The 1964 World's fair

53-The 1964 World's Fair

                My family went to the World’s fair in New York City in 1964. I was 11 years old, and I do not remember much about the fair. There was a horizontal escalator, and Dupont had an exhibit. The air was full of the excitement and enthusiasm that is always present when 11-year-old boys venture into the large and scary World.

                The science exhibits that predicted air cars and space travel failed to foresee the Internet or cell phones (America would not get to the moon for another 5 years, but John Kennedy helped push the country in that direction ,before someone launched him in an unexpected direction of his own). The stars were in my 11 year old eyes, and I drank in the imaginings of tomorrow and the wonders of New York City.

                It is funny what people remember about a place and time. What I remember most was an evening spent with my father’s uncle, Earl. During the journey up the East Coast in the family’s huge turquoise station wagon, my brothers and I wondered what would happen at Earl’s house. Earl was rich and lived the high life in New York.  Maybe he would share some of his vast wealth with his poor Virginia relations.

                We speculated endlessly about the riches and happiness that would be ours if only Uncle Earl would see how much he could change our lives. He had the power to transform our mundane existence into a kind of storybook that consisted of a whirlwind explosion of fun and excitement, limited only by our imaginations! There could be ponies and chocolate-covered banana splits and amusement parks and… Ah, the power of naiveté!  I miss my childhood ability to not understand what was within the realm of possibility. That power seems to erode a little more each year until, one day, I will imagine I have seen and done and heard it all. (And won’t that be a sad day?)

                So, as the children dressed for dinner in our strange and wonderful New York City hotel room, we became more and more excited about the potential the evening held for our future. Of course Mom and Dad kept saying, “You kids hush; Earl has nothing that we want or need.  It’s just dinner with a relative”. However, they talked a little between themselves about which fancy restaurant Earl might be taking them to for dinner. They were excited, too; I could tell.

                I do not remember the building or the apartment now. I do not remember Earl’s wife or even Earl, really. He was just an old guy in a smoking jacket. I only remember thinking, “So this is what rich people look like”. My parents visited with Earl for a while and hemmed and hawed as the kids’ stomachs began to growl, and Dad checked his watch.

                Finally, Earl called into the kitchen to his wife, “Are we dining in or out tonight?”

His wife replied, “In”.

                I do not remember the rest of the evening, although I am told we had a wonderful family dinner in a memorable New York restaurant. I do not remember the trip home, either. What I remember was the feeling of having all of my hopes and dreams dashed with that single word.  “In.”

                Somehow, I had it in my head that Earl would take my family out to dinner, and we would impress him so much that he would pronounce loudly to my Dad, “ These millions are doing me no good, so I have decided to give the money to you for your family”. My parents would then begin a series of purchases that would never end and would supply the happiness that material things had the power to supply. Or so I thought.  

                Who knows where kids get these ideas? Now that I think about it, people somewhat overrate the naiveté of youth. Dreams are great, but I missed the point of the trip altogether. Maybe old, childless Earl was so bored and tired and self-absorbed with his life that he did not get that we had come all the way from out in the country to go out to eat with him in a fancy New York Restaurant. Old Earl didn’t understand or care about the disappointed looks on our faces. How sad it was that I couldn’t see the richness and splendor of the colorful and healthy family life I was enjoying. No one ever harmed me (well, there were those knockdown, drag-out fights with my evil brothers; maybe I should say that no one ever harmed me any worse than I harmed them). All I could see was an imaginary world in the future that bore no resemblance to reality.

                I see, now, how special and rich our lives were, and how little having money or the lack of it has to do with happiness in life.

                Earl is dead now and I don’t think he took his money with him. I have lived long enough for this one glimpse of a childhood memory to come back and remind me of what is important. And to remind me that it’s ok for kids to be naïve and wishful and dissatisfied. That’s where all the best art and music comes from. All I have to do is make sure, at the end of the day, that somebody takes the kids out to dinner.

Dave Seward

November 2000

I didn't want to forward this to whomever David had on his list, but as 

my radio friend says, this is the "Rest of the story"

Earl wasn't childless.  He had a daughter...this wife was his second 

wife.  His first wife died at a fairly early age..maybe 60-65 and  Mary Taylor had helped Earl attain the position he had, all their life.  Their daughter was Jane.  Fortunately Mary Taylor had a will leaving everything she had to Jane. Earl had given her half of his salary all his life, and she had accumulated a million at least...

The second wife worked in his office as an architect..I think her name 

was Liz...anyway, as the family chose to view the situation, she preyed on the old man who was extremely lonely, and married him-she was 40. He was about 65.

So....after about a year of marriage, Earl just up and died...as his will said, he left everything to his "beloved wife."  BUT, he had not changed his will, and he meant Mary Taylor...nothing to Jane, because he had assumed that Mary Taylor would have inherited his money and would leave it to Jane, per her will.  That meant his New York Condo, his estate on Long Island...all of the family furniture and jewelry etc...went to the 41 year old current wife.

Dad thinks the estate is still in litigation, but I do know Jane did 

not get the house or the condo or any of the money...I would hope the second wife  didn't either...she was most unpleasant to all of the family, not just the visiting relatives from Virginia.

After the visit in the New York Condo, we ate dinner at a nearby diner...conspicuous as we were, all dressed up for the fancy restaurant!!!  We did have a nice time, despite this little disappointment.

Mom

March 2002