I was fortunate enough to have inherited many old photos (and many photo albums) from both my grandmothers, so I now have in my possession many, many (
way too many) old photographs of almost all my relatives on both sides -- poised in varying stages of development --
from childhood to
adulthood to
old age.
Anyway, I'm currently in the process of scanning and "cleaning them up" (with my nifty, cheap but effective Paint Shop Pro program) before storing them on CDs for safekeeping.
Hopefully, my sons -- or some future grandchildren-- will appreciate the effort.
The photo below of the two little boys was made in 1930's... and that little curly-haired fellow is my dad. The younger one is my uncle.
My grandmother worked and raised her sons alone at a time when single motherhood was much more of a rarity than it is today. (Her husband, their father, "melted down" after an accident during the Great Flood of '27 and one day, he just-- wandered off. There's much more to the story, and in truth, it is one of a sad, sad life... and better left for another day.)
Anyway, both my dad and my uncle grew up to be All-State Football Stars and both were good students as well-- or at least that's the story I had been given all my life. ;-)
My uncle did earn a Ph.D. and was a very popular (and very old) professor until he passed away five years ago.
My dad was a 35-year employee with a large utility company where he started as a lineman after WWII (he studied at night school so that he was able to work his up to a nice position in the company). When he left the military, he tried to return to college but his heart just wasn't in it. He had seen some of the worst fighting on several of the Pacific Islands.
My grandmother always said that Daddy never was the same after he returned from the war. He took his own life on December 7 over twenty years ago.
My dad and uncle signed up within a few weeks of one another to serve their country in WWII... and as I stated, my father was in the Marines and my uncle in the Navy.
Fortunately, both of them returned home safely to my grandmother,
or as safely as can be expected for traumatized, war-weary veterans.Well, my sweet grandmother did remarry right before the war... to a wonderful man who will always be "Granddaddy" to me. (In his eyes I could do no wrong, and even if he was not "blood kin" to me, he might as well have been.)
Look at those hopeful little faces
Photo before cleanup
My sweet grandmother in a photo taken sometime in the 20s
Photo before cleanup
