Remembering Mom and Dad

I have my mother’s 1940 high school yearbook. That was the year she graduated, so there’s a short (and interesting) paragraph beside her picture. As I read her friends’ notations in the yearbook, I couldn’t help noticing two things. (1) Mom must have been as social as Kari and seems to have known nearly everyone. There were 387 graduates in her class, and it looks like most of them signed her yearbook. (2) I lost count of how many of Mom’s friends used the word “swell,” as in “we had a swell time” or “you are a swell girl.” That must have been the most popular slang word of the day because I also noticed it in the letters my mom wrote to a friend in the early 1940s.

Mom is Violet Lorenzen, the second photo from the top in the right column.

I also have my dad’s Distinguished Flying Cross, which he was awarded in 1945 as a Lieutenant during World War II. Dad was a B-25 pilot and was engaged in intense enemy aircraft fire that damaged his plane. In spite of the damage, he was able to keep his plane on course so that his bombardier could release the plane’s bombs and devastate a vital enemy railroad, contributing to a successful mission.

The DFC is on the left; the photo shows my dad in uniform as a lieutenant; the small name badge / pin was my mother’s ID when she worked for the War Department in 1944 making shells for the U.S. Army; the rose pin was awarded to my mother for serving as president of the local American Legion Auxiliary chapter.

In the 1980s, I embroidered a crewel family tree as a gift for my mom and dad. It documented our immediate family, from Mom and Dad’s marriage through their grandchildren at that time. I included extra yarn so Mom could update the information as needed. The family tree hung on the dining room wall until after Mom died in 1995. At some point after that, it was returned to me. My brother Russ said he always admired it and would like to have it. I made another family tree for myself showing Ted’s and my families, so I don’t need the one I gave to my mom. I sent it to Russ (with the extra yarn for updates), and I hope he’ll enjoy it for many years.

My brother Denny died in 1977. When my sister-in-law remarried, Mom cleverly added a branch in the lower left corner of the picture to include Bev, her second husband, Steve, and their daughter Heather.