Tag: anniversaries

A quarter century ago, . . .

• 

  We (Terry and I) were the proud parents of our  number one son, Derek.

• We lived with Terry’s dad, in a small ranch on 34th street just shy of the Big Ditch in north Wichita.
• I worked for an insurance agency in downtown Wichita, Kansas.
• Terry went into business for himself that spring, after Derek was born.

• 

  While searching for something, I stumbled upon our marriage license, ready and waiting for a Justice of the Peace to sign and declare us officially married on May 1st at the Sedgwick County Courthouse.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, . . .

• Median Household Income (current dollars):  $24,897
• Unemployment:   7.0%
• Cost of a first-class stamp:   22 cents
• The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in 1986 was:  93 cents
• The Oprah Winfrey Show hits national television.  (Not that I ever watch her show, but she is ‘iconic’ to our times).
• The Academic American Encyclopedia is available on CD-ROM. It is the first reference work published in this medium.
• Nintendo video games introduced in U.S.
• The Voyager 2 probe passes Uranus in January, returning images and data on its moon, rings, atmosphere, interior, and magnetic field.
• Halley’s comet yields information on return visit (April 10).

• The Challenger exploded soon after launch in January, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
• Chernobyl was making big headlines in the Spring of 1986.*

*  See Infoplease.com web page for the year 1986 for more interesting facts from 25 years ago.