Who Were They?

Lost and forgotten photos from the past

Who’s Wedding?

Mrs Marvel

13 comments

May 19, 2012

This is a 2×3 snapshot from someone’s wedding. The group is partially identified on the reverse as follows:

Left to right: Peter, Nancy Achinson, Joan, Kathleen, Gwen, Renee, Peggy, Dorothy Hearn, Michael and Donald.

Harry is immediately behind Renee and Stuart Pemberton behind Peggy. 

The gentlemen on the far back right are Harry and Stuart. Whoever wrote this was not all that interested in the groom, or assumed the recipient would know the groom. I think Gwen is the bride. I found this in a little antique shop and had thoughts of posting it in June for the bridal season, but this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt showed a group of people seated similarly, so here we are.

For other photos of groups, big hats, weddings, garden parties, and more, click over to Sepia Saturday. You will be glad you did!

Love and obey

Sanger Police 1964

Mrs Marvel

18 comments

May 17, 2012

Here we have the Sanger Police department photo, 1964. Whoever had the photo wrote down everyone’s name. Thank you, unknown person! I assume (R) means retired, but it could actually mean regular, meaning the person was on the regular shift, not the volunteer shift, but that’s a complete guess. There’s a Sanger, CA, and a Sanger, TX, both localities which would have more Hispanics on the force than elsewhere in 1964. There’s a palm tree in the far background so my guess is this is California.

Back Row

Don Shepherd, Bob Galloway, Bill Arneson, Andy Padilla, “Phil”, Larry Jones, Bill Les Perance, Finis Shepherd (R), Bruce Presley (R)

Front Row

Dale Hufford, Ken Walker, Ervin Metzler, Chief Carl Armstrong, Chas McVay, Bob Bustamante, Richard Hoveiler (R), Elliott Martinez (R)

UPDATE: Thanks to our great readers, we have confirmation that this is Sanger, CA and the photo was taken at 5th Street and Academy Ave. Iggy also suggested the (R) designation means “rookie” and that sounds better than “retired” for some of these young guys. Thank you everyone!!

Light eyes two

Mrs Marvel

2 comments

May 17, 2012

Here’s another child with light eyes, although this photo is more questionable. The baby looks as though it could be laying there peacefully, or it could be resting peacefully, if you catch my meaning. I’m less sure about this one, but I am leaning toward this having been a live shot, not a mori shot. But you never know. The baby’s eyes are really tricky to gauge.

Light eyes

Mrs Marvel

1 comment

May 15, 2012

  

I picked up this CdV because of the child’s eyes. They are quite haunting…and a little creepy. Click the photo to enlarge it. I wondered if this might be an example of a photographer having painted eyes onto the photo plate of a memento mori photo. The shop was closing, I had to go, so I couldn’t sit and examine the photo there (besides I didn’t have my magnifying glass with me, my poor eyeballs don’t see like they used to!). After having enlarged the photo on the computer, I have concluded that the child has light colored eyes, probably light blue, but is also quite alive. Often in old photos, the light eye colors photograph in light gray. Green and blue eyes have many variations to their natural colors, but the old photo processing couldn’t capture the nuances of them. With such light eyes on this baby, they photograph almost white.

The photographer was T. M. Wells in Pekin, IL.

Roger Bain

Mrs Marvel

1 comment

May 14, 2012

Here is a boy of about 10-12 months of age, named Roger Bain. Unfortunately with no location or even a year, it’s difficult to pin this one down. I have a similar style photo of my uncle, so I did a search for Roger Bain born in 1930 +/- 5 years and the list is extensive. Plus, he could have been born closer to 1935. There really is no way to know.

This style of photo was printed on the mount with a large margin around the photo, making it stand out when framed.

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