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Cheers to my 50 years! Looking back at 1972

Over the hill. Middle-aged. Old. That’s me! I turned 50 this week. I somehow feel like I should be embarrassed to have waved goodbye to my

40s already. But honestly, I’m just happy to be here.

The year of my birth was an eventful one in U.S. history.

The Vietnam War was ongoing, though U.S. involvement was starting to decline. The day after I was born, June 28, President Nixon announced that draftees would no longer be sent to South Vietnam unless they volunteered to go, states the “Vietnam War Almanac: An In-Depth Guide to the Most Controversial Conflict in American History.”

Just 10 days before my birthday, Watergate happened. President Nixon would ultimately resign the presidency over the crimes that happened during a June 17, 1972 breakin of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., Watergate Office Building. The break-in was traced to officials of the Committee to Re-elect the President, according to the White House archives.

However, Nixon won a second term that November, defeating Democratic candidate George McGovern by one of the widest margins on record. He resigned in 1974, and thenVice President Gerald Ford became president.

On June 27, Hurricane Agnes was wreaking havoc on the East Coast. It started June 14, 1972 and continued through July 6, according to Wikipedia, and was the costliest hurricane to date, causing

$2.1 billion in damage. Agnes caused significant flooding in my native Pennsylvania. My Gram Helen, my dad’s mother, lived in Wilkes-Barre in the northeast part of the state, which was hit hard. My dad couldn’t find her to tell her about the arrival of his third child and second daughter on June 27. Her house had flooded up to the second floor, and Gram had been evacuated. She was located, safe and sound, after a few days.

When I was not even three months old, the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich,

Germany would be come a dark time in history, when, on Sept. 5, members of the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September attacked the Israeli Olympic team, killed two coaches and took nine athletes hostage. The terrorists demanded the release

of more than 230 Arab prisoners in Israel. In a shootout at the Munich airport, says history.com, all the hostages were killed, as well as a handful of the assailants.

Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. States the National Archives, the ERA “seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters. It failed to achieve ratification, but women gradually achieved greater equality through legal victories that continued the effort to expand rights, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ultimately codified the right to vote for all women.”

1972 was the first year women were allowed to compete in the Boston Marathon. It was also the year DDT was banned as a pesticide by the EPA.

The Volkswagen Beetle was the most popular car that year, according to Reader’s Digest. “It was with the 1972 model that the VW Beetle overtook Ford’s famous Model T as the world’s all-time most-produced automobile,” states the magazine.

In 1972 sports, per historycentral. com, the Lakers were the NBA Champions: undefeated USC was the NCAA football champ; Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers won the Heisman Trophy; the Bruins took the Stanley Cup from the

Rangers; The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI; Jack Nicklaus won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Calif., and the Oakland A’s won defeated the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.

While I was named for the Beatles’ song “Michelle,” which had been released in 1965 and was a favorite of my dad’s, it was Don McClean’s “American Pie” that topped the American charts in 1972. “The Godfather” was the most popular movie; “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach was the most popular work of fiction; and “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son” were the most-watched TV programs.

I grew up with Barbie’s Dream

House, Big Wheels, “The Brady Bunch” and “Gilligan’s Island,” and games of Red Rover with the neighborhood kids in suburbia.

Fifty years after I came into the world, the U.S. is amidst a new round (or many rounds) of political turmoil. We’ve survived (and continue to survive) a major pandemic. The Avs have just won the Stanley Cup.

I feel pretty much the same as I did 10 years ago, with some added joint pains and other ailments ... a few extra pounds and a few well-earned laugh lines.

But, like I said, I’m just happy to be here.

Courier Editor Michelle Karas has called the Pikes Peak region home since 2015. Contact her at michelle.karas@pikespeaknewspapers.com.

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2022-06-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

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The Gazette, Colorado Springs