Monday, April 28, 2014

A to Z April Challenge: X is for X-boyfriends



My theme for the A to Z April Challenge is “In-Laws and Out-Laws – Friends of the Family.”  I will be researching friends, colleagues, neighbors - those people who came and went touching my family’s lives in both small and large ways. 


is for X-boyfriends. 

                         William Novash

William Novash
William Novash about 1918-20
x-boyfriend of my maternal grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis



Richard “Dickie” Blanks

x-boyfriend of my mother Mary Eleanor Davis Slade

Richard "Dickie" Blanks 1946
Dickie Blanks about 1946












  George          Somethingorother

x-boyfriend of my grandaunt Violetta Davis Ryan

Dick Ryan and George Unknown
Left: Violetta's husband Dick
Right:  the x-boyfriend George




Unknown

x-boyfriend of my mother-in-law Helen Kohne Mathias

Helen's x-boyfriend
















Was it something they said?






If you’re caught between a xenolith and xylols, or even if you suffer from xenophobia, you should make your way to the A to Z April Challenge where you will be met with xenodochial xenagogues whose xenophilia will convince you there are no xanthippes among us.



© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

26 comments:

  1. Oh Wendy, this is priceless!!! Even my very proper mother had a sort of a portrait/photo of some fellow in the Navy she kept in one of our photo scrapbooks after WWII. The only saving grace was that she had not yet met my father!
    I stared and stared at that guy's picture. She had his name written under it, and I am sure my sister has the scrapbook, along with the eight million other ones our family maintained !
    My father only had one ex girlfriend: Mary Lou Wilson of Omaha, Nebraska (where he grew up). She later became Julie Wilson, a very popular carbaret singer in NYC. I got to meet her once WITH my mother and father both there with me. She always wore a flower in her hair. Neither my mother nor my dad were ever in love with anyone but each other, before or after they met. xox jean

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    1. Now that had to be weird meeting the x-girlfriend. (Surely there's a word for that in your fictionary!)

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  2. I love looking at vintage photographs. How ever did you get pictures of your relative's x-boyfriends? Thanks for the expansive use of the letter X. I'm visiting from the A to Z challenge.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. I have some old photo albums and boxes of pictures passed down to me from my mom and grandmother.

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  3. My mom didn't have any x-boyfriends so no cool pictures to share. What an interesting assortment of good looking men!

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    1. I'm most interested in how my grandmother met a sailor. She lived over 250 miles from the nearest shipyard, I think.

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  4. I've been waiting to see what you'd come up with for 'X' and you've outdone yourself! I love the theme and love the photographs even more! And I love George's last name ;-)

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    1. Yeah, George was Greek -- can't you tell? My sister has the name but it's hard to read and what it appears to say isn't in a census record, so I didn't even try to give his real name.

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  5. Hi Wendy, nice to meet so many x-boyfriends. All good looking men. How did you manage to get their pictures?

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    1. Their pictures are in the scrapbooks and photo albums and boxes of assorted photos passed down to me. Usually I don't think to ask, "Who was this?" until it's too late (as was the case with my mother-in-law - actually I probably did ask but forgot the name).

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  6. The unknown looks so much like Cary Elwes, (Wesley, from the film The Princess Bride) that he's my favorite on this post! How cool that you know about these boyfriends, and that you have their photos! I am so enjoying your posts on the #atozchallenge, and have pinned your site so I don't lose it!

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    1. Hmm -- I was thinking he was rather geeky looking. I have to rethink that if he reads "Westley" to you.

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  7. She – a couple of them look pretty good and I bet it was hard to toss them into the ex pile. :-)
    Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com

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    1. Yeah -- especially Dickie Blanks -- he was really cute!

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  8. They all look very handsome chaps. My mum, in her 80's, doesn't have photos of her ex boyfriends but she will still talk about them and in front of my dad! Dad only ever had eyes for my mum and never had any other girlfriends. Last year they celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary (60 years) and received an anniversary message from the Queen.

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    1. I never heard my dad speak of old girlfriends. He said as soon as he saw my mother come out of the house with a bowl of potato salad (blind date picnic with mutual friends), he knew she was the one.

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  9. You've been working hard! Wonder how you could lay hands on these pictures.But makes for an interesting post! Thanks for visiting my blog post earlier.

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    1. Thanks for thinking so, but it doesn't feel any harder than usual - just more frequent.
      And thanks for visiting.

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  10. A great choice for X and you have such a wonderful photographic collection that to trace Ex's mus be some achievement. .

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  11. Well, what a collection of rejects ;)

    Wonder what the rest of their story was...

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    1. "Rejects" -- that's funny! I have no clue about anyone else's story, sad to say.

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  12. So glad you were able to find a Letter for the former fellas photos. After seeing George Somethingorother and was kind of eXpecting the next one to be Specs Whatshisface.
    Sue at CollectInTexas Gal

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    1. Daggone it -- you're too fast for me. I rather like "Specs Whatshisface."

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  13. Do you know why they're exes? Or did you just find the photos?

    Liz A. from Laws of Gravity

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    1. Not really. I think my mom and Dickie just grew apart during college -- too many options out there. Violetta was interested in George but I THINK she was prohibited by her mother to date him - not sure of that. Besides, her future husband Dick Ryan was in the picture at the same time. The others - no clue.

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