Diary of a Housewife

Preface
By Larry Mixson

It is the year 1959, Barbara and Morris Mixson, my parents, were raising a family in what would become known as the Baby Boomers generation. Dad, having served in the Navy in the final year of World War II, survived and returned home to his sleepy home in Flemington Florida where, with bleak outlook for finding a job, obtained one through the GI program as a stock clerk in the Chemistry Department at the University of Florida. Coincidentally, at that time Reverend Fred Junior moved his family from up north and became the minister of the Flemington Baptist Church.  One event led to another, and Morris met the minister’s oldest daughter Barbara, and they were wed in 1950.  

In the pursuing years they had a daughter and two sons in quick procession. Here we are, eleven years later, with Barbara and Morris having a daughter and two sons, Brenda-age 7, me-age 6 and David-age 4. We were the typical post-war baby boomer family living in suburban America, with the father working and the wife staying home taking care of the kids. Our life was like some family show like Leave it to Beaver or My Three Sons which we watch every week on TV.   Dad had been working at the University of Florida Chemistry Department for the past eleven years and was now making $4,450 a year which he supplemented by working for Grandpa Junior repairing check protecters. It doesn’t seem like a lot of money for a family of five, and Mom and Dad were always concerned about expenses, but we lived comfortably.  Gas was 25¢ a gallon, milk $1.01, bread 20¢ a loaf, and postage stamps 3¢.  

This is Mom’ daily diary of a pivotal year of my life, 1959.