I’m responding to Mark LaFlamme’s column “Long gone things we miss most,” Nov. 20. I enjoy his columns; this one sure took me down memory lane.

Growing up in a rural area in the 1950s, getting to “The City” (Lewiston) was a rarity. On Saturdays, people could flag down a Greyhound Bus a quarter mile from our farm if they had secured permission, money, etc.

My eighth-grade (two-room schoolhouse with two teachers) graduation dress came from J.C. Penney — then a small store beside Peck’s.

I had many pretty grade-school dresses from Peck’s. Relatives from Auburn shopped there; I loved those hand-me-downs.

Prom dresses — people either made their own, borrowed from a friend’s older sister,  or they went to “The City.” Morin’s Bridal Shop on Lisbon Street was the place to shop for that special prom dress.

As a young adult, going to school and living in Auburn in the early 1960s, the shops and stores on Lisbon Street were fun and enticing places to browse with one’s girlfriends, checking out the latest fashions and styles. I remember Ward Bros.’ sales clerks wore black dresses, black pumps, black hose — surely a class act. After our shopping , it was lunch at Kresge’s.

In Auburn, bottom of Goff Hill, corner of Minot Avenue and Court Street, was Seavey’s Ice Cream Shop and lunch counter. In the 1960s, an Italian sandwich and a drink cost $1.

Thanks to Mark for taking us down memory lane — “Those were the days, my friend …”

Patricia D. Tibbetts, Norway