As we grew up, the country was exploding with growth.

The G.I. Bill gave returning veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow.

VA loans fanned a housing boom. Pent up demand coupled with new installment payment plans put factories to work.

New highways would bring jobs and mobility. The radio network expanded from three stations to thousands.

The telephone started to become a common method of communication and fax machines sent hard copy around the world.

Our parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into exploring opportunities they had never imagined.

We entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where we were welcomed. Based on our naïve belief that there was more where this came from, we shaped life as we went.

The Korean War was a dark presage in the early 50s and by mid-decade school children were ducking under desks.

Russia built the Iron Curtain and China became Red China.

Eisenhower sent the first advisors to Vietnam; years later, we went to war there.

Castro set up camp in Cuba and Khrushchev came to power.

Only our generation experienced both a time of apocalyptic war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty. We have lived through both.

We grew up at the best possible time; a time when the world was getting better, not worse.

We are the Silent Generation. The “Last Ones.” More than 99.9% of us are either retired or deceased and feel privileged to have “lived in the best of times!”