I Found My Dead People! I Found My Dead People!

I set myself a task of going through my dresser and tossing or giving to Goodwill everything I had not worn.  In the process I found my college diploma, a lot of bras I don’t ever remember being small enough to fit in, and MY DEAD PEOPLE!

I didn’t realize how upset I was still that I had lost them until I opened the folder and there they were.  You may recall that, after my Grandma died, I found a bunch of old photographs that my aunt thought no one would give a shit about in the trash, where I promptly rescued all of the ones that had value to me.

Here’s the list of what I took:

A picture of my Grandma A. in which she looks to be about fifteen.

A wedding cake A. decorated back when she had her cake decorating business.

A picture of her at a birthday when she was still plump and vibrant.

A picture of my great-grandma Sadie by some flowers.

A picture of my great-grandma Phillips and her family, including my grandpa’s brother Bill.

A picture of A with Sadie and a couple of A.s brothers.

My Grandpa in a snappy suit and a fedora.

My Grandpa in a snappy suit.

A postcard from the 500 Club in New Orleans, home of Sandra Sexton, queen of burlesque, which my Grandma kept for some reason.

My Grandpa in a snappy suit and a cool hat, with a pipe.

My grandma decorating a cake.

A picture of my nephew as a newborn.

My grandpa’s sister, Eva.  Hand to heart, her twin sister was Eva.  EEEva and Ehhva.  I have no idea which one this is.

My Grandma and her sister and her niece.

Sadie looking at A.’s just-decorated cake.

Grandpa in some snazzy leisure-wear being leisurely.

Sadie holding my Aunt J. as a baby.

A picture of my great uncle Floyd’s family.

My dad as a four-year old.

My grandma and grandpa back in the 70s.

My great-grandpa Harry.

My dad, my Uncle B., my Aunt J., and Patty Bradshaw making a snowfort in the back of the house on Riverside.

Sadie in her 80s.

My Grandma and Grandpa and their kids and spouses at their 25th wedding anniversary.

The invitation to their 50th wedding anniversary.

Another wedding cake my grandma made (clearlyI love the cake photos).

A photo of baby Grandma A.

My mom and dad at my grad school graduation party (clearly not my dead people).

My grandma and grandpa both snazzily dressed with hats and my uncle B.

Great-grandma Phillips with Bill and Bill’s kids.

A. with my Uncle B. very, very pregnant with my beloved Uncle B.

A. with the kids she taught when she taught at the one-room school house.

Again, mom and dad at my grad school graduation.

All the family at my grandparents’ 25th.

A. with another group of ids from her one-room schoolhouse.

A. at her desk at the real estate office.

Another baby Grandma.

Another family shot.

Another family shot.

The five kids.

Grandma and her brother.

The Maple United Methodist Church with an Open House sign and a “For Sale Phillips Realty” sign.  I come from a long line of smart asses.

Another baby A.

Baby Dad.

10 year old dad.

Baby dad pouting as his dad pushes him in a tiny wheelbarrow.  I should scan that one in for sure!

Baby dad in a wagon.

The midwife who delivered my grandma A. The note on the back says that she might have been an aunt.

My dad on the shoulders of his uncle.

Great Grandma Sadie sitting on the foundation of the house she was born in.  They tore it down and made a bigger house nearby.  And small wonder.  She wasn’t a tall woman and, if she laid down, it looks like she could almost reach from side to side.

And last but not least, two photos of all the kids who attended my grandma’s one room school when she went there, so, her and her two brothers and then other kids.  One of the photos has them numbered and on the back, she wrote their names.

It reads

Shanty Plains (the school)

1. Stanley Gladding

2.  Harold Robinson (my great uncle)

3.  Beatrice Lent

4.  Mrs. Pearl Johnson, teacher

5.  Evelyn Boatright

6.  James Lent

7.  Stanley Robinson (my great uncle)

8. Beulah Perrin

9. Bernice Greenhoe

10. Beverly Lent

11. Bertha Hansleman (I think Hansleman)

12.  Ivah Greenhoe (who, I hope, kicked her parents for that name)

13.  Thelma Frost (may be Frist)

14. Carma Gladding

15. Avis Robinson (Grandma!)

16. Retha Black

17. Russell Black

18.  Rhinard Lutherloh (I’m not making any promises.  It might also be Lutherlox).

19  Ferdie Gladding

20.  Erwin Smith

21.  Berton Hansleman (Okay, so Hansleman was right).

22.  Billie Gladding

23.  Dickie Gladding

What’s interesting to me is how many kids the Gladdings have in school.  My grandma was one of 11, the youngest, and she was born just a few years before one of her nieces.  But still, you’d have thought there would have been more than three Robinsons, except that, when you got old enough, if you were needed on the farm, you worked on the farm.  The Gladdings don’t look much better off than anyone else and yet, they were able to spare five kids.  Maybe there are two families worth of Gladdings here.