Queen Elizabeth Memory

 I heard about Queen Elizabeth II's death last Thursday via the media—first on the Internet and then on television. The major TV channels were filled with the news all afternoon. Through various media, I have been witness to her entire reign.

When I was seven, I first heard about Queen Elizabeth through this media—a Philco radio that was on in our kitchen on an early June day in 1953. 

My second grade year at Huff Lane School was coming to an end. During the 1952-53 school year, Huff Lane was on a split schedule because of over-crowding, so I attended only in the mornings and had my afternoons free. I remember being on the back porch that afternoon where I could hear the radio through the screen door. Something came on about a queen—a real queen, not like the fairy tales queens that I'd heard about in stories. Apparently, they were making Elizabeth a queen while I was listening. I didn't know then that she'd been serving a a queen for a while since her father died, and what I was listening to was her coronation. 

But I remember thinking that what I was hearing was pretty important stuff. I didn't realize that it was an important historical event. Historical events, I knew, happened a long time ago—and this was happening now.

Some people were lucky enough to watch it on TV, but we didn't have a TV then. WSLS TV (Channel 10) had only gone on the air the previous December and was the only local channel so not a lot of folks in the neighborhood had TV sets then.

In a week, I will likely watch her funeral on TV. And this time I know it's an historical event.

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