(37 Weeks)
Summer unofficially always started Memorial Day weekend, even though in New Jersey, school wasn’t done until the middle of June and the calendar didn’t say so until a week after that. Regardless, summer was always time for creating memories – memories made on holiday weekends, family vacations, special outings with friends, and mostly a lot of unstructured time.
The Summer of ’77 was the most memorable summer of my life. Some of the memories were personal (an epic family vacation), but many are shared with those of my generation, events that are part of history or pop-culture.
That year, summer began early for me. My parents took me out of school, sixth grade, a week before the last day for an incredible two-week trip to Italy. I had never been away from home for that long before (our trip to Ireland the previous summer was only for a week). Although I missed my best friend, Connie, a lot (I literally sent her a post card every day!), it was an incredible experience. I have such vivid memories of that trip to this day. My dad even scored us tickets to the canonization of St. John Neumann at the Vatican from Knights of Columbus he met in our hotel lobby!
If that had been my only memory to share of that summer, I would still have had a lot to say when I returned to school in September, but there was more. When we returned from Italy, my beloved Yankees, were 3 games behind Boston, but within a week, they’d cut that to a half a game and were on their way to defending their AL Championship.
New on the Billboard charts at that time? I Feel Love (Donna Summer), I Just Wanna Be Your Everything (Andy Gibb), and Dreams (Fleetwood Mac) became my favorites. Star Wars (the original!) was the movie of the summer. I remember one night as we finished dinner, my parents announcing that we’d be going to see it, which was shocking to me since that wasn’t like any of the movies we’d ever gone to before.
My dad was running for town council. Although the more challenging campaign was in the spring primary, we still spent a portion of the summer canvassing for his campaign and other candidates. It was a gubernatorial election year in New Jersey. Republican State Senator Raymond Bateman was taking on incumbent Democratic Governor Brendan Byrne (we all know how that turned out).
It seemed my dad was always out at meetings. On July 13 that year, it was probably Mayor & Council given that it was a Wednesday. This was also the hottest summer I remember from childhood and on that night, my mom and I were at home, closed off in an upstairs sitting room off my parents’ bedroom that was the only place in the house with an air conditioner. I don’t remember what we were watching, but I’m thinking probably a repeat of Charlie’s Angels given it was a Wednesday. Suddenly the screen went black.
After checking our TV, switching to other stations, then the radio, we realized something much bigger was happening. I don’t remember when we learned that the entire City of New York was in darkness. I was allowed to stay up to make sure Dad arrived home safely and it wouldn’t be until late the next day that power would be restored in the city. After looting, violence, and death.
But that wasn’t the only big story coming out of New York City that summer. Dominating the news was the Son of Sam serial killings. By the time of the blackout, he had already killed 5 people and wounded several others. In late July, we had taken a short weekend getaway to Mystic, Connecticut. We were at a restaurant there, and as I left our table to go to the ladies’ room, I saw a TV at the bar reporting another killing. Stacy Moskowitz was his sixth and final victim. He would be identified and arrested about a week later.
Most of the summer was spend with my friend, Connie. We both had backyard pools and making use of them was typical of any summer back then, but I remember that summer her younger cousins were staying with her family which meant a lot of extra fun activities. The one I remember most was a day spend on the Circle Line circling Manhattan. While Connie’s mom was keeping a close watch on the cousins, Connie and I ran feral all around the boat to the dismay of the other passengers – but gosh we had fun!
Not sure where Connie was on August 16, but I have a very vivid memory of coming in from outside, through the back door into our kitchen, probably to fix myself some lunch. I remember being alone. A news bulletin came over the radio. My parents always left the radio on the kitchen. They said it was to make the burglars think someone was home – or maybe it was to keep the cat company. But the news that afternoon was that Elvis Presley had died.
I loved Elvis! I knew all his songs (the most of which were oldies even back then) and seen all his movies. My dad must have heard it too because he came right home (easy to do when his “office” was right next door) to check on me.
Summer unofficially, yet somewhat ceremoniously, always ended when school started. In New Jersey, when I was a kid, that was after Labor Day, although it was still about three weeks before the official end of the summer season. For Yankees fans that year, summer wasn’t over until Reggie Jackson hit 3 home runs in game six of the World Series. What a summer it was.
Did you really think this wasn’t going to include a fundraiser? It’s me. Of course it is! Over the course of these 60 weeks, I am hoping to raise $6000 for the children of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (that’s just $100 a week!). To learn more about Mercy Home and my why, please visit my fundraising page. Thank you.
Okay Mary, I feel old now. I graduated HS two years earlier… same as Kurt. I was one of hundreds who stood in line for 2 hours to see Star Wars at the Century Theatre in Paramus…