A mysterious photo

I love this photo. A young man in a uniform, with his girl (wife? sister?) holding on to him while he looks away. There's the faithful dog in the foreground, the horse in the background, and the mysterious adobe wall behind them.

Who are they? I have no idea. The photo is from our family archives, so I assume I'm related to someone in the picture. The uniform suggests a military school rather than, say, the army, but I don't know. Her dress suggests late 19th or early 20th century. I'd love to know, but perhaps that would destroy the stories that I can make up in my head.

Mom and Elizabeth

I love this photo. It shows Mom (on the left), her older sister Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's son Emory sitting at their feet. Mom and Elizabeth were very close, even though Elizabeth was some years older than Mom. Tootie will tell you how many.

Tootie, whose real name is Elizabeth and who now goes by Liz, was named after the Elizabeth in the picture, and Emory was named after Elizabeth and Mom's oldest brother. This is a practice that we still use in the family, with several kids and grandkids carrying the names of Mom's brothers and sisters.

In dating the picture, I'd have to do some very fancy guessing, but why not? I'm going to guess in the late 1920's. The hair styles and Mom's age seem to indicate that, along with Emory's age. If you look closely, you can see a hint of garter on Mom's left leg. Looking at the clothing, it's clear that they were dressed up for come occasion. The picture would have been taken at the Smith family home, possibly in Cutter, where Grandad had a ranch, and where Mom was born. Those hills in the background would have separated Cutter from Hot Springs.

Two cute kids again

I had a real good growing-up, and part of that was because of Tootie. She was always there, no matter where we were, and we moved around a lot. Actually, the family, especially Mom, Tootie, and I, were very tight. That meant that when we moved, we took our support group with us. It didn't matter too much how well we fit into the community, because we always had each other. Also, I have to admit, since we were Mormon, we always had an extended family to slide into. Because we lived mostly in the outback, the congregations were usually small and they where happy to see us (They were happy to see anybody).

So, here we are, Tootie and I. I don't know where it is. I see an old car in the background, and I estimate that I'm about seven (I'm not wearing glasses). But it didn't matter where we are. It was Tootie and me, "She's not heavy, she's my sister," type thing.

My young mother

Mom always was young, even when she was in her 60's. She'd dance around the kitchen in a modified Charleston, waving a spoon and saying "Tcha tcha tcha," to whatever tune she had in mind. In this picture, my young mother is actually young. It was taken, I'd say, in the early 30's, when she would have been sixteen or seventeen. Note the coquettish tilt of the head, the draped fur, the lines of the dress, the neat shoes. The strong-jawed person beside her is, I believe, my uncle Clay (Help me on this Tootie). And, don't you just love the car?

Mom's parents

The photo is of my grandparents on their 50th wedding anniversary. Behind them is a set of pictures taken on their wedding day. Grandad is handsome in his cookieduster mustache, and Grandma has a very prim Gibson girl look. She was about four years older than he was, and he lied about his age to make up for it. There are many stories about Grandad, who was a bit of a loose cannon. One of my favorites is the time he bought some mules and paid for them with a rubber check. The sellers got unhappy about that, kidnapped Grandma, my mom, and my uncle Nate and held them till Grandad came up with the cash. I guess they thought the courts were too slow. Grandma was small but a real pepperpot, and I think she made her kidnappers sorry they every messed with her. Apparently, she gave them a tonguelashing the entire time they had her. And it wasn't politically correct, either.

A clean-cut trio

I wish I knew exactly when this picture was taken. Judging from the hairstyles, I'd suspect in the late 40's or early 50's. Tootie will know. It's in a nice cardboard frame with a hinged back on it, so you can fold it up and it stays nice. It was always important to Mom that the family history be represented. I don't know if this was a conscious decision or if she simply felt a need to have photos taken. What is impressive about this photo is that it's obviously a studio shot, and that would have been expensive, and we didn't have a lot of money. My feeling is that Mom would have saved a dollar here, a dime there, in order to save enough to get the picture taken. In those days, family photos weren't put on the wall. They were tucked away in a drawer. Then, on special occasions, when family came to visit from Amarillo, we would haul out all the pictures, the adults would go slowly through each one, commenting at length, and the kids would suffer in fidgety silence.