As July begins and temperatures soar, prayers for cooler weather do as well.

Most of the people dashing indoors to escape summer’s heat likely take the air-conditioning that keeps them cool for granted. But many Brookhavenites have interesting stories about life prior to the sweet relief of artificially cooled air.

“We didn’t really think much about it because we were used to that,” Winnie Lowery said about living without air-conditioning.

Lowery grew up living on the Copiah-Lincoln County line and said her community lived without electricity until her late teens in 1952.

“Living out in the county, people didn’t have electricity. It was hot, and we’d fan with a fan,” Lowery said. “I can remember at 19 years old everybody in my community got electricity except my family.

“I was in Co-Lin and was taking a business letter writing class, so I wrote a letter to the Mississippi Electric Power Association.”

The letter she sent about her home being the only one without electricity was what brought electricity to her family’s house. With electricity, she said, her family soon purchased an air-conditioning window unit.

For Carolyn Reed’s family it wasn’t until the late 60s or early 70s that they purchased air conditioners and window fans. By the 80s she said her family had central air and heating.

Reed said when she was young they slept in houses with the windows up to keep cool.

“I remember taking the children to Woolworth. We walked around and ate ice cream to stay cool,” Carolyn said.

While talking together, Reed and Lowery discussed whether the world is seeing hotter summers or if society has just become so used to atmospheres they could manipulate at will.

Either way, it may be best to discuss climate change inside rather than out these days.