PORT ANGELES — It was safe. It was fun. It was like living in a “Happy Days” sitcom.
And $3.65 an hour were riches.
That was Port Angeles in the 1950s, say some of the handful of Port Angeles High School’s class of 1961 who will reminisce during a special presentation about school, friends, entertainment and the quality of life back when they were teens.
“Growing Up in Port Angeles 50 Years Ago” will begin at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
The program, one of a series of the Clallam County Historical Society’s free History Tales, will be in the Port Angeles City Council chambers, 321 E. Fifth St.
The class of 241 people graduated June 6, 1961, eight years after Port Angeles received the All-American City Award in 1953.
The graduating class included 11 National Merit Scholar finalists, one National Merit Scholar and a host of leaders-to-be, said Marie Brackett Marrs, who organized Sunday’s presentation.
“It is amazing to see what some of our class has done,” Marrs said.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brooke Taylor remembered his high school years in Port Angeles as a “fun time to grow up.”
“It was a very ‘Happy Days’ environment,” he said, referring to the ABC television show about the 1950s that aired from 1974 to 1984.
“Most of us grew up in two-parent homes where the dad worked and the mom stayed at home,” he said.
“The whole community was safe.”
Teens spent most of their days at the drive-in or working in the afternoons, he said.
Taylor worked at the Wilson Hardware Store, which was in downtown Port Angeles.
Worked at Rayonier mill
As soon as he was 18, he started working at the Rayonier mill, which was the town’s largest employer until it closed in 1997, and he continued to work there during summer vacations when he was home from Stanford University.
“I made $3.65 an hour that first summer, and I just thought I was going to be wealthy,” Taylor said.
“Of course, compared to the $1.42 an hour I was making at the hardware store, it was quite a leap.”
Several of the class members will share memories of growing up in Port Angeles during the ’50s, their families, the schools, community activities, significant political events and post-World War II economics.
They also will discuss their parents and teachers who influenced their lives.
Participating along with Taylor will be Mary Lou Finley, professor of sociology at Antioch University — Seattle, Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty, retired Shoreline elementary teacher Sandy Sedergren Martin, retired Port Angeles School District administrator Darlene Owen Jones, retired Port Angeles High School teacher Bill Ellis and Marrs, a retired Bainbridge Island secondary teacher.
Ellis, who was the yearbook editor in high school, said he has collected a host of photographs for the presentation.
“I’m really able to show the development of the schools since we were here,” he said.
“It really was an extraordinary class.”
Along with community leaders like Taylor and Doherty, the class also included Tess Gallagher, who is now a published author and poet.
Always came home
Marrs, who was a cheerleader in high school, said that even though she has lived all over the country, she has always returned home.
“I always spent at least a month in the summer here, and those in our class always stayed in touch,” she said.
“My closest friends of my life are my friends from high school.”
Marrs organized the talk at the prompting of several of her classmates and the Clallam County Historical Society.
Taylor said that, as a Superior Court judge who also oversees juvenile offenses, he sees a change in the town.
“The community was safe back then — but I’m not saying it isn’t nice now because a lot of the people I see now is a segment of the population that I hardly knew existed back then,” Taylor said.
“But the whole town was really a very healthy place to grow up then. I wouldn’t want to be growing up now or raising a child now — and I know it is a national thing.
“The thing that has changed the most, I think, is the economy.
“In the 1950s postwar era, there was prosperity across the country, and things were booming in Port Angeles.”
He remembered the town winning the All-American City Award from the National Civic League.
“Times were very good,” he said.
“Every healthy adult who wanted to work was able to find a job.”
For more information about Sunday’s program, phone 360-452-2662 or see www.clallamhistorical society.com.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
