At Mabel’s house
February 13th, 2010 @ 23:17
Posted by: John
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Charlie had mentioned Mabel. She’s in the center here. On the other side from her little brother Raymond Sr. is Raymond’s little sister Virginia and behind Granddad there is his niece, a young Virgina Lee (sister to Raymond and Dan Smith and Cal Hill’s mother). This is just a section, here’s the full photo. Who else is in there? I think the big guy in the back is the big kid we were wondering about in the photo from the other day. The hair looks the same.
February 14th, 2010 02:36
That is me in the large square plad shirt..I remember the trip. If that is Granny Sabra in there it would have to be around 1952. I was a freshman in highschool in 1951.
They lived in Caldwell, Texas on a farm. That is Aunt Mabel’s husband in the cabby cap and her son and daughters. One was my age. We walked all over the farm. I got the grand tour. I remember walking across a railroad trestle and cutting sugarcane and eating it like candy. They had all kinds of farm animals.
They had an old green John Deere one cylinder tractor that started by turning the flywheel by hand.
February 16th, 2010 12:26
Thanks for sharing this, John! I think John Sr. is right about the date and the people in the photo. Of course, I couldn’t identify Charlie, or his and Mabel’s kids anyway, so I’m content to trust one who was there.
So, here are my questions: Who took the photo? What occasion prompted THIS gathering and group photo? The following is just speculation, but I think it’s highly doubtful that my grandmother Virginia would travel without my granddad Virgil, especially since my Mom is there also. Since he’s not in the photo, maybe he took it. Then again, would Raymond be there with his teenage son John, but without Peggy? So, if Peggy was there, maybe she took the photo. As an interesting side note, if the photo was taken in 1952, my Mom was 20. She and my Dad had been dating for probably 3 years already, but marriage was still a year away, and I was still about 3 years in the future. My memories of visiting Mabel and Charlie at the farm in Caldwell don’t start until probably around 1960-61. I have many, but the one that stands out above all others is that every time we visited them, Mabel would lay out a huge home-cooked noon meal, usually fried chicken, and always with homemade bread. It’s been almost 50 years, but I don’t think I’ve ever tasted better! If you ever ate at Mabel’s table, then you know what I mean.
So, John Sr., who were you looking out at when the shutter captured this moment in time? Who was holding the camera? I, for one, would be interested in any other details of this trip to Caldwell you might remember. Also, I’ll see if I can get my Mom to comment on what she remembers.
February 18th, 2010 11:24
I waited to respond to this picture because I differ in identifing the person that John Sr. said was him (the one in the plaid shirt). I wanted to corroborate my thinking about that and the person in the hat with my sister and brother (Gini and Dan Smith), and also with our cousin, Howard Kovar, who along with me, was also there on that visit (he lived there). I will tell a little about the reason for the trip by everyone to Caldwell and then identify the persons in the picture.
The date of the picture is circa 1951 in the fall. That is just after Sabra was brought from our house in Houston, where she had been living with us for a while, to stay in Caldwell with Mabel’s and Charlie’s family. Sabra had suffered some strokes and had to be taken care of, so that task was shared by some of her children. It was quite an experience caring for Sabra. That is a story in itself. I do not remember if any other family members were there other than my family, John Sr. and his father Raymond, and the Kovars. If past experience is any indication, the picture was probably taken by my father, Virgil. Otherwise he would surely have been in the picture.
There was one other person there who was not a member (yet) of the Kovar family. That would be Charles Ledneskey Jr., called “Biscuit”. He married Charlene Kovar about two years later. He is the one in the picture at the top in the hat. Standing next to him on his right is Kenneth Kovar. On the second row, in the plaid shirt is my brother Daniel Smith. On his left is Shirley Kovar. On the next row down is Sabra, Charlene Kovar, and my sister Gini, then known as Virginia Lee. On the bottom row is my mother Virginia, Mabel, and Raymond Whipple.
As to where John Sr., Howard Kovar, and I were, because of our young ages, we were probably off playing somewhere. I don’t know why Charlie Kovar, Mabel’s husband is not in the picture.
February 18th, 2010 12:45
I want a nickname like “Biscuit”.
Ray, what can I do to get you started telling some of the grandmother Sabra stories?