This afternoon, I was looking for a form that I knew I printed, but couldn’t find, so I had to rummage through my inbox files to see if it was there. That’s where I throw stuff from my desktop if I don’t want to deal with it immediately, which meant I’d be cleaning out my inbox clutter. I don’t clean the boxes often, but I always find something interesting when I do. Today it was old photos of my siblings and me.
1952 when I had only two brothers. That’s Denny (3) on the left and me (5) restraining Steve (1). I remember those halter tops.
I have three brothers in summer 1956. It looks like we’re ready for bedtime prayers and no, we didn’t all sleep in the same bed.
Late summer 1956, before Russ was born in October. I’m holding/wearing a vintage 1940s Kodak Brownie Reflex Synchro model camera, handed down from my mom. Denny is apparently the geek, with his shorts pulled up high; Steve is the cool one, with the rubber sunglasses (you could pop the lenses out) and the Hawai’ian shirt.
Here’s baby Russ! It’s Winter 1956 and the three boys are in matching pj’s. Mom bought yardage and made all their pj’s from the same pattern and the same fabric. Russ and I might also match–I can’t tell for sure.
Winter 1956 again. Tom, Denny, and Steve are in the back; I’m holding Russ in the front. Steve’s baby picture is on the end table in the corner.
1958. I loved that dress! It was a two-piece, very in-style chemise. I wore it to the 4-H awards ceremony and had my picture in the local paper for being named the outstanding 10-year-old girl in the county. I’m wearing my gold 4-H award pin.
Fall of 1962. In the old days, before gender equality, I had to help Mom at home in the summer and on Saturdays, and the boys had to work with Dad at his Allis-Chalmers dealership and maintenance shop. Check out Steve’s “barn” lunch box and Denny’s more modern square one with the shorter, squat, wide-mouth Thermos that stood along the side instead of resting in the lid. I don’t recognize the people on Tom’s lunchbox, but I’ll bet he remembers who they were.
1963. We’re growing up. Steve (12), Tom (11), and Denny (14) are in the back and Russ (7) and I (16) are in the front. Mom spread out my skirt so it would look nice in the picture. My high school boyfriend liked that red dress, but I can’t believe those glasses were in style!
1967. We’re starting to leave the nest. It’s Denny’s high school baccalaureate evening and I’ve finished my sophomore year at UW-Madison.
July 2004. This is the most recent picture I have of the four of us–Tom, Steve, me, and Russ. Denny died in 1977. The framed photo on the bookshelf is Kari and Dean holding Sky, their first baby.
Just for fun, here’s one more picture I found. It’s a sibling picture of my dad and his three brothers (he also had two sisters). My mom noted on the back of the photo that “They are singing some song they made up.” Dad’s given name was Wilton, but he was called Pete; Ken’s nickname was Beanie; Harold was always Arch (middle name Archibald); and Bob would answer to Duck. Don’t ask; that’s just how it was. Ken and Arch are still living in Wisconsin and are in their 90s.
Probably sometime in the 1950s. Left to right, it’s Pete, Beanie, Arch, and Duck.
