Photomatic Pics Of My Grandpa: D*** It Feels Good To Be a Gangsta

For the record, my grandpa wasn’t a “gangsta.”  He owned a print shop in Detroit.  However, I found these photos while I was supposed to be cleaning, and I couldn’t get this song out of my head.:

Geto Boyz-D*** It Feels Good to be aGangsta.   (Warning!  Explicit lyrics.)

I think I’ve watched the movie Office Space WAY too many times! 

Earl P Brown, 1940 at 23 years old

This is my father’s dad, Earl P Brown, when he was only 23.  They’re Photomatic pictures.

I tried using my scanner to see if I could get a better looking image. The frame got in the way. The frame can't be removed without ruining the picture.

Back of Photo. The scanner did a nice job on the backs.

I love this photo. He looks like he could have been a movie star. I love the hat and trench coat. Gramps was hottie when he was young.

Back of "hat" photo

Gramps showing off for the camera. My grandmanor took this pic on their honeymoon.

Another honeymoon pic

My Grandparents. I like this photo. *Notice where Gramps's right hand is located. Yup! I'm pretty sure he's doing what you think he's doing. ;)

Gramps and my Grandmanor

My dad jokes that his father was born old.  If you saw some of his other pics, you’d see that he aged VERY quickly.  Gramps passed away in 1984.  Grandmanor passed away only a few months ago.

I love old family photos.  I’m lucky to come from a long line of shutter-bugs! 

Have a great day!

Juli

Family Photos-My Grandmanor

I was thinking of my grandmother.  Her memorial sevice was back on October 22, 2011, but I’m a little behind on some of my posts.  Here are some photos of a BEAUTIFUL woman.

 

My grandmother, Eleanor, with my aunt and my dad

 

 

 

My grandma, Eleanor

 

 

My stepgrandmother (who passed away only last year) and my grandmother. They were very close.

Random family photos-We’re not Amish

So it’s officially official, no more barns, sheds, lean-tos, etc. will be built this year.  We need to make it to at least spring, so we can all forget how much we hate love building.  We can work on the new deck my dad is planning… next year! Sigh!    Here are some family building photos.  Feel free to grab a glass of lemonade and enjoy watching us work! 

The boxes were too heavy for us to carry, so we had to take them around back in pieces.

That's a lot of pieces!

 

 

 

There's the shed's floor.

 

 

 

My hubby took this photo of my youngest sister, myself, and my dad.

 

 

 

My baby sis, building a door.

Hopefully, this will give my dad some MUCH needed storage.

As a random side rant, one of the local radio stations started playing 24/7 Christmas carols yesterday and I saw Christmas lights on a house.   SERIOUSLY?  When did the first of November mean the start of the Christmas?  NO!  No!  NO!  Halloween was Monday.  It’s three weeks until Thanksgiving.  Who’s sitting around their living room listening to Christmas Carols?  Geez!!!

JH

Silas and Ann Calley, my Great-Grandparents

My Great Grandparents Silas and Ann Calley (late 1800's-early 1900's)

 

Yesterday was a bittersweet day for me.  I went to a memorial for a friend’s husband that past away a few months ago.  It was a celebration of his life.  Later, the hubby, our son, and I decided to continue with this theme, and stopped by my Grandma’s house, my mom’s mother.  She’s 88 years young, is still able to drive a car, and gets sassier every time I see her. 

 

Like most grandparents, she likes to give away little gifts, hand cream, new potholders, etc.  However, on this particular visit, she brought out “the big guns,” the ultimate gift for a history-loving-picture-taker like myself.  She has started to make copies of all the rare family photos.  Yesterday she brought out one that I’d NEVER seen before, photos of her parents when they were in their late teens or early twenties.  My Grandma guessed that this photo was taken during the late 1800’s or early 1900’s, well before she was born, before life had aged them physically.  If you look carefully, you’ll see a locket under the handkerchief that’s pinned to my Great-Grandmother’s dress.  I recognized it as soon as I saw the picture.  That locket went to my Grandmother, to my Mother, and finally to me.  It’s nothing fancy, but it has a history.

 

My Grandmother had a photo that’s been misplaced over the years.  It’s a picture of her cousin Becky in a Victorian looking dress.  This photo doesn’t just resemble me, most of my family actually thought it WAS me, dressed up to look old fashioned.  It was spooky to see a woman who looked exactly like me, born approximately one hundred years ago.  Now, looking at this photo, I see more pieces of my personal puzzle.  I see that I resemble my Great-Grandmother.  We have the same nose, the same round face.  My Grandmother told me that we’d look even more alike if she’d smiled for the picture.  Ironically, she told me it was rare to ever see them NOT smiling.

 

This morning, I woke up early.  The sun was rising.  I brought out this new-to-me photo.  I wondered about the couple who were looking back at me as though through time.  I get a peculiar feeling when I look at their faces.  These people are related to me by blood.  I have memories of my Great-Grandfather.  He died a week before his hundredth birthday, but I have no memories of my Great-Grandmother.  I wonder about her.  I know stories about her life, but in my mind, I’d always imagined this aging woman, never a young lady.  I’d never been able to put myself in her shoes before, to imagine what it was like to be her. 

 

Looking at the photographs of my ancestors has been wonderfully therapeutic.  Seeing the faces that have come before me, and seeing my son, who will hopefully go on after me, I feel strangely secure.  Life finds a way.

JH