Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Good Times, Another Time

Lin posted a back-to-school picture of herself and her brother at a somewhat-earlier-than-the-present point in her lifetime.  One can always depend on The Duck and Wheel with String.  It is infallibly entertaining.

At the conclusion of her post, Lin challenged her readers to provide pictures of themselves in their back-to-school finery.  Well, I am the sort of person who will take a dare.  Sometimes.  Thus it was that I got out mother's old shoebox of snapshots and started rummaging through the years gone by.

I found this, among other things.


On the front steps of the church where Dad was the pastor, this little family get-together took place on a sunny day, circa 1943.  Reading from left to right, as is our custom, Mother, Kid on Roller Skates, Sister Vee, Father with cousin Esther, Cousin Wilma, Uncle Wayne, Cousin Ruby, and Cousin Wayne Junior.  Given the structure of the composition and the evidence of the one missing, I am guessing that the shutter was snapped by Aunt Stella.  Although Cousin Charley Bill is absent, too.  No telling where he is.

We lived in Canon City and Uncle Wayne and Aunt Stella lived with their tribe in Granada.  Though 175 miles separated us, there were occasions when we all got together, either in Granada or in Canon. A 350 mile round trip was a significant day trip in that time, even in Uncle's 1937 Oldsmobile.  Yet I am fairly certain their visits to our place were day trips.  Accommodations perhaps being a factor, but more likely Uncle's aversion to being away from his beloved section on the Santa Fe.

Good times, good families, good memories.

13 comments:

Vee said...

Trip down memory lane this morning! I remember how much the Lacy kids loved to roller skate. At least you found a few seconds to pose for a picture, even if you didn't ditch the skates.

Grace said...

Love, love, love it! I wish your Mom was smiling because she and your Dad were such handsome people (and aren't you the cute little bugger!). Uncle Wayne looks like I imagine Uncle Jep looked like...

vanilla said...

Vee, difficult to tell in the digital pic, but Wayne Junior had on skates, too. I wonder where Charley Bill was. I wonder where he is now?

Grace, oh, thank you so much; I am glad you enjoyed it. Mom could, and did smile a lot. She could laugh too, but she didn't always find me funny. The fedora really was my dad's trademark.

Lin said...

I LOVE your old photos! I wish I had more of them. My mom has some, but she doesn't remember who everyone is in the photos. Such a treasure you have there!

Remember those skates that would clamp on your shoes and you had to have a skate key to get them on and off? Could never find the key....
But they always managed to come off...when you were speeding along.

Ugh.

Lin said...

Oh, thanks for the kind words on the Duck and Wheel! ;)

Vee said...

It's very likely I also had my skates on. Charlie was probably out running around somewhere. No one could ever keep track of him.

vanilla said...

Lin, the old pictures feed my nostalgia lust from time to time. Our skates were clamp-on type, and yes, they did occasionally come off at inopportune times.

Vee, it occurred to me that you probably were wearing skates. I did suggest that CB was likely engaged in his own devices, shall we say.

Sharkbytes said...

Great pic! I notice that everyone is wearing leather shoes. Kids generally had sneakers, at least for after school play, by the time I was a kid. Did you have sneakers? Keds? PF Flyers, Red Ball Jets?

vanilla said...

Sharkey, if my memory is correct, I never owned a pair of tennis shoes prior to going off to college. Chuck Taylors. (Did you note that even with the lead you gave me, "sneakers" was never a part of my vocab? I didn't even notice I did that until I was reading over my statement.)

Sharkbytes said...

That's really interesting. They must have hit the masses as I was entering grade school. Let's see, you are 14 years older than I... yes, you and college and me and grade school would be just about the same time frame.

vanilla said...

Sharkey, differences in a half-generation. Time marches on, and on sneakers, I might say.

Sharkbytes said...

"Run a little faster, jump a little higher, the kid in the Red Ball Jets!"

vanilla said...

Sharkey, didn't have them, probably why I could never run. Or jump.