What were elderly people like and what did they do in the 1950's?

Answer 1

It was a great time! Not all "Leave it to Beaver", but more family oriented than now. Lots of picnics, parades,weekly family meals. In our home Grandparents, Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins all gathered for Sunday night supper of waffles followed by "I Love Lucy", "What's My Line", roller skating for the kids. Lots of stories about the families before us, great-grand parents etc.

Answer 2

Lady Lyn is so wrong to say there was no TV in the 1950s. There most definitely was. I was living then. I would say that older people - my Grandmother, for example, who would have been in her late 60s/early 70s in the 1950s - didn't have television sets. It was fairly 'new-fangled' and expensive. Most elderly people in the 1950s only had state retirement pensions to live on. I think people 'got older quicker' in those days. They were not expected to do much after retirement except potter about in the garden, do a bit of knitting and read.

Answer 3

In the 1950's 50-60 was considered elderly because they couldn't do heart bypass surgery and other doctor stuff. (Today elderly is 80-90-.) Anyway, they sat around and talked a lot. Ther was no TV, so going to the black and white movies was a good night out. Or maybe dancing to Frank Sinatra-like music. Life was very simple then.

Answer 4

Except for the obvious technological changes they did the same then as now. However, there was a stronger link to the past with family & that time periods historical events. I believe they were more independent & to some degree wiser than the current elderly. Not meant as a slam at all just observations I've personally seen while out in public. To me the elderly were & still are the greatest strength for our country because they represented the not so distant past & the shapers of tomorrows society.

Answer 5

Define elderly. Almost no one considers *themselves* elderly. Certainly not my grandmother (b. 1899) who loved history and museums; watching tv and listening to the radio; reading and gardening.

She worked -- until she was in her 70's when she had to be persuaded to retire. She equated "not working" with "not useful" and she dreaded the idea of not being useful. In the 1950's, my grandfather died and Grandma took over as the postmistress in our village (age 53-63). In 1962, she moved to a nearby city with us and went back to teaching, which she did into her 70's. At that time, the age for retirement was 65.

Specifically in the 1950's: I remember her watching the "Ed Sullivan Show" and the "Wonderful World of Disney" with me (I was born in 1956). She loved to garden. She was also active in the church and was a volunteer at our village library.

For her birthday party in 1959, we invited friends and relatives in and set up several Crokinole boards for the evening. (Grandma was a Methodist -- no cards, no alcoholic beverages.)

Hope this helps.