Coin calendar moves into history

We’re going through that time of year when historical remembrances come to the front of reader memories. On Nov. 22, you might have recalled where you were when you first heard that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. I know I did. I had a short conversation with Debbie Bradley about it that day. She offered her own recollections and mentioned the subsequent weekend of live ongoing TV news all day long.

This week’s cover date is Dec. 7. That brings to mind the 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

I don’t remember that event, but certainly my parents and other older relatives recalled it and spoke of it often when I was growing up. I still think of it when the date rolls around.

Since I have worked here, I have added other memories. I recall a telephone call on Dec. 7 a few years back. It came from a reader who also used the annual coin calendar that we have published since the late 1960s. I have had one on my wall near my desk for all of my 32 years here.

This year as in that prior year, there is no notation for Pearl Harbor.

The telephone call started out with the caller asking me if I knew what day it was.

Naturally, the first thing I did with that question in my ear was glance over to the calendar to see if there was some freaky error on it (as has happened once or twice in my career).

Fortunately there wasn’t.

I replied that it was Pearl Harbor Day.

The caller wondered then why it wasn’t on the calendar. It was important to him.

I responded that it was important to many people, myself included, but the calendar was one that listed historical happenings for coin collectors rather than for general history.

Though I didn’t mention it but could have, was that the Kennedy assassination was not mentioned, but President Lyndon Baines Johnson signing the law authorizing the Kennedy half on Dec. 22, 1963, is.
The caller was happy that I knew the importance of the date. He mentioned that he was a veteran of World War II and reminisced a bit.

That was it.

Well, I will be thinking about that on Dec. 7 this year because it will be the last opportunity for users of the calendar to notice that the attack on Pearl Harbor is not mentioned.

Krause Publications will no longer issue the annual coin calendars. I already know that some readers will miss it. They contacted me when they noticed that renewal notices did not include a calendar offer. I will miss the calendar as well. It has been almost a daily part of my life for many years.

However, as with all business decisions, the cost apparently is no longer worth the benefit, so the calendar has come to an end.

I now have a 2011 calendar with penguins. For anyone who asks, I say it is a staff photo.

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