After many years of only gathering for a death in the family, my Dad’s nephew and his wife organized a family reunion and held it at their home. While I did get a few random pictures of people looking through old albums or simply visiting, the ones I took of old photos in an album are one of the best parts of the day.
The young, barefoot boy on the left is my Daddy’s Dad. This is his huge family which wasn’t that uncommon back in those days. Pa, as the grandchildren came to call him, was born in 1893, Bea had this photo dated 1903 which would have made him around 10 years of age. I had never seen this picture and was amazed to see how much my Dad looked like his Dad at that age. In fact, I can see many family resemblances in his siblings and parents to my family members alive today.
This picture was surely taken in 1935 since the baby, my Dad, was born in the early fall of 1934. This was probably a springtime photo considering the clothing worn, the size of the baby and his birthdate. My dad’s mother, his brother and two sisters are pictured here. The two sisters are the only ones living at the present time with Beatrice at 83 years young and Jo Marie is soon to be 78.
Bea had this photo dated 1943. The oldest child, Max, Jr., would have been serving in the Army and of course, not present when this picture was taken. Daddy would have been around eight to nine years of age. They were a handsome lot and I was thrilled to get a copy of all of these. Pa lived to be 91 years of age, Mamaw was 82 years of age when she died, Max, Jr., was 73 years young and my Dad was way too young at nearly 55. Those that have gone on before us are never far from our memories and thank goodness, we have these wonderful photos to remember them by.
