My Mom, circa 1975, just hanging out and reading Josephus. My Mom Leona Jean Graff Randell Wells has always been one to do her own thing. This shot was taken in our living room in Anchorage, Alaska. She’s probably 28, has 3 kids and is reading Josephus. Most likely, she’s taking a break from painting […]
Just look at my dad being all hipster before it was even a thing. Pretty sure he doesn’t have skinny jeans on though. . My dad never had a mustache or beard normally, but he grew it out special for our town’s 100th anniversary. They were going to have an ‘old settler’s beard & mustache […]
Meet my grandmother, Ada Sawyer Cooper. She graduated from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, in 1922, with a degree in what was the precursor to Fashion Design. . She bought me my first sewing machine. She taught me how to draft patterns. She told me always trust your eye, never a ruler, because there’s not one single […]
My beautiful mother turned 86 this month, so I knew I had to share this glam photo of her, in Hawaii in the early 1970s. She had traveled to the islands to meet up with my dad, who was deployed in Vietnam. As she says, he needed some R&R. . This photo captures the era […]
This was my parent’s engagement photo, circa 1976 in Southern Illinois. I love this shot because it is a natural pose in a natural setting. It’s not overdone or forced, like some photography today. No photoshop, no frills, just natural beauty. . Plus, it captures both of them so perfectly and they look so happy […]
Meet my Grandmother, Georgia, with her big hair and her big heart. . Here she is, lounging and looking glamorous while visiting my parents in Alaska in the 1970s. . The local paper, The Nome Nugget, even raved about her beauty. . Unfortunately her battle with MS took her beauty and eventually her life. But […]
If my house was on fire, and I could only rescue one object, this is what I would take. It is a portrait of my great-great-grandmother, Palma Fantasia. It is the only item that still survives my family’s passage from Italy through Ellis island in 1907. This is what my great-grandmother brought to remember her […]
This photo is of my parents feeding my sister at her christening in 1994. The first time I saw it I almost died laughing. It’s the perfect combination of cute and funny. . Fun fact, I come from an Armenian family and it used to be really common to have a lot of people gather […]
The first time I saw this picture of my grandmother, Gwen, my grandfather looked at me with a grin on his face and said, “Isn’t she sexy?” His comment made me laugh, but it also helped me understand his constant love and admiration for her. . I love this snapshot of her because it was […]
This is how my mom looked when she mowed the lawn. Yep, she was pretty much amazing! I love this photo of her; my dad took it. The smell of my freshly-bloomed hyacinths reminded me so much of my sweet mom today. Spring is her season and everything about it is so her. How fitting […]
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