Meet my late mother, Alethia. She was born in 1939 to a single mother who was blind and could not keep her. Her mother, Elizabeth, gave her away to her aunt, Charity. This photo was taken circa 1956 at the height of segregation in the U.S. The sweater she was wearing is turned on the […]
My mother, a grand lady in so many subtle ways. Mary Locke Davis Swayngim, 5-13-30 to 5-4-2014. She was our matriarch and here she is before she married the love of her life, a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, Don. They met in Albuquerque, NM. She was a graduating co-ed from UNM, he was […]
“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” – Karl Lagerfeld These three crazy kids are my grandma, Ingrid, with my dad and aunt at the beach in the mid-1950’s. My grandpa is the family photographer and recently gave my cousin a bunch of terrific photos […]
This is a man who I remember as a child sitting in his living room rocking chair. He didn’t say much of anything. He was meek and quiet, he led by example, never raised his voice and was kind. I remember as a little girl adoring the swing he put into the tree for me; […]
This is my great-grandmother Borghild, “Bobbie,” when she was about 16. She’s laughing it up and being goofy on an unknown gentleman’s shoulders at one of Chicago’s beaches in the 1910’s. Nana would sneak me and my brother into her room when we’d come over to my grandma’s for dinner (Nana lived with my grandparents […]
“All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget.” -John Berger The good old summertime! My Mom (center) her best friend, Shirley (left) and another friend posing for a beach picture early 1940s. I have found how priceless these photos are as I have aged. ~shared by @dianelavery View on Instagram →
Kiss Cousins. Pictured are me and my sister (identical twins!) and my two cousins Cybele and Eric. This photo was taken in the backyard of my grandmother’s home in East Los Angeles, Circa 1977. Growing up in Los Angeles surrounded by older cousins, we were exposed at a very young age to classic 1970s rock. […]
This is a most precious picture of my Grandmother, sitting on the log at the far left, around 1894 at the age of 10. Also in the picture are her brother and sister, far right, near the dog. It reminds me of a scene from a Little Rascals episode. I never knew my Grandmother. She […]
Last weekend we visited my great aunt and celebrated her 86th birthday. She developed Alzheimer’s last year and was moved into assisted living with her husband of over sixty years. The house and most of their belongings were sold. My father is in charge of the old family photographs. I picked out my favorite images […]
I think that maybe, just maybe, the prevalence of cameras and images in our lives has somewhat devalued the experience of getting your photo taken. This is my mother as a teen in Philadelphia. I wanted to know what she was thinking about when the image was taken. So I took the time to ask […]
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