By Gene Gallelli

Hanging on a wall in my bedroom is a print of an artist’s rendition of many memorable places of my hometown in the fifties. Of course, everyone has hometown memories of their teenage years, but herein are highlighted the ones I am most familiar with; the ones I call my own.

Weekdays for me were like every teen’s: up at dawn, off to school, eat lunch, then an after-school activity like sports, clubs and detention to end the cycle. Night-times were a mix of homework – if you did it – mom’s great dinner and a few hours of TV or listening to the top 10 on the radio, hoping someone dedicated a romantic song to you.

Weekends had their routines, if you counted sleeping in late, mowing the lawns or shoveling snow, church and visiting grandparents. But the most memorable and fun activities were usually not associated with the aforementioned.

Sweetland was our Saturday hangout, where most friends assembled and where most of the action was. Everyone hanging out had a cherry Coke, Mexican sundae or tuna sandwich with a chocolate milkshake, often all three. It was where I heard my favorite group, The Four Freshmen, on the jukebox for the first time.

I am quite certain no one would believe that a group of teenagers, in front of Sweetland on a Saturday afternoon, could make a fashion statement. But we did!

“Bermuda shorts” were just starting to gain attention. My pals Anthony, Tony, Don and I decided to shock the village by parading in front of Sweetland wearing the Bermuda shorts we had purchased in Rochester the week before. We’d like to think we started a trend, but the argyle socks and shoes-with-laces that we donned with the shorts put an end to that dream. The news of our fashion lineup spread quickly through high school and reviews were not all favorable.

In addition to the annual senior and junior proms, we had a dance after every home basketball game. A jukebox was rolled out onto the gym floor and a stack of 78 rpm records of the current top tunes provided the music. On special occasions the high school dance band – which, by the way, was very good – would provide live music for dancing.

Saturdays required attending a double-feature movie at the Rialto Theater. If you were in junior high school, you attended a matinee after first stopping at Questa’s candy store for a bag of penny candy. If you were in high school and were lucky enough to have a date, you attended a night showing, but, to be cool, you bought your candy at the counter in the theater.

After the movie, guys would walk their dates home and if they were lucky enough to get a goodnight kiss, skip all the way to wherever they were going. The unlucky ones would pout all the way back.

It doesn’t take long for the teenage years of imagined infallibility and omniscience to come face-to-face with the many challenges of adulthood. Teens who were part of loving, supportive families had to suddenly answer myriad questions: Should I go to college or trade school? Should I seek full time employment? Do I want to get married? And the beat goes on, often at a never-ending pace.

There are days, I’m certain, when all of us wish for one more dance in the school gym or one more Saturday afternoon of 25 cartoons at our local theater. But, instead, we have endured, embraced and survived life’s transitions that have brought us to who and where we are today.

Let’s pray that today’s teens make the journey to a successful life and career with very few bumps and bruises. Hopefully, wherever they land, let it be softly and on both feet.

Gene Gallelli was associate superintendent of the Dare County Schools for eight years. He received his doctor of education degree from East Carolina University, where he taught and supervised students studying to become school administrators.

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