Friday, July 10, 2015

Sepia Saturday: Friends Side by Side

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.




This week’s Sepia Saturday photo of a group of unsmiling students is similar to quite a few old photos in my collection. Amidst the pictures of family portraits and school photos are two newspaper clippings that alone are nothing out of the ordinary, but paired tell a story of friendship.

My father was a proud graduate of the University of Virginia as were some of his best friends. They were members of the Portsmouth Cavalier Club of UVA, which was most likely just a social group, maybe even an alumni group. Apparently they hosted dances at the popular Suburban Country Club in Portsmouth.

Suburban Country Club, Portsmouth, Virginia  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Suburban Country Club in Portsmouth, Virginia
In the photo accompanying a brief announcement of one such upcoming dance, Daddy was standing between two friends, Jimmy Stewart (not the actor) and Jimmy Boggs. Jimmy Stewart held a higher position on the friend chain, I suppose, as he was selected to be my godfather. The three couples were good friends for a long time.  As a child, I often played with the Boggs’ son Mark and the Stewarts’ daughter Melissa.

Portsmouth Cavalier Club of UVA 1950  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
My dad Fred Slade is on the top row, next to last.
Flanking him are Jimmy Stewart and Jimmy Boggs

In fact, Melissa was somewhat of a “best friend” probably because I saw her so often, not just when our parents got together for an evening of cards. She and I attended the same kindergarten: Newton’s Nursery and Kindergarten. Here we are standing side by side posing for our graduation photo. (I find it amusing that Daddy and I both were standing on the back row with our best friend standing to our right.)

Newton Nursery and Kindergarten graduation 1957
Melissa and I are standing on the back row.
I'm third from the end; Melissa is to my right, 4th from the end.

Memories from kindergarten have long faded except for one: the day I broke my nose. Melissa and I were holding hands and running in a circle, fast, faster, faster still. Then without warning she let go. I went flying face first onto the linoleum floor. The next thing I knew, one of the teachers picked me up and rushed to the bathroom. She held me over the trough sink and did what she could to clean me up but was obviously losing the battle as blood just seemed to pour.

I don’t know if my mother was called away early from Cradock Elementary School where she was teaching or if she came after school, but I remember the look on her face. I must have been a frightening sight. We went to the doctor for a diagnosis and instructions. Yep, broken.

Nightly seemingly forever, my mother applied HOT, I mean really HOT, towels soaked in some kind of salt solution. My precious little face was black and blue and swollen. Not a day went by without multiples of people staring and asking, “What happened to YOU?” Today I’d probably respond, “You should see the other guy” but when I was 5, I was totally humiliated and just wanted to stay home, not even go to school to play with my best buddy Melissa.

Yeah, I was probably scarred for life.

Please visit the smiling group of bloggers at Sepia Saturday.


© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

32 comments:

  1. Oh no...I feel for you even after all these years. Did Melissa feel badly for her part in your wipe-out?

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    1. I guess she did. I don't really know. We continued to play like nothing happened.

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  2. A lovely story of friendship - did you make it up with Melissa?

    Family History Fun

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    1. I don't really know. I don't recall feeling like she let go in order to hurt me.

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  3. That was interesting about the two pictures; not too many smiles in either of them! Ouch with your nose! I think at the tender age of 5, I would have felt the same way, wanted to hide until everything was all healed up.

    betty

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    1. In many ways, I'm still like that if I don't look how I want to look. Vanity!

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  4. Children can come up with a variety of ways to scare their Mom's silly. I'll bet your Mom took one look at your little bloodied face & it was all she could do to contain her panic till she got you cleaned up & could see what had really happened. A mean girl threw a rock at me one time. It hit just above my left eyebrow & bled like the dickens. By the time I ran home, blood was streaming over my eye & of course Mom thought the rock had actually struck me IN the eye till she got me cleaned up. I still have a little dent above my left eyebrow where the rock hit. Funny thing: I'm actually pretty much blind in the left eye anyway due to a genetic stigmatism.

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    1. Oh yeah -- I'm a big squinter when it comes to cuts and blood, as if looking at the horror through slits will minimize the injury.

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  5. They didn't have kindergarten graduations where I went to school. I always thought it was an odd custom, but it would be fun to see a picture of my kindergarten class now.

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    1. I think graduation ceremonies for preschool, kindergarten, elementary and middle school are ridiculous. Caps and gowns make it worse.

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  6. Great memory. Wait, maybe not so great at the time. Do you and Melissa still stay in touch?

    I only have one real memory from kindergarten and nursery school and that is of my friend, Erin Maria M. We were in nursery school together and were riding in the car together - I think it was the car of the owner of the school. My recollection is that they drove around and picked up all the kids for school and then delivered them back home at the end of the day. I never saw Erin again but I've remembered her all these years. And even gave my oldest daughter the same first name.

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    1. No, I don't know Melissa anymore. I don't know if she moved away or just lived in a different school district. I guess my parents and her parents drifted apart too, so after a time, I didn't see them.

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  7. I love kindergarten "graduation" photos. When my children were growing up, kindergarten hadn't made it's way to rural southern Oregon. However, my grandchildren all have photos of their kindergarten graduation --- tho I would say they were much less solemn pictures. Goofballs, I think would be the adequate description.

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    1. Little ones can be right silly, especially if being forced to wear a robe and cap.

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  8. Love the photos and the fact that you are back rowers :)
    I got called for many injuries but never for a broken nose...just 5 broken arms....all by the same child!

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    1. I didn't realize you are the mother of an octopus!

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  9. We didn't have kindergarden graduations. I moved and attended another elementary school after 1st grade and I don't remember any names from either of those classes. Never realized that before.

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    1. I remember most of the kids in this photo -- most of use went through school together right to graduation. REAL graduation.

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  10. Sorry about your nose -- been there, done that! It hurt like fury, as I recall!

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  11. No kindergarten graduations here in Aus when I went to school. They may have come into fashion more now but I doubt they wear caps and gowns! In some Australian states kindergarten is the first year of school, whereas in others like Victoria it means preschool, with the first school year being called prep, which can be confusing. I have no kindergatren photo in any case.

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    1. In my day, kindergarten was not part of public school. It was totally a private venture, purely optional. I am sure I went for day care as much as for socialization or whatever skill-preparation we were given.

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  12. Your Dad and friends don’t look too happy about the dance! Your looks haven’t suffered over the broken nose

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    1. I guess the UVA Cavaliers had to make a serious presence so as not to betray their true party personalities.

      And thanks for the kind words -- you just keep thinking that!

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  13. Jimmy and Jimmy. That must have caused some confusion at times. A good post.

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  14. I'm surprised my own children got through those years with so few broken bits.

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    1. I'm surprised mine did too. I had a softball player and an equestrian. Both had their share of falls and bruises but nothing broken.

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  15. It wasn't until my grandchildren were in kindergarten that a graduation was held for them...complete with gowns, and maybe caps. My own sons didn't have that luxury, or folly as the case may be.

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    1. Folly -- I say Folly. I think a nice celebration is in order, but the hoopla of graduation garb is nuts.

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  16. You get fullmarks for a swell story and photos this weekend, Wendy. Trauma always makes for better tales I think.

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    1. I'm glad my pain brought a little sunshine into the blogosphere. ;-)

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