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November 26 marks the date of my father(Jerry)’s birth. He died in June 2020 at the age of 92. November 26 is also the birthday of my oldest daughter. Thanksgiving and their birthdays are always linked in my mind.
I recently received a couple of photos of my father as a young boy that I had not seen before. Fortunately his name, Gerald, is noted on the back. Unfortunately, no year or place or occasion is noted.
At first glance, I thought he was holding a box, but he is holding whatever it is with his fingertips, so it can’t be very heavy. Maybe a large sheet of paper? A school project his mother wanted to document? His mother, I assume, positioned Gerald by the side of a building and in front of a pretty bush and is the shadowy photographer. Gerald looks about five or six years old. What do you think?
Another photo pictures older brother Myron (left) and Gerald. It appears to have been taken from the same roll of film, but probably not on the same day since Gerald is wearing a collared shirt in this photo.
Gerald is holding a man-sized lunch pail and Myron has something behind his back. Maybe the boys share the lunch box and Myron is holding a book satchel they share. Gerald’s clothes fit him well, but Myron’s jeans are those purchased by a frugal mother – rolled up and held up – while he grows into them. The boys are neat and clean – maybe waiting for the bus on their first day of school. A reasonable guess, I think.
And who knows, maybe these are before and after shots with that collared shirt now unbuttoned and fallen down behind the overalls and neatly combed hair now pushed to the opposite side after running around on the school yard.
Enough maybes and guesses for today.
The Sepia Saturday prompt photo features a closeup of a boy in a deck chair. Sit back, get comfortable, and visit Sepia Saturday to see what others have shared.
These are charming photos, Kathy. My dad was raised in the country, and he told me he wore the same pants to school five days a week then, when they were in the laundry, there was a second pair for the weekend. Perhaps that was the case with Gerald and Myron — making it hard to tell exactly when the photos were taken. I agree that Gerald looks to be 5-6 years old — and he clearly loved posing for photos 🙂
Thank you for your thoughts. Grandma may have dressed her boys on the same schedule as your dad. I never knew my dad to be shy and he doesn’t appear to be shy about being photographed as a boy.
How fortunate you are to have those pictures of your father at an early age. I have several of my father as a young boy and treasure them. 🙂
Yes, I was happy to receive these. I think I have just one of him at a younger age.
Considering the lateness of our theme photo, these are great matches. I noticed the open magazine or paper that Gerald is holding and wondered if he was explaining it as his mother took the picture. Her shadow adds a special quality to the photo too. In photos from this era, a short boy’s rolled-up trousers always contrasted with a gangly girl’s rolled-down saggy socks and exposed knees.