for June 8, 1956 and for love that was and is priceless from the best parents ever.