Some Memorable Pictures

February 23rd; Grumpy's Lonely Castle --

Well, much has happened since my last post on November 28th. Everything seemed so positive then; little did I know that Mother's days would be cut so short in the New Year. In spite of the sadness that we all feel with losing her company after these many years (63 years, 7 months and 8 days!!), Grumpy is personally thankful that God kept her from suffering pain, and He further shielded her from a prolonged bout of forced inactivity.

But the reason I have decided to make this post, wasn't because I am feeling sorry for myself -- plenty of other people seem to be doing that -- much more than I deserve, I think. No, the reason I am making this post is to show off some heretofore unseen (by Grumpy and many, I suspect) photos of Mother at various stages of her life. Particularly before Grumpy ever knew her. [I just got most of these from Niece-in-law Betsy]

Let me start with this photo on the right, which I may have shared before. This is a "formal" portrait of a little curly-haired 2 year old standing with a very prim and coy expression.

Next is a photo of her when she was about 8 months old. Now, who does she remind you of as you examine this determined little face and stubborn expression?

Moving on to another photo of a formal nature, is this photo of only her upper body, and she is showing that famous dimpled-grin. I believe this may have been taken by the same photographer as the formal, standing-one above.

Now, as Mother grew older, she became the owner/keeper of one of her infamous pets: Fuzzy the Badger. The dog, also shown in the picture, may have been her dog, Patty about which she had many tales to tell.

Ha! ha! Fooled you, didn't I?! This is actually a photo of Mother with four (or more) of the puppies that her dog Patty had one time. She told a story about trading one of the puppies for a Gypsy baby ... Grandma Noble quashed the deal, insisting that Elynor had to give one of her puppies to the Gypsy mother, but couldn't take the baby in trade.

No, here on left is the real photo of Mother with her pet badger Fuzzy, eating an ice cream cone being held by big sister Margaret. This photo was taken when Fuzzy was a year old -- after he had disappeared in the Fall and was supposed to be lost. Of course he reappeared from his hibernation in the Spring much to the delight of his young mistress.

I wish we had a more complete set of stories that she could tell about the antics of Fuzzy: curling himself around her neck like a fancy fur wrap (frightening some tourists who thought Fuzzy was a skunk!); disappearing after the first summer that Mother had him -- he hibernated under Grandpa Noble's concrete garage floor!; the way he would steal Mother's ice cream without breaking the cone that held it; the way he could open the screen door to let himself into the "Squaw Cooler" (the restaurant where Grandma Noble prepared home-cooked meals for truckers and tourists).

This picture of Mother when she was four years old, appears to have been taken when she was in trouble for something. Written on the back of the photo indicates that it was taken around Easter in 1934 -- she would have been about 3 and a half. Perhaps it is my own guilty nature here, but Grumpy thinks that she must have been caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing.

When Mother was seven years old, she must have visited a ranch where she got to ride this beautiful Shetland pony. This photo was taken in 1937, according to what is written on the back of the photo.

To close out this series of old-time photographic memories of the childhood of the girl whom Grumpy chose to be his wife, I present the picture that she gave me when we first decided to "get serious" about each other; I was in the U.S. Navy, stationed either in Ottumwa IA or Corpus Christi TX. [Note her hand-written message to me along the bottom, "Love Elynor".]

Is it any wonder that a young, 19-year old guy would "go for" a girl like that?