My heart is full of memories of home. Growing up in the 50's in Huntington was the best of times.

The busy downtown shopping...Lawrence, Walgreen's, Humphrey's and Gallagher's Drug Stores...where the teens would gather.

The wonderful fantasy windows at Anderson Newcomb and Bradshaw's Dept. Stores at Christmastime.

Dreaming in front of Spencer's Jewelers and O'Shea Jeweler's glittering window display.

Remember Saturday's at the Keith-Albee, Tipton, Palace, and Orpheum Theatres?

I remember the boys selling newspapers on the streets and the crowds waiting for their bus at every corner bus stop.

Ward's Donuts, Silver's and McCrory's Five and Dime with lunch counters, Stewart's and Midway hotdogs, and Wiggin's...couldn't be beat!

Ritter Park, riding my sled down Gobbler's Nob (or is it Knob?) in winter, picnics in summer, and the Rose Garden.

The East Side, Ceredo, and Chesapeake Drive-in movies?

Cammack Elementary and Jr. High. filled with pony tails, page boy, and duck tail hairdos.

Huntington and East High Schools in the annual parade with their beautiful high stepping majorettes!

Roller skating on Friday nights with your friends at the various rinks around the city.

Dancing on TV, after school, at Huntington's own TV station version of American Bandstand.

And last, but not least, going swimming at Dreamland and the Olympic Pool...with the handsome tanned lifeguards, including the many high diving show-offs embarrassed by their belly flops, and the green acres filled with teens and beach towels, bodies dripping with suntan lotion, while portable radios were blaring out the Platters, and the Coasters top hits.

Most important are the many friends with which we enjoyed it all.

It makes one wonder where they are today and if they are sharing their own memories on a web page somewhere on the internet.

Yes, I remember growing up in the 50's, I remember it well.