Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Wistful Wednesday: Great Aunt Charlotte

Far Guy had a Great Aunt Charlotte, she was married to Great Uncle Herman in 1931.  A good match, they complimented each other well.  I seem to recall that they snuck off to get married and didn’t tell anyone for a while…they snuck back and continued on with their lives just like normal. Uncle Herman was a Popsicle salesman and Charlotte had a job where she couldn’t be married. (Far Guy says she was either a teacher or a Dental Hygienist)

Great Aunt Charlotte

Charlotte

Recently cousin Roxie shared this photo with me.  I am certain the photo has a story..I wish I knew what it was.

During the war years (1939 to 1945) Herman and Charlotte were there to comfort Far Guy’s parents while they endured the loss of their premature twins, a boy and a girl born way too early(1943).  They all lived in Omaha back then. Both would eventually become parents of little girls in Omaha. Roxie for Herman and Charlotte and Janice for Marvin and Evelyn in 1945.

When Far Guy was stationed at Lowry AFB in Denver (1973) we visited often with Herman and Charlotte in Colorado Springs..usually on Sunday afternoons. It was nice to connect with relatives when you were far away from home.

Charlotte and Herman and Evelyn Henderson (2)

Charlotte, Herman and Evelyn (Far Guy’s Mom) in about 1971.

I helped Far Guys Mom pick out that blouse (what was I thinking..she had slacks to match..solid color of course..and polyester.) 

Charlotte and Evelyn were two peas in a pod..every hair in place, perfectly dressed at all times..they both wore aprons in the kitchen, and both were excellent cooks..that used linen tablecloths and good silver. They washed their dishes in a certain order.  Glasses and cups first followed by plates, serving bowls, silverware and pots and pans.  Pots and pans were dried with a different towel.  The special bleached white flour sacks with the cute embroidery in the corner never saw a pot or pan.

Marvelous women of a different generation:)

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13 comments:

  1. Interesting story. Your relatives sound so much like mine. Especially the kitchen part. To this day I still have at least one white flour sack towel with the embroidery in the corner.

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  2. They sound like really nice people, a little OCD like me, too! I've never seen a flour sack towel like that and now I feel I've missed out! :-)

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  3. What kid wouldn't have loved to have a dad that was a popsicle salesman! Charlotte and Herman look like a fun couple. I enlarged that last photo and saw the glint in her eye:)

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  4. I still wash dishes in that very same order because it was the way my mother did it.

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  5. Funny that teachers could never be married. I didn't know about dental hygienists, though. Love your old photos.
    Peace,
    Muff

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  6. I had my first high school teaching job (music) in 195l. Teachers were not allowed to be married because the "might take away the job from someone who had a family to support". Strangely a young man who taught Latin there and it was also his first year of teaching, got more salary than I did - because he was a man" He was single too. One of our teachers who taught German did get married and wore her ring on a chain around her neck
    She married a German prisoner of war who was at a camp near our school town. We all thought that was so romantic.

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  7. It is an interest shot of her with the elephant. It is interesting to hear of the precise life that they lived. I had a couple of sets of uncle and aunt that lived their lives to perfection. It was their choice to follow the exact pattern in everything that they did. Never a change in the routine.

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  8. Times were so different back then. Hard to believe women were not allowed to marry if they held certain jobs. The elephant story would have been a good one. Sure makes the little kid on the trike look tiny behind that elephant.

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  9. It was not only a different generation but a different age. We were often dressed in a suit when we went to visit somebody. I know you're saying these women stood out. They must have been good to visit.

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  10. Like Nancy my dishes are washed the same way - it was the way I was taught - clean first then dirty afterwards.
    Take care
    Cathy

    Cathy @ Still Waters

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  11. I wonder about the elephant story!
    We did dishes pretty much in that same order and I remember the white embroidered dish towels--and when married women weren't supposed to work. How times have changed.

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  12. probably a teacher. I wrote a story several years ago about husbands step grandmother -- and how they snuck away and got married. She finally had to quit her job when she got a baby bump growing --

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