Pictures from 1964

While going through a stack of letters that my grandmother Carrie Della Sanders Smith had saved, I came upon a Christmas card to her from her sister Alice LePage. The postmark on the card was obscured, but there was one date on the pictures that were stuffed inside. It was August, 1964.

The picture below shows our grandparents sitting in the back dooyard of their home with some other people standing by. I haven't a clue who they might be, except he pictures were stuffed in the envelope from Aunt Alice, so maybe they are some of her children.

I'll have to check, but I think that was the year before Grandpa died.

Keep scrolling. There are three pictures, but for some reason there's a great distance between 'em when I publish the post.

























The picture below is one of the ones stuffed in the same envelope. On the back of this picture it says "Joe and Boyd (Hualipai Indian)" Joe is on the right and is our cousin Emory Joseph Smith, Jr. He goes by Joe, while his dad of the same name (bottom picture) went by Emory or Buck.























On the back of the picture below, it says, "Buck Smith on Shoshone in bottom of Long Canyon." That's Emory Joseph Smith, son of Nathan and Della Smith, our grandparents, pictured in the top picture.

Cheating

If you look at the book cover, you will see the pictures of two people. The woman is Louise, the man is Curtis Hext Smith. They were married, and their story is a large part of our family history. the book, Counting the Cost, is a novel based on the story of Curtis and Louise. The author of the novel is Liz Adair, but that isn't her real name (Well, it is, but not her birth name). Liz Adair is Tootie Shook, the other half of the Ronnie and Tootie duo creating this blog.
The novel/history is a fascinating look into life in southern New Mexico in the 1930's, full of information about cowboying, small town life, and the intricacies of family interactions. My mom and dad are there too, along with my brother Wally, who died as a very young child.
I recommend the novel for two reasons. First, it's a very good read. Second, it brings to life what it was like to be living and loving on the edge of the desert during the depression. Parts are hilarious, and parts are simply heartbreaking.