Ashbrook Christmas Card

Paul Ashbrook is a reasonably famous artist from Cincinnati. I'm guessing he was a contemporary of Al and Connie. I think he had a son who was a good friend Aunt Marie. (Somebody else should be writing this since I don't for sure know what I'm talking about.) Scattered throughout the family are many Ashbrook paintings and sketches, probably we have the most since we seem to like him the most. This is a Christmas card sent out by the Ashbrook's. I don't know if the picture was painted just for this card or a picture he already had. It is signed Paul Ashbrook.

Mother's Budget

This is an interesting little document.  On the right side Mother has listed all her expenses, I assume for the week.  They total to $348.00  On the left side is the money each of her student owes her for their lessons.  That totals to $68.00.  Doesn't quite cover it.  Until Dad left her, Mother and Dad both worked in schools.  They got along, not well, but got along.  After Dad left, Mother spent the rest of her life in abject poverty.  

The Rainmaker

Not sure I should publish this according to the picture rules, but I'm doing it anyway. The date is 1968. I did the rainmaker role, (I can't remember the character's name. But, I was the rainmaker.) I think it was a little theater in San Gabriel. Not much for crowds but I loved the role. One of my favorites. At that time, I thought I was brilliant. Not sure what I would think looking at it today.

Coca Cola Auditorium

What an interesting little booklet I found. I will not go over every page and I will only post one picture of the booklet. The way I see it, it is a set of rules pertaining to the Coke auditorium in Cincinnati which apparently you could use for card parties. There is a picture inside of many card table filled with women playing cards. Coke said no gambling was allowed. The booklet says that coke would provide soft drinks for free and the party using the facility was welcome to bring other goodies. Also, you could make arrangements for your party to tour the Coke plant. I have to assume that is in my possession because Aunt Marie or more likely Connie was involved with this thing. Who knows, but interesting none-the-less and a little piece of Cincinnati history.

Aunt Helen

I have to assume that you have been paying attention and I don't have to review who each posting is. Can't help myself this time. This is Aunt Helen, my mother's sister, Allyn's mother. I wrote a whole piece about her earlier. This is just a picture I found of her.

Uncle George's Valentines to Nana

This is a very sweet thing.  This is a Valentine's card from my Uncle George to his Mother-in-law, Nana, my Grandma.  George was married to Helen, my Mother's sister.  The postmark is February, 1939, about eight months before I was born.

Skeet

Listen, I'm going to write this, but it could be all wrong. Jeanne help me out! I think I heard about Skeet and maybe he was even alive when I entered the Badanes clan. Was Skeet a beau of Connie before she met Al? I think so. (It would be terrible if I put this on Connie and it wasn't true. That's why I have to depend you you all to help me out with correct information.) Anyway, here is an article about Skeet. In case you can't read it, it is about Skeet . . . wait! Wait! I just talked to Jeanne. I have new information.) As far as Jeanne knows, Skeet and Connie were not girl-friend/boy-friend. They were just very good friends. Jeanne doesn't know exactly how they met. She thinks that in fact one of her husbands and she actually made contact with Skeet much later and met him at his house. She can't remember where, she thinks maybe Palm Springs or Nevada. Jeez . . . Well, I seem to remember the encounter myself so it was probably me not Wayne that was with her when she went to see him. What the article says is that Skeet was from Cincinnati and made good in the musical world, playing with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra. He as born on Harvard Ave in Walnut Hills. He left Cincinnati at age 10 and moved to Colorado. He was a member of the Smith Ballew orchestra and played on the Bing Crosby radio program. He also played in a number of movies. I think that is probably enough about Skeet . . . maybe more than enough.

Al as A Young Man

I consider this picture a treasure.  Al as a young man.  It is in one of those beautiful, old picture holders/frames.  Just wonderful.

Junior ROTC Military Ball

This picture was taken in 1979.  It was taken at the ROTC Military Ball.  Jeanne and I were chaparones.  I was the Dean of Students at Moreno Valley High School, and chaparoning these kinds of functions was part of my duties.  (The administrative team shared these functions.)  Damn, wasn't she beautiful!

School Picture

An old school picture of me from sometime, somewhere.  Who knows ...

Birthday Card from Jodi

This is a hand-made birthday card from Jodi to me.  As you know, Jodi and I share the same birthday, different year of course.

Get Well Card

This is a get well card.  On the inside it says get well Mrs. Dick.  It indicates that Mother will be in the hospital for about two months.  That's about the amount of time she spend in the Rosemead Psychiatirc Hospital.  The card is from an optometrist telling her that they will keep her new glasses ready and waiting for her until she comes home.

Mother's Trial

These are some notes I took as I was talking to Mother.  It was at the height of our illness and she was "way out there."  It may have been the day before her trial for a conservatorship.  In California, if you want to put a person on a conservatorship, that person has the right to a jury trial to prove that they need that kind of help.  Mother demanded the trial.  I and about three psychiatrists testified that she needed a conservator and it took the jury about ten minutes to come back with the decision that she in fact did need it.  She was furious, but it was the start of a reasonable facsimile of life for her.

Al at MIT

On the front of this picture it says "Charles River---Boston, across street from our dorm."  On the back, Jeanne has written, "Dad at MIT."  Maybe that says it all.  I think maybe he was studying to be a weatherman at that time.

Amorous Al

I guess I should have posted this with the other couch scene.  It looks like Al got amorous on the couch.  It happens to the best of us.

Not Sure Couple

We are not sure who this is.  It does not  look like my family.  Jeanne is not sure.  She thinks it might be some German relatives of Connie's Mother who lived in Minnesota.  That's the best we can do.

Kentucky Farm Getaway

I thought maybe this was just an Ohio farmland scene.  However, Jeanne tells me that Al's grandmother, Sophie, Al called her Grannie, owned a famhouse in Kentucky that they used for a little getaway.  She says Al, Aunt Marie, Sophie used to go there to get some rest and relaxation.  That's where the quilts that Nance and Betsy and Jeanne got came from that Kentucky farmhouse.

Al & Connie

Here is Al in his uniform and a picture of Al and Connie, I assume around the same time, sometime during the war.

Grandpa Stollmaier

Sometimes I think the back of these pictures are as interesting as the front.  Jeanne tells me this is Christ Stollmaier.  (She says she thinks Christ was pronounced likea long e, say rhyming with yeast.)  What a treasure this picture is.  On the back is written, "Grandpa Christ Stollmaier."  I'm sure it's in Connie's handwriting.  Don't know anything else.

Boston

The back of this says Boston.  I guess that says it all.

Connie's Parents

On the back of this picture it says Cora and Arthur, Mom's parents.  (That would be Connie's parents.)

Connie

Here are a couple of pictures of Connie.

Connie's Art

This is a post that both Jeanne and I are very excited about.  We just got these items in the mail.  Nancy and Rick were so kind as to produce this card.  It includes Connie's art on the front.  The Letter at the bottom explains what it's all about.  Thank you Nancy and Rick.  We were both very moved when we got this in the mail.

Mother's Card

This is a card that Mother apparently had printed to advertise her piano lessons.  As I have told you elsewhere, Mother was a find concert pianist and I guess she was attempting to make a little extra money.  I think she was teaching school at the time.  The address is on E. Robinson in Fresno.  Now that I think about it, I'm not sure when they lived there or where it is.

Al's Mother and Girls

This picture did not scan so well, although the picture I have is beautiful.  This is another picture of Al's Mother, standing with her two daughters Eileen and Jeanne.

Al's Mother

On another picture, Jeanne told the story of Al looking at a picture and saying he had no idea who that woman is.  Well, this is the woman. It's his Mother Eileen Wiswell.  January, 1899.  She was 17 years old.  A treasure if you ask me.

Government Building

Some sort of government building.  On the back it says Boston.  Who knows.

Kelban's Threat

This must have been about 1978-79.  Jeanne and I were working in a school district called Moreno Valley in Southern California.  I was the Dean of Students at Moreno Valley High School and Jeanne was teaching at Edgemont School in the same district.  The School Board had just fired our Superintendent and we were big supporters of the fired man.  So, we, along with a few others, started a recall election for the offending board members.  And we won.  Well, this man, Hal Kelban, was a supporter of the other camp.  He was Assistant Superintendent in the district and was attempting to threaten me that I should not continue this recall action.  I'm not sure the exact incident which provoked this threat.  This is my note about it.  He was a vile person and hated us for what we did.  He eventually lost his job for supporting the wrong side.  Sometimes I wonder why we got involved in these political warfare, but we did.  It was alot of intrigue and a lot of mystery.  At the end of this school year, we left for Salinas.

Sambo's Restaurant

This is a whole set of postcards from Sambo's Restaurant.  I just did a whole lot of research on Sambo's.  As you might remember, it all started from the story of "Little Black Sambo."  From that a whole chain of very successful pancake restaurants evolved. You can imagine the outcry.  The corporation tried to clean up it's act, take "black" out of the equation, but it finally did not work and it all went out of business.  Actually, we might say, "Good Riddance."

Grandma's Customs

Kind of an interesting little scrap.  Dated 3/29/49.  It is a customs receipt fro my Grandmother, Helen Dick.  It looks like some material imported from Canada.  The value of the property was $4.00.  The rate of customs was 70%.  So, Grandma paid $4.00 for the material and $2.80 to customs.  Jeez!

Great Western Yearbook

This is one of those funky little yearbooks we used to put out.  The interesting thing about this one is that you have to go way to the back of the book to find out what school it was.  It turns out it was Great Western School District outside of Reedley which is where Nana was Principal/Superintendent.  That's her picture above, Delsie Warnock.  She was quite a woman.

Alamosa, Colorado

I think this is an interesting little card.  On the front and back is a chart showing the distance from Alamosa to other towns in the U.S.  I just did something I've wanted to do for a long, long time.  I went to Mapquest so I could see where Alamosa, Colorado is.  I also wanted to know where Sanford, Colorado is.  Sanford is where my Mother's family was from and Alamosa was nearby.  In the restaurant in Mexico, I would say to visitors from Colorad that my family was from Sanford, they would look at me with unknowing looks.  Nobody had ever heard of Sanford.  So, I would say, we also were from Alamosa, Colorado.  They never heard of that either.  Well, Alamosa is now a town of 9,000 people.  I can imagine how many it was when they were there.  And, Sanford is much, much smaller, but nearby.  Alamosa is about 200 miles south of Denver almost to the New Mexico border and Sanford is even south of Alamosa.  Pretty wild territory in those days I think.  When I was a kid, my great great Grandmother on Mother's side was still alive and living in Sanford. Many summers when I was very young, we would pile a bunch of family into an old car, and head out route 66 to go to Hillsborough, Kansas to visit my father's family.  On the way we would stop in Sanford.  The only thing I remember about the Sanford stop was being on a farm, I guess my Great, Great Grandmother's farm and being absolutely transfixed by the fact that a man could take the teet of a cow and spray milk right into a cat's mouth.  Yep, that's all I remember.  I do remember the trips though.  Always so hot almost unbearable.  Always an aunt next to you sweating like a pig.  No air conditioner on the car, just one of those swamp coolers you attached to the window.  I think they made it worse.  And, finally, I remember the fried chicken in a cooler.  When you are poor and go on a trip, you take your food with you.  Talk about miserable.  Although, I really don't remember enough to know if I was miserable or not.

A Young Rollie

A young Rollie.  That's all I can say about it.

Uncle Bruce Warnock

This is a nice picture of my Mother's Brother, Bruce.  He was a good friend to me.  He was short and maybe had a little bit of a short man's complex.  He was a boxer and I understand at one point he was a contender in the amateur ranks in California.  He was in the war.  I think I mentioned that.  Came back and opened a Cleaner business in Reedley.  I think he did very well.  He had two kids, Randy and Marlene.  I was in contact with Marlene when Bruce died, but have lost contact.  His wife's name was Ethel.  I think he finally wound up in Berkeley with another clothes cleaning business. Maybe he was the one who suffered the most without a father as he grew up.  Not sure of that.

Mission Park Staff

This was the staff at Mission Park School.  I have mentioned this school to you before.  Both Joshua and Jodi went to this school.

Unknown Man

I really don't know who this man is.  I think it may be a man named Darwin who would be related to us on the Warnock/Hamblen side in some way.

Huggers

No idea from where or why.  Maybe it's true.

Mission Park Custodian and Cafeteria Worker

This is a picture of the Mission Park School Cafeteria workers and our custodian.  They were a little wild.  Ours was a central kitchen where lunches were made and shipped to other schools.  I always made a point to make good friends with the cafeteria workers.  Also, that gentleman in the back was one of the few really good custodians I worked with.  You know what, I'm going to take that back.  As I thought about it, over the years I worked with some really good custodians.  Mission Park was my second school as principal in Salinas.  It did not go real well.  A very recalcitrant staff and they didn't like me much.

Jeanne & Santa

One of my favorites.  I think Jeanne told me she was scared to death.  Nothing much more to say about this one.

Cora's Birthday Party

 We've seen something like this before.  It must have been a favorite place to go for birthdays and celebrations.  You can see on one of the panels it says in Connie's writing, "Mother's 65th Birthday, November 9, 1948, Skyline Room, Terrace Plaza."  In the picture are Al and Connie, Someone named Mrs. Lutz, a friend, Cora and her husband, sorry Jeanne not here, can't remember other two names.