Wednesday - 1956 arrives in a box
Feb. 7th, 2007 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermoreToday on my drive into work, I was thinking about the box that arrived on my doorstep this past Saturday, completely unexpected. The return address was that of my Aunt Florence, the wife of my father's oldest brother, Wayne. Since my father is not that close to this brother, I don't know Florence all that well. Certainly not well enough for her to send me a presents.
It turned out not to be a present so much as a box of mementos. I learned from the 6-page letter in the box that she had recently cleaned out an old trunk, in which she found a framed photograph of my parents on their wedding day and the graduation program from my father's college graduation. She thought I would like to have them, and so she sent them to me.
The black and white wedding photo, taken on July 21, 1956, shows my parents facing each other at an angle. In it, my father is wearing a light-colored linen suit and my mother is wearing a mid-calf length dress that she made herself. I now have that dress in a box in my closet. It is made up of two layers. The first is a strapless under-dress made of ivory-colored polished cotton. The polished cotton has a sheen kind of like satin, but it would have been more comfortable in the hot Texas summer, not to mention more affordable for a single girl on her own who did office work. It has always tickled me that the hem is not sewn, but is simply cut with pinking shears that left a zigzag around the bottom of the skirt. Because of the lace over-dress, the hemline of the under-dress would not show, and my mother was pragmatic enough not to waste time putting in a hem that no one would see. The lace over-dress is where she put in all her effort, with darts in the skirt and a fitted bodice with tiny pearl-sized buttons that went up her back. The sleeves make this dress unwearable for any woman other than my mother: the pattern called for them to be fitted tight over the forearms, and the left-hand sleeve is much smaller and narrower than the one on the right to accommodate her birth defect. You can't see this in the picture, because she is standing with that arm toward the wall. What you can see it that they both look very happy, just the way that newlyweds should.
The college commencement program is from just a month of so prior to the wedding. It lists the entire 1956 graduating class from Texas A&M College. I had a hard time finding my father's name in it because while his embossing seal from the state of Texas calls him a Civil Engineer, his degree is that of an Architectural Engineer, and the program listed the graduates by their degrees. I used to play with that official state seal of his when I was small, embossing the same sheet of paper over and over again with it until my mother saw what I had and took it away from me, so I know what it says on it. To tell the truth, I don't know the difference between the two types of engineers, and it's possible that the State of Texas doesn't either. All I know is that that he was a carpenter's son who had to pay his own way through school because his father thought a college education was a waste of time and money, so he refused to help foot the bill for such nonsense. Since my father grew up with a hammer in his hand working for his own father, a degree that had something to do with building things seemed logical. It meant that instead of wielding the hammer himself, he could tell others guys with hammers what to do.
In her letter, my aunt apologized and begged my forgiveness if the photograph upset me. I can't imagine how she thought it might. I liked seeing those two young people as they were 13 years before I was born. On one hand, I see parts of them every time I look in the mirror - I have his cleft chin and her eyes - but these two newlyweds in their mid twenties are strangers to me. By the time I came along, they were less hopeful, but more confidant. Their romantic infatuation had settled into a comfortable friendship and deep affection (though they were still romantic with each other). The poverty of their childhoods was well behind them. The two people in the photograph were just starting out and they glowed with anticipation for the road ahead. That they showed up on my doorstep this weekend was not upsetting at all - it was delightful.
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It turned out not to be a present so much as a box of mementos. I learned from the 6-page letter in the box that she had recently cleaned out an old trunk, in which she found a framed photograph of my parents on their wedding day and the graduation program from my father's college graduation. She thought I would like to have them, and so she sent them to me.
The black and white wedding photo, taken on July 21, 1956, shows my parents facing each other at an angle. In it, my father is wearing a light-colored linen suit and my mother is wearing a mid-calf length dress that she made herself. I now have that dress in a box in my closet. It is made up of two layers. The first is a strapless under-dress made of ivory-colored polished cotton. The polished cotton has a sheen kind of like satin, but it would have been more comfortable in the hot Texas summer, not to mention more affordable for a single girl on her own who did office work. It has always tickled me that the hem is not sewn, but is simply cut with pinking shears that left a zigzag around the bottom of the skirt. Because of the lace over-dress, the hemline of the under-dress would not show, and my mother was pragmatic enough not to waste time putting in a hem that no one would see. The lace over-dress is where she put in all her effort, with darts in the skirt and a fitted bodice with tiny pearl-sized buttons that went up her back. The sleeves make this dress unwearable for any woman other than my mother: the pattern called for them to be fitted tight over the forearms, and the left-hand sleeve is much smaller and narrower than the one on the right to accommodate her birth defect. You can't see this in the picture, because she is standing with that arm toward the wall. What you can see it that they both look very happy, just the way that newlyweds should.
The college commencement program is from just a month of so prior to the wedding. It lists the entire 1956 graduating class from Texas A&M College. I had a hard time finding my father's name in it because while his embossing seal from the state of Texas calls him a Civil Engineer, his degree is that of an Architectural Engineer, and the program listed the graduates by their degrees. I used to play with that official state seal of his when I was small, embossing the same sheet of paper over and over again with it until my mother saw what I had and took it away from me, so I know what it says on it. To tell the truth, I don't know the difference between the two types of engineers, and it's possible that the State of Texas doesn't either. All I know is that that he was a carpenter's son who had to pay his own way through school because his father thought a college education was a waste of time and money, so he refused to help foot the bill for such nonsense. Since my father grew up with a hammer in his hand working for his own father, a degree that had something to do with building things seemed logical. It meant that instead of wielding the hammer himself, he could tell others guys with hammers what to do.
In her letter, my aunt apologized and begged my forgiveness if the photograph upset me. I can't imagine how she thought it might. I liked seeing those two young people as they were 13 years before I was born. On one hand, I see parts of them every time I look in the mirror - I have his cleft chin and her eyes - but these two newlyweds in their mid twenties are strangers to me. By the time I came along, they were less hopeful, but more confidant. Their romantic infatuation had settled into a comfortable friendship and deep affection (though they were still romantic with each other). The poverty of their childhoods was well behind them. The two people in the photograph were just starting out and they glowed with anticipation for the road ahead. That they showed up on my doorstep this weekend was not upsetting at all - it was delightful.
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it was delightful
Date: 2007-02-07 10:52 pm (UTC)Re: it was delightful
Date: 2007-02-08 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-07 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 09:19 pm (UTC)My mom was skinny...like 95lbs skinny when she got married. She's been about double that for most of my life... And dad had dark hair...dad was always gray to me. But I swear his glasses are still the same...LOL
no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 09:21 pm (UTC)and thanks for the add... :)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 05:59 pm (UTC)